According to the National Restaurant Association's report Restaurant Spending -- 2004:

• The typical American household spent an average of $2,434 on food away from home in 2004. Per-capita expenditures on food away from home averaged $974 that year.
• Households with incomes of $70,000 and over spent an average of $4,308 ($1,390 per capita) on food away from home in 2004. Close to half (47.6 percent) of the total food dollar in these households was spent on food away from home.
• Of 28 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) studied, Seattle ranked number-one in per-capita spending ($1,251) on food away from home in 2003-2004. During the same period, Washington, D.C., households allocated the highest proportion of their total food budget on food away from home (48.1 percent).
• Other MSAs rounding out the top five in terms of per-capita spending on food away from home included Minneapolis/St. Paul ($1,243), San Francisco ($1,235), New York City ($1,221) and San Diego ($1,182).
• Employed persons living alone posted the highest per-capita expenditures on food away from home ($1,769) and allocated the largest portion (51.5 percent) of their food dollar to food away from home.
• Households consisting of only a husband and wife recorded the highest per-capita expenditures on food away from home in 2004 ($1,347), 45 percent higher than the $866 in per-capita spending on food away from home posted by husband-wife households with children.

The full Restaurant Spending report provides detailed analysis of the restaurant-spending habits of American consumers -- by household income, geographic region, household composition, and more.