The Massive Amount Of Beef Americans Chow Down On Per Year

The USA is a seriously big beef-eating country. As of 2025, Americans chow down on somewhere around 58.5 pounds of beef per year, per person. So, that's a little over 1 pound per week, or (roughly), a bit more than two steaks per week (bearing in mind that steak size varies, but let's say the average is ½ pound). That's according to statistics from the USDA, which are based on retail sales of beef. So, the reality could be that slightly less beef is consumed per person, as some is likely thrown away. The OECD offers a slightly lower number, at about 51 pounds per person — still in the realm of 1 pound, or two steaks, per week.

No matter which statistics you lean on, that's a lot of beef, particularly when you compare it to other countries. On the OECD numbers, which compare a range of countries around the world, the USA tops the list, with each American consuming three times the beef annually that the average Japanese person consumes; close to three times what people in New Zealand and Mexico consume, and more than double what British consumers eat. That said, there's a couple of countries that eat more: Argentina and Uruguay. This is not hugely surprising, as they're known as big beef-producing (and eating) countries. It's not super close, either, as Argentinians eat a whopping 29 to 30 pounds more beef per year than Americans, while Uruguayans eat about 16 more pounds.

Those numbers for Argentina and Uruguay come from a market research firm (via Report Linker) that also claims Americans eat closer to 82 pounds of beef per year. So, it's worth bearing in mind that measuring beef consumption is tricky, as it depends on varied data sources that can yield different numbers. That said, pretty much all sources place the USA as one of the top few beef (and more generally, meat) consumers in the world. That said, beef isn't Americans' number one meat: It's chicken, with Americans eating a whopping 103 pounds per year.

So, who's eating all that beef? Apparently, it's a small slice of the population: 12% of Americans eat around half of the country's beef, according to a study (via MDPI) that looked at about 10,000 Americans' eating habits. Who's in that 12%? They're more likely to be men aged 50 to 65, and to a lesser degree, teen boys. (The study classed "disproportionate" beef eaters as those who eat more than 4 ounces per day, or 1.75 pounds per week.)

Such high levels of beef consumption may not be ideal: Although beef is a good source of protein and iron, its fats have been linked to heart disease (which is why beef tallow is less common nowadays, too). It's recommended to keep beef consumption around 18 ounces to 1 pound per week (depending who you ask). It's perhaps for this reason that per-person beef consumption is predicted to drop in the USA by about 1.5 pounds per person this year.