Fast Food Nation: How Much Fast Food Do Americans Consume — and What the Trends Reveal.

Fast food has long shaped American eating habits, reshaping everything from daily routines to urban landscapes. The rise of quick-service restaurants built on speed, convenience, and low prices changed how Americans eat as well as how they live. New data suggests that grip is holding steady, and in some cases tightening.

The monthly ritual 
Most Americans now eat fast food monthly, with four in five adults (80%) who say they visit fast-food chains at least once a month. Nearly half, 43%, go four or more times a month and the Midwest leads in monthly engagement at 82%. Even households earning $100K or more aren’t exempt either, as 25% eat fast food more than 8 times a month. The findings also show that 1 in 5 consumers (20%) say they’re eating fast food more often than a year ago, while four in ten (39%) report no change,  thus suggesting consistent demand and that stable baseline is what keeps the quick-service engine humming  through inflation, changing diets, and shifting work pattern. 
In a 2025 survey of 5,123 U.S. adults, Pew Research found that 90% believe healthy food has become more expensive in recent years, where 69% said the price increase makes it harder to opt for healthier choices. Lower-income adults feel this most sharply as 77% say rising costs make healthy eating more difficult, compared with 54% of upper-income adults. The rising cost of nutritious food is making fast food a go-to convenience. 

Keeping up with Dining out 
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2023 marked an all-time high for the share of food spending “away from home,” reaching 55.1% compared with 44.9% spent on food at home. In 2024, Americans continued to devote roughly 55% of their food dollars to dining out. In that same year, total food expenditures hit a record $2.58 trillion in 2024, up from $2.48 trillion in 2023.  This was mostly driven by an increase in food-away-from-home spending which further climbed from $1.45 trillion to $1.52 trillion. When adjusted for inflation, food-away-from-home spending has grown more than twice as fast as grocery spending since 2019. 
New data from The Trade Desk Intelligence and YouGov supports this shift. About 9 in 10 adults say they visit quick-service restaurants every month, and only a small share expects to reduce their visits even during budget cutbacks. Gen Z is the least likely of all age groups to cut back. 
Mobile apps are encouraging this loop; 3 in 5 QSR diners say they order through restaurant apps, most often the brand’s own, thus creating a steady flow of personalized offers and rewards. 88% percent of respondents say they dine at QSRs at least monthly, and 74% eat fast food at least once a month. Dining out also ranks seventh among the top ten categories Americans cut when trying to save. And one brand sits at the center of this landscape. Zappi shows 65% of consumers eat at McDonald’s at least once a month, and 33% go weekly or more. Chick-fil-A dominates much of the South and West, while Taco Bell climbs higher in the Northeast and Midwest.

One city, however, is taking a public stand. San Francisco is preparing to file the nation’s first government lawsuit against major food corporations over ultra-processed foods,  arguing that local taxpayers are absorbing the health-care costs tied to their widespread consumption.   
Fast-food habits may worry public-health experts, but the data shows a culture that’s deeply entrenched. As long as healthy eating costs more and convenience keeps winning, America’s fast-food appetite won’t be letting up anytime soon.