Key facts
- The median consumer in the eight lowest spending percentiles reported $0 a year on food delivery, per Horpedahl's analysis.
- The median consumer under 35 in the top 10% of spenders spent $1,800 a year on food delivery, per Horpedahl.
- The median consumer aged 35 to 44 in the top 10% of spenders spent $2,400 a year, per Horpedahl.
- The survey asks about food delivery generally and does not single out DoorDash or Uber Eats, and it includes services such as pizza delivery.
- A DoorDash spokesperson said the survey captures only one slice of how people use DoorDash and that the company has added grocers and retailers to its platform.
Food delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats draw much of their spending from a small group of frequent users, according to federal data from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. The survey is conducted every three years and asks 5,000 households about how they earn, spend, save and invest. The latest data was collected in 2025 and released in October 2026.
Jeremy Horpedahl, an associate professor of economics at the University of Central Arkansas, reviewed the data by dividing respondents into spending percentiles of 10% each. For the eight lowest percentiles, the median consumer spent $0 a year on food delivery, which Horpedahl said suggests many respondents have never used delivery apps. In the top 10% of spenders, the median consumer under 35 spent $1,800 a year, and those between 35 and 44 spent $2,400 a year.
Horpedahl said a small group willing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars a year could explain why delivery services keep posting strong results while many retailers warn of consumers pulling back. "Those are where probably most of their revenue is coming from," he said. He also said the survey's food delivery question does not ask specifically about DoorDash or Uber and includes other services such as pizza delivery, and it likely misses some past customers who forgot their orders.
A DoorDash spokesperson said surveys like this are a helpful snapshot but capture only one slice of how people use DoorDash. The company has recently added more grocers and other retailers to its platform and is growing its paid DashPass membership to retain frequent users, the spokesperson said.