Canadians’ budget tighter than Americans on food: Leger

A man looks at imported bottles of sauces for sale at the Hiep Thai grocery store in Garland, Texas, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

The average Canadian household spends one-third less on food per week than its U.S. counterpart, a new survey from Leger has found.

Conducted among roughly 1,600 Canadian and 1,000 U.S. respondents, the survey found that a typical weekly food budget in Canada totals C$179, while south of the border, that average looks more like US$203, or around C$277.

That represents a 35 per cent, or roughly one-third decrease for Canadian budgets, compared to the United States.

Beyond international differences, demographics that showed higher average weekly food budgets included Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC), university graduates and parents, Leger says.

On household spending, the survey also found that Canadians were slightly more likely to say they had anxiety over rising food prices (77 per cent versus 76), more likely to accept higher prices for local goods (51 per cent versus 43) and more likely to plan their food shopping ahead (93 per cent versus 90).

While roughly half of Canadian and U.S. respondents described food as “something you need to live” (47 and 54 per cent, respectively), substantial proportions of those surveyed also said they associated it with spending time with loved ones (40 per cent and 43 per cent) and with feelings of pleasure and happiness (33 and 34 per cent).

“Food decisions are deeply personal yet strongly shaped by social and economic factors,” said Luc Dumont, Leger’s senior vice-president of consumer insights, in a release.

Methodology

Leger conducted the CRAVE study between May 2 and 4, 2025 among a sample of 2,640 respondents, pulled from the organization’s web panel. Results were weighted by factors including gender, age, region, language, education, household composition, and ethnicity.

Leger notes that while a margin for error cannot be directly associated with an online survey, a comparable survey shows a margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for the Canadian sample and 3.1 percentage points for the American sample, 19 times out of 20.