--- title: No, Poor People Do Not Eat More Fast Food description: The CDC finds poverty status unrelated to fast food intake. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2015-09-22T20:53:20.000Z' modified: '2015-09-22T20:53:20.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - economic equality - Fast Food - pub desk - pubdesk word_count: 272 canonical: https://money.com/no-poor-people-do-not-eat-more-fast-food/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Fast Food Poverty Myth](https://img.money.com/2015/09/monopoly.jpg) It's common knowledge that fast food consumption is higher among people in poverty. Only, that's completely wrong. A [new study from the CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db213.pdf) released this month adds to a growing pile of evidences that dispels a widely-held notions about who eats restaurant fast food. This time, it focuses on kids and adolescent consumption. The CDC's study found no correlation between fast-food intake and poverty status. (Ditto for sex, or even weight. Remember, [there are other ways](https://money.com/chicken-fries-cult-favorite-fast-food/item/chocodiles/) beside a fast-food restaurant to load up on calories.) In 2011 and 2012, on about a third of adolescents and children consumed fast food on a given day. Children in the poorest group, from families earning less than 130% of the federal poverty level (currently about $26,000 for a family of three), get 11.5% of their calories from fast food, compared with about 13% for richer kids. The difference is not statistically significant, according to the CDC. This study may have been about young people specifically, but in 2013, a [Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/163868/fast-food-major-part-diet.aspx) found that adults making over $75,000 ate fast food more frequently than other groups and people making under $25,000 are one of the *least* likely. Another study, done by a U.C. Davis researcher a few years ago, debunked the alleged marriage of the poor and McDonald's, finding that the [rich actually consume more fast food](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/11/middle-class-the-poor-fast-food.html) than poor people. The [lead author noted](http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/5673) that this shouldn't actually have been a surprise, considering that fast food is marketed towards the middle class families. Also, fast food is still eating out and not necessarily cheaper than cooking. 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