Bakery sales statistics show a large U.S. market spread across food-at-home purchases, retail bakeries, commercial bakeries, branded food companies, and the people who make and sell baked goods. In 2023, bakery products represented $90,662 million in domestic food dollars and 10.0% of food-at-home domestic food dollars, according to the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). The wider food market reached $2.58 trillion in total food spending in 2024.
Table of contents
- Bakery sales at a glance
- The U.S. food-dollar context
- Bakery products in food-at-home spending
- Prices and purchasing pressure
- Company sales and operating results
- Bakery establishments and employment
Bakery sales at a glance
The clearest direct measure in this set is the ERS estimate for bakery products in domestic food dollars. Bakery products generated $90,662 million in 2023, while food-at-home generated $903,766 million. Bakery products therefore represented 10.0% of food-at-home domestic food dollars in that year. These figures describe domestic food-dollar values, not a forecast or a direct measure of every bakery’s register sales.
The broader scale is substantial. Food accounted for $2,151,811 million in 2023 domestic food dollars, and total food spending reached $2.58 trillion in 2024 in the ERS total-food-spending chart. Those figures use different years and measures, so they should be read as market context rather than combined into a single growth calculation.
Several other indicators describe the industry around bakery sales:
- The Census Bureau Profile for NAICS 311811 lists 9,219 retail bakery employer establishments.
- The Census Bureau Profile for NAICS 311812 lists 2,842 commercial bakery employer establishments.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports about 249,100 baker jobs in 2024.
- BLS reports a median annual wage of $36,650 for bakers in May 2024.
- BLS projects 6% employment growth for bakers from 2024 to 2034.
- BLS projects about 39,900 baker openings per year, on average, over that decade.
Together, these measures cover sales value, business locations, current employment, pay, and a forward-looking employment estimate. They are not interchangeable: domestic food dollars measure spending, establishments measure employer locations, and job projections measure expected labor demand.
The U.S. food-dollar context
The ERS Food Dollar data helps place bakery sales within the full food system. In 2024, value added by farm establishments was 6.7 cents per U.S. food dollar. Crops accounted for 2.5 cents, livestock accounted for 3.3 cents, and forestry, fishing, and agricultural services accounted for 0.9 cents per U.S. food dollar.
The 2023 ERS Food Dollar Quick Facts measure reports that U.S. farmers sold 15.9 cents of farm products per domestic food dollar. This is a different ERS measure from the 2024 value-added figures, and the years are different. The two statistics should therefore be kept separate when interpreting how a food dollar is distributed.
The 2023 domestic food-dollar breakdown gives a more specific view of bakery-related scale. Food-at-home accounted for $903,766 million, while food overall accounted for $2,151,811 million. Bakery products accounted for $90,662 million. Other listed food-at-home categories included cereals at $59,755 million, beef at home at $53,495 million, sugar and sweets at $50,498 million, snack foods at $48,125 million, fresh vegetables at $41,453 million, and frozen prepared foods at $37,165 million.
| 2023 domestic food-dollar category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Food overall | $2,151,811 million |
| Food at home | $903,766 million |
| Bakery products | $90,662 million |
| Cereals | $59,755 million |
| Beef at home | $53,495 million |
| Sugar and sweets | $50,498 million |
| Snack foods | $48,125 million |
Source: USDA Economic Research Service, ERS ERR-357.
These categories show bakery products as a major named component of food-at-home domestic food dollars. The figures are reported amounts for 2023, rather than projections. They also should not be treated as a ranking of individual bakery companies, because the category is broader than any one brand or operator.
Bakery products in food-at-home spending
The ERS estimate of $90,662 million for bakery products is paired with a 10.0% share of food-at-home domestic food dollars in 2023. That pairing is useful because it gives both an amount and a reported share for the same category and year. The $903,766 million food-at-home figure supplies the surrounding spending base.
The comparison categories help describe the scale without adding unsupported calculations. Cereals represented $59,755 million in 2023 domestic food dollars. Beef at home represented $53,495 million. Sugar and sweets represented $50,498 million. Snack foods represented $48,125 million. Fresh vegetables represented $41,453 million, and frozen prepared foods represented $37,165 million.
The ERS Food Dollar Quick Facts report that farmers sold 15.9 cents of farm products per domestic food dollar in 2023. For bakery readers, that statistic describes the farm-product side of the broader food-dollar system; it does not state how much of the $90,662 million bakery-products figure went to farmers, bakeries, retailers, or other participants.
The 2024 ERS Food Dollar chart reports 6.7 cents of value added by farm establishments per U.S. food dollar. Within that 6.7 cents, crops contributed 2.5 cents, livestock 3.3 cents, and forestry, fishing, and agricultural services 0.9 cents. These values provide agricultural context for food sales, but they are not bakery-company margins or bakery sales forecasts.
Prices and purchasing pressure
Price movement is an important part of interpreting bakery sales values. ERS Food Prices and Spending reports that U.S. prices for cereal and bakery products increased 1.0% in 2025. The same source reports a 2.8% annual average rate of growth over the past 20 years for cereal and bakery product prices. The 2025 movement was therefore reported alongside a long-term average, but the figures describe prices rather than sales volume.
ERS also reports that U.S. food-at-home prices increased 2.3% in 2025 compared with 2024. This broader measure includes food purchased for preparation and consumption at home, while cereal and bakery products are a more specific price grouping.
For a longer historical comparison, all-food prices rose 23.6% from 2020 to 2024, according to ERS Food Prices and Spending. The all-items CPI rose 21.2% over the same 2020-to-2024 period. These are cumulative changes over the stated period, not annual rates and not bakery-specific sales growth.
| Price measure | Reported period | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Cereal and bakery products | 2025 | 1.0% increase |
| Food at home | 2025 compared with 2024 | 2.3% increase |
| All food | 2020 to 2024 | 23.6% increase |
| All-items CPI | 2020 to 2024 | 21.2% increase |
Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Food Prices and Spending.
These statistics distinguish a category-specific bakery-price measure from broader food and consumer-price measures. They do not establish that higher prices caused higher bakery sales, because the supplied figures do not include bakery sales volumes or transaction counts.
Company sales and operating results
Flowers Foods reported net sales of $5,103,487 thousand in 2024, $5,090,830 thousand in 2023, and $4,805,822 thousand in 2022 in its 2024 Annual Report. The report also records 2024 materials, supplies, labor, and other production costs of $2,577,220 thousand; selling, distribution, and administrative expenses of $2,001,052 thousand; depreciation and amortization of $159,210 thousand; restructuring charges of $7,403 thousand; and plant closure costs and impairment of assets of $10,310 thousand.
Flowers Foods reported 2024 income from operations of $348,292 thousand, interest expense of $37,129 thousand, interest income of $17,506 thousand, and income before income taxes of $328,942 thousand. Income tax expense was $80,826 thousand, and net income was $248,116 thousand. The company reported diluted EPS of $1.17 and weighted average diluted shares of 212,137 thousand. It paid cash dividends of $0.9500 per common share in 2024.
J&J Snack Foods reported consolidated net sales of $5,392.6 million in 2024. Its Food segment generated $3,582.6 million and represented 66.4% of consolidated net sales. Its Protective segment generated $1,810.0 million and represented 33.6%. The company reported U.S. net sales of $2,857.6 million for 2024.
J&J Snack Foods also reported total frozen beverage segment sales of $368.3 million in fiscal 2024. Beverage-related sales increased 2% to $368.3 million, while gallon sales decreased 3%. Service revenue increased to $96.6 million, and machine revenue increased to $38.2 million. The company estimated 24,000 company-owned frozen beverage dispensers at September 28, 2024, up from 23,000 a year earlier.
The same annual report states that the top ten customers accounted for 45% of sales in fiscal 2024 and the largest customer accounted for 9%. Accounts receivable were $189.2 million at September 28, 2024, net of a $3.2 million allowance for estimated credit losses. These figures describe a diversified food company with bakery-adjacent and snack-related operations; they are not a direct estimate of the entire U.S. bakery market.
Bakery establishments and employment
The Census Bureau Profile for retail bakeries, NAICS 311811, lists 9,219 total employer establishments. The profile for commercial bakeries, NAICS 311812, lists 2,842 total employer establishments. The two establishment counts separate retail bakery employers from commercial bakery employers and should not be treated as a count of every bakery location, informal operation, or self-employed baker.
BLS reports about 249,100 jobs for bakers in 2024. Bakers had a median annual wage of $36,650 in May 2024. BLS projects employment of bakers to grow 6% from 2024 to 2034 and projects about 39,900 openings for bakers each year, on average, over that decade.
BLS also reports how baker employment is distributed across selected settings. Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing accounted for 32% of baker employment. Grocery and specialty food retailers accounted for 24%. Self-employed bakers accounted for 6%, and special food services accounted for 2%.
These employment shares provide a labor-market view of bakery activity. The 32% figure identifies the largest listed employment setting in the supplied BLS profile, while the 24% grocery and specialty-food-retailer share shows the importance of retail channels. The self-employed and special-food-service shares identify additional settings without describing their sales totals.
The employment statistics also have different measurement dates: the job count is for 2024, the median wage is for May 2024, and the growth and openings figures cover the 2024-to-2034 projection period. Keeping those dates attached matters when comparing current bakery work with future labor demand.