The annual food supply of potatoes in the United States, measured as potato availability, has changed in both quantity and form over recent decades. Processed products now account for most of the supply, with frozen, chips, dehydrated, and canned categories exceeding fresh.
Frozen potato products, primarily French fries, represent about 50 percent of per capita potato availability. On average, this equals 58 pounds per person per year after decades of steady increases.
© USDA
Average per capita availability across all potato categories in the last three years (2022–2024) was 115 pounds on a fresh farm-weight basis. This is about 20 pounds lower than in the early 2000s, reflecting declines in fresh potato use and slower growth in frozen products.
Fresh potato availability has shown the sharpest decrease. Annual per capita figures remained above 40 pounds from the 1980s through the mid-2000s but have since dropped from 46 pounds per person in 2002–2004 to 28 pounds in 2022–2024.
These figures were published in the USDA Economic Research Service Vegetables and Pulses Outlook, July 2025.
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