Basic food budgets

USDA food plans price a defined food basket for specified ages and family sizes. They show a food-at-home budget, rather than what every family spends.

USDA publishes separate food plans for the mainland U.S., Alaska and Hawaii. Mainland states share one estimate.

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Mainland U.S. Thrifty plan

$1,024

Monthly food budget for a family of four: two adults ages 20–50 and children ages 6–8 and 9–11.

per month September 2026

Data from U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Plans

Change, September 2025 to September 2026

+$21.80 (+2.18%)

Changes over time

Thrifty plan in Mainland U.S. rose 2.18% from September 2025

per month · June 2021 to September 2026

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Plans American Default Research · americandefault.org/affordability/food-budgets/
Download data (CSV)

A break in the line marks a period without a published value.

Available history

Thrifty plan
Data periodMainland U.S. (dollars)
Sep 20261,024.0
Aug 20261,023.7
Jul 20261,024.9
Jun 20261,023.2
May 20261,018.2
Apr 20261,013.2
Mar 20261,002.3
Feb 20261,003.4
Jan 20261,000.2
Dec 2025992.3
Nov 2025988.6
Sep 20251,002.2
Aug 2025999.5
Jul 2025996.3
Jun 2025994.4
May 2025995.2
Apr 2025993.8
Mar 2025996.2
Feb 2025995.5
Jan 2025992.9
Dec 2024988.0
Nov 2024983.8
Oct 2024986.7
Sep 2024984.6
Aug 2024980.9
Jul 2024980.6
Jun 2024975.7
May 2024976.6
Apr 2024975.0
Mar 2024976.0
Feb 2024976.6
Jan 2024975.9
Dec 2023969.1
Nov 2023968.8
Oct 2023975.3
Sep 2023974.1
Aug 2023975.2
Jul 2023975.8
Jun 2023973.3
May 2023973.1
Apr 2023970.5
Mar 2023971.0
Feb 2023979.4
Jan 2023977.7
Dec 2022971.2
Nov 2022966.6
Oct 2022967.7
Sep 2022965.3
Aug 2022959.9
Jul 2022951.7
Jun 2022939.9
May 2022932.2
Apr 2022916.7
Mar 2022901.3
Feb 2022887.8
Jan 2022875.0
Dec 2021863.4
Nov 2021855.1
Oct 2021854.6
Sep 2021848.8
Aug 2021842.7
Jul 2021840.4
Jun 2021835.6

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food PlansDownload data (CSV)

Sources and method

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Plans supplies the figures shown.

U.S. Department of Agriculture food plans price defined food baskets for the household ages shown. They are food-at-home budgets, not observed spending by every family. Basket revisions remain separate.

About these figures

USDA plans are national benchmarks with separate Alaska and Hawaii schedules. Basket revisions create breaks; different household types and plan eras remain separate.

Place comparisons use the same data period. An older common period is named beside the comparison. A missing or withheld value is never changed to zero.

The CSV includes the original source notes, annotations and estimate margins where supplied. Original source data remain subject to their publishers’ terms.

We write with AI tools. Every figure comes from the data and sources named on this page, and automated checks compare it with them before it's published.