Quick Facts

The Food Dollar Series provides an overview of the food system, with estimates of the farm share and of the distribution of food dollar, value added shares over time:

• For a dollar representative of all domestically produced food spent in the United States in 2023, U.S. farmers sold 15.9 cents of farm products to nonfarm establishments (farm share), down from 16.0 cents in 2022.
• Farm production’s proportion of the food dollar decreased to 9.1 cents in 2023, from 9.3 cents in 2022.
• Labor’s share of the food dollar, measured by salary and benefits, decreased for a third straight year to 53.9 cents, down from its highest value recorded in the Food Dollar Series at 57.6 cents in 2020.
• The Foodservices share of the food-away-from-home dollar decreased to 69.5 cents in 2023, marking a fourth consecutive year of decline. The Foodservices share of the food-away-from-home dollar reflects the costs of making and serving meals at restaurants and other food-away-from-home establishments. This is its lowest value in two decades.