Roughly 37 percent of U.S. adults eat fast food daily, says a CDC analysis of dietary data, but the rate is much higher for men and women aged 20-39 and for higher-income people. “Fast food consumption has been associated with increased intake of calories, fat, and sodium,” says the CDC, which estimates adult Americans get 11 percent of their calories from fast food.
Among age groups, adults aged 20-39 were the most frequent fast-food customers — 45 percent of them ate the the food daily. People aged 60 and above were roughly half as likely, 24 percent, to go to a fast-food outlet on any given day.
As income rises, so do trips to fast-food restaurants. Some 42 percent of people with annual incomes approaching $45,000, roughly 350 percent of the federal poverty level, were likely to eat fast food on any given day compared to 32 percent of people with incomes that are 130 percent — around $16,000 — of the poverty line. The federal poverty level this year is $12,140 for one person.
Lunch in the most common meal purchased by adults at fast food outlets, with dinner a close second. Breakfast and snacks tied for a distant third.