Ag and Food Sectors and the Economy
The U.S. agriculture sector extends beyond the farm business to include a range of farm-related industries. Agriculture, food, and related industries contributed 5.6 percent to U.S. gross domestic product and provided 10.4 percent of U.S. employment; U.S. consumers' expenditures on food amount to 12.9 percent of household budgets, on average. Among Federal Government outlays on farm and food programs, nutrition assistance far outpaces other programs.
Expenditures on food accounted for 12.9 percent of U.S. households’ spending, on average, in 2023, an increase from 12.8 percent in 2022. The share of household expenditures on food ranked third behind housing (32.9 percent) and transportation (17.0 percent). Compared with 2022, the shares of spending for the education/reading, food, transportation, personal insurance/pensions, and “other” categories rose in 2023, and shares for the apparel, cash contributions, healthcare, housing, and entertainment/alcoholic beverages categories of spending fell.