--- title: Almost 40% of Americans Eat Fast Food on a Given Day description: Almost 40% of American adults eat fast food on a given day, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. canonical: https://time.com/5412796/fast-food-americans/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-03T04:01:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:36:48.574Z article:section: Health og:title: Almost 40% of Americans Eat Fast Food on a Given Day og:description: Young adults eat the most og:url: https://time.com/5412796/fast-food-americans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c2899462059389/69893bac8fd2ee50e135cc31/french-fries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5130 og:image:height: 2886 og:image:alt: Pile of French fries og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Almost 40% of Americans Eat Fast Food on a Given Day twitter:description: Young adults eat the most twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c2899462059389/69893bac8fd2ee50e135cc31/french-fries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Almost 40% of Americans Eat Fast Food on Any Given Day, Report Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 3, 2018 4:01 AM UTC  Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 3, 2018 4:01 AM UTC Pick a day at random, and you can bet that nearly 40% of Americans will eat fast food during those 24 hours, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Between 2013 and 2016, 36.6% of American adults said they ate fast food in the past 24 hours, according to interviews conducted through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Anything participants categorized as “restaurant fast food/pizza” was included in the total. (Fast food tends to be high in calories, fat and sodium without offering much nutritional value.) People from ages 20 to 39 were the most likely to say they ate fast food during the past day, at nearly 45%, followed by people ages 40 to 59 (almost 38%) and people older than 60 (around 24%). Eating fast food on a given day was also most common among black adults (about 42%), followed by white (almost 38%), Hispanic (35.5%) and Asian (almost 31%) adults. Slightly more men than women — almost 38%, versus about 35% — reported eating fast food over the past day. Surprisingly, despite fast food’s generally low price point, consumption actually went up with family income. Forty-two percent of higher-income adults (those with household incomes above 350% of the federal poverty level) ate fast food on a given day, compared to nearly 32% of those whose families earned 130% of the federal poverty level or less. The new numbers point to a contradiction in America’s dietary habits. On one hand, the wellness industry is exploding in popularity, and large numbers of Americans say they [avoid eating things](https://news.gallup.com/poll/240635/americans-divided-leaving-fat-sugar-salt-off-plate.aspx?g%5Fsource=link%5FNEWSV9&g%5Fmedium=TOPIC&g%5Fcampaign=item%5F&g%5Fcontent=Americans%2520Divided%2520on%2520Leaving%2520Fat%2c%2520Sugar%2c%2520Salt%2520Off%2520the%2520Plate) like excess sugar, salt and fat, and seek out plants and whole foods. But at the same time, recent federal data found that [90% of adults don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables](http://time.com/5029164/fruit-vegetable-diet/), and obesity rates [continue to tick upward](http://time.com/5100737/obesity-lowering-life-expectancy-united-states/). The popularity of fast and [processed foods](http://time.com/4252515/calories-processed-food/) suggests that Americans may not always be following through on their intentions to eat healthier. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5412796/fast-food-americans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5412796/fast-food-americans/"},"headline":"Almost 40% of Americans Eat Fast Food on Any Given Day, Report Says","datePublished":"2018-10-03T04:01:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:36:48.574Z","description":"Young adults eat the most","url":"https://time.com/5412796/fast-food-americans/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c2899462059389/69893bac8fd2ee50e135cc31/french-fries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c2899462059389/69893bac8fd2ee50e135cc31/french-fries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pile of French fries","caption":"Pile of French fries","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5412796/fast-food-americans/","name":"Almost 40% of Americans Eat Fast Food on Any Given Day, Report Says"}}]}] ```