U.S. per capita consumption of fresh vegetables 2021, by type

Tomatoes and onions have the highest per capita consumption in the United States of any type of fresh vegetable in 2021. That year, the average American consumed around 18.8 pounds of tomatoes and 20.5 pounds of onions.

Vegetable production in the United States

The overwhelming majority of the vegetables produced in the United States originate from California. In 2018, California produced some 453.7 million hundredweight of fresh and processing marketing vegetables. For perspective, the first and second runner-ups in terms of vegetable production that year were Washington and Arizona, which produced 40.2 and 34 million hundredweight of vegetables, respectively.

Processed vegetables

Vegetable processing typically refers to a procedure to make vegetables ready for human consumption and to make the vegetables last longer and prevent spoilage. A few examples include canning, pickling, and freezing. Though fresh vegetables are generally considered more nutritious than canned vegetables, about 60 percent of the per capita utilization of vegetables in the United States is attributed to processed vegetables as opposed to fresh vegetables.