U.S. households spent an average of $343 on alcoholic beverages consumed away from home in 2023, compared with $294 on alcoholic beverages consumed at home. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures offer a broad view of bar-related spending, while also showing how alcohol budgets differ across income, housing, household-size, age, race, and work-status groups.
Contents
- Away-from-home spending over time
- Alcohol in the household budget
- Income and food-away-from-home spending
- Housing status
- Household size
- Age and bar spending
- Race and work status
Away-from-home spending over time
The BLS article “A toast to the New Year” reports annual household spending on alcoholic beverages consumed away from home for 2013 through 2023. This category is a useful proxy for spending in bars, restaurants, clubs, concert venues, and other places where drinks are purchased for consumption outside the home. It is not a bar-only measure, so the figures should be read as away-from-home alcohol spending rather than a direct estimate of bar tabs.
The series began at $184 in 2013 and rose to $214 in 2014. Spending reached $225 in 2015, then eased to $217 in 2016. It increased to $280 in 2017 and $290 in 2018 before falling to $263 in 2019. In 2020, spending was $147, the lowest figure in the 2013–2023 series. It then measured $249 in 2021, $297 in 2022, and $343 in 2023.
| Year | Average away-from-home alcohol spending |
|---|---|
| 2013 | $184 |
| 2014 | $214 |
| 2015 | $225 |
| 2016 | $217 |
| 2017 | $280 |
| 2018 | $290 |
| 2019 | $263 |
| 2020 | $147 |
| 2021 | $249 |
| 2022 | $297 |
| 2023 | $343 |
The 2023 away-from-home amount is the highest listed figure in this series. The 2020 low and the subsequent measurements describe changes in annual household spending, but the BLS source does not identify the specific causes of each year’s movement. The figures also do not separate drinks bought at a bar from alcohol purchased at restaurants or other away-from-home locations.
Alcohol in the household budget
The BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023 report states that alcoholic-beverage spending represented 0.8% of total annual expenditures in each of the four reported years: 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. That repeated share provides context for the dollar figures. A household may spend more dollars as its overall spending changes while alcohol remains the same share of the total reported budget.
The 2023 BLS report also lists $343 for alcoholic beverages consumed away from home and $294 for alcoholic beverages consumed at home. These categories describe location of consumption, not a complete accounting of what a customer pays at a bar. For example, the away-from-home category can include alcohol purchased in multiple types of establishments, while the at-home category concerns drinks consumed at home.
When reading bar spending statistics, the distinction between a household average and an individual customer’s tab matters. The figures are annual averages for consumer units, and they do not say that every household spent the reported amount. They are best used to compare broad groups and years within the BLS measures.
Income and food-away-from-home spending
In 2023, alcoholic-beverage spending varied across the five income quintiles in the BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023 report. Households in the lowest income quintile spent $229, while those in the second quintile spent $203. The third quintile spent $346, the fourth spent $330, and the highest income quintile spent $384.
| Income quintile | Alcoholic beverages | Food away from home |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest | $229 | $1,647 |
| Second | $203 | $1,556 |
| Third | $346 | $2,235 |
| Fourth | $330 | $2,533 |
| Highest | $384 | $2,877 |
The same report gives food-away-from-home spending for each group. The lowest income quintile spent $1,647, and the second spent $1,556. The third spent $2,235, the fourth spent $2,533, and the highest spent $2,877. These food figures are a separate measure from alcoholic-beverage spending; they should not be treated as bar spending or combined with the alcohol figures without additional data.
The income pattern is not a perfectly increasing sequence in the alcohol measure: the second quintile’s $203 is below the lowest quintile’s $229, and the fourth quintile’s $330 is below the third quintile’s $346. That detail is important because group averages can move differently across categories. The BLS figures describe the reported quintiles and do not explain the reasons for those differences.
Housing status
Housing status is another way the BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023 report separates household spending. Homeowners with mortgages spent $422 on alcoholic beverages in 2023. Homeowners without mortgages spent $730, renters spent $799, and total homeowners spent $639.
For food away from home, homeowners with mortgages spent $3,843. Homeowners without mortgages spent $4,347, while renters spent $3,922. The food-away-from-home figures provide a neighboring spending measure, but they do not identify spending specifically at bars or nightlife venues.
The housing categories should be kept distinct. “Total homeowners” is a reported group, while homeowners with mortgages and homeowners without mortgages are separate subgroups. Renters are also a separate group. Because the source provides group averages rather than a cross-tabulation of every household characteristic, these figures should not be used to infer how a particular renter or homeowner spends.
Household size
The 2023 BLS report lists alcohol spending by the number of people in a consumer unit. One-person consumer units spent $422 on alcoholic beverages. Two-person units spent $730, three-person units spent $799, four-person units spent $642, and units with five or more people spent $523.
The corresponding food-away-from-home amounts were $2,171 for one-person consumer units, $4,693 for two-person units, $4,102 for three-person units, $4,837 for four-person units, and $5,210 for units with five or more people.
These results show why household size should not be treated as a simple one-direction predictor of alcohol spending. The reported alcohol amount is highest among three-person units at $799, then lower for four-person units at $642 and five-or-more-person units at $523. The food category follows a different pattern, with the highest reported amount among five-or-more-person units.
Age and bar spending
The BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023 report measures spending by the age of the consumer unit’s reference person. Consumer units with a reference person under 25 spent $422 on alcoholic beverages. Those with a reference person aged 25 to 34 spent $730, and those aged 35 to 44 spent $799.
The amount was $642 for reference persons aged 45 to 54. It was $817 for those aged 55 to 64 and $523 for those aged 65 and older.
| Reference-person age | Alcoholic-beverage spending |
|---|---|
| Under 25 | $422 |
| 25–34 | $730 |
| 35–44 | $799 |
| 45–54 | $642 |
| 55–64 | $817 |
| 65 and older | $523 |
The highest reported amount in this age breakdown is $817 for consumer units with a reference person aged 55 to 64. The lowest is $422 for those under 25. The categories are based on the age of the reference person, so they are not the same as spending by every individual in an age range. They also do not distinguish between alcohol consumed at home and away from home in this demographic table.
Race and work status
The BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023 report lists alcoholic-beverage spending for several race and ethnicity groups. Black consumer units spent $297 in 2023. Hispanic or Latino consumer units spent $446, non-Hispanic consumer units spent $672, White consumer units spent $739, and Asian consumer units spent $691.
These labels come from the BLS report and describe the categories as reported there. They should not be interpreted as explanations of behavior or as a ranking of individual people. The figures are household-level averages for consumer units in the specified groups, and the source does not provide reasons for the differences.
Work status also corresponds to different reported averages. Self-employed-worker consumer units spent $771 on alcoholic beverages in 2023. Wage-and-salary-earner consumer units spent $878, service-worker consumer units spent $598, and retired consumer units spent $388.
The work-status categories overlap conceptually with other household characteristics, but the supplied BLS figures do not provide a combined table showing income, age, housing, race, and work status together. Each comparison should therefore be read on its own terms. A reported average for wage-and-salary-earner consumer units, for example, does not describe every wage-and-salary earner or isolate spending at bars.
For nightlife readers, the clearest direct time-series signal is the BLS measure for alcohol consumed away from home: $343 per household in 2023, following $297 in 2022 and $249 in 2021, with $147 in 2020 as the lowest point in the 2013–2023 series. The demographic figures add context about household averages, while the source’s 0.8% share shows how alcoholic beverages fit within total annual expenditures from 2020 through 2023.