NH residents rank second in the U.S. for take-out spending. See how much people spend

Take out or home cooking? It's a question likely as old as the restaurant industry itself. Those evenings when you've had long day, the fridge is empty of leftovers and you're too tired to cook, or a mix of all three, the prospect of calling in a ready-made meal can often look very tempting.

In the age of DoorDash, UberEats and PostMates, removing the need to even leave the house to pick up your food, the siren song of take-out has never been stronger.

And New Hampshire resident have responded to the call, a survey showed.

New Hampshire residents spend the second most on take out nationally, according to data crunched by recipe website and food blog, The Cookie Rookie. The average weekly spending on takeout in the Granite State is $99.81 per capita, which comes to about $5,190 per year.

New Hampshire takeout trends

New Hampshire has seen an increase of at least 53.3% in spending on takeout over the last decade, with the 2022 being the most recent figures available from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. This is in line with the rest of the country, which has seen growth of about 55%, going from $2,692 in 2012 to $4,181 in 2022.

A portion of this jump can be attributed to the pandemic, said Cookie Rookie writer, Becky Hardin, which can be seen from comparing year-on-year increases before the pandemic to during and after. From 2012 to 2019, increases stayed largely between 2% and 4%, before increasing in 2020 to over 10% in the average takeout spending per person.

"This large increase was likely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to many restaurants closing their dine-in services," wrote Hardin.. While dropping slightly, this pandemic boost would endure through 2021 and 2022, with the average takeout spending per person rising at 7.45% and 7.81%, respectively.

What other states spends most and last on takeout?

New Hampshire was narrowly edged out of the top spot by Hawaii at $5,322 per year. New England dominated the top five, with third place going to Maine ($5,151), followed by Vermont ($4,957) and finally Massachusetts with annual takeout expenditure of $4,789 per capita.

Take out seems to be the least popular in Oklahoma ($3,198), Tennessee ($3,427), Arkansas ($3,461), South Dakota ($3,592) and Minnesota ($3,657).