In class today, one of my professors showed statistics contrasting how households spent money in the early 1900s with how they did in 2000. While that isn’t important, one of the statistics from 2000 got my attention: Food 13.6%.
Assuming that percentage has not changed too much in since 2000 (which may be a big assumption – I’ve emailed the professor asking for a source and if there may be any more current stats), 13.6% of $21,200 (the current U.S. poverty line for a family of 4) is $2,883.2. $2 per person per day for a family of 4 is $2,920, a difference of under $40. In fact, the difference per day is about three cents.
I can’t really draw any conclusions from this until I know the source, but it seems that my findings may not be far off from the government’s.
UPDATE: Got an update from my professor: it is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and he pointed me to more recent reports, one of which actually breaks it down by income. Link to summary, link to full.
Yeah, except you’ve got to figure that the percentage changes depending on the income bracket. I’d be willing to wager that someone at the poverty line spends a hell of a lot more than 13.6% on food. Healthcare, insurance, heating, luxury items and so on would certainly go before food did.