Per capita meat consumption in the United States in 2025 and 2035, by type (in pounds)

In 2025, the most consumed type of meat in the United States was broiler chicken, at about 103 pounds per capita. This figure is expected to increase to around 113.3 pounds per capita by 2035. 

Chickens in the United States

To accommodate the growing demand for chicken among American consumers, there is a rapidly expanding chicken industry in the United States. The overall value of all chickens in America was over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. In that same year, an individual chicken in the United States was worth 3.32 U.S. dollars.

Meat consumption in the United States

On average, Americans purchase fresh meat about 27 times per year, compared to only 4.3 times for fresh seafood. A 2018 survey found that nearly half of Americans eat chicken a couple times a week but not every day, while only 9 percent ate chicken on a daily basis. Ready-to-eat meat/poultry is also very popular among consumers in the United States, with about 40 percent of Americans eating ready-to-eat meat at least once a week as of 2017.