Food System Economy - Rhode Island Food Policy Council

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Note: Dollar values are adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars.

Total Food System Sales, 2017-2022

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Using data from the 2022 Economic Census and other sources, we can estimate the value of food system sales at a little more than $19.0 billion, up from $18.8 billion in 2017. In comparison, Rhode Island’s state GDP was a little more than $72 billion in 2022. Food and beverage stores accounted for 35.1% ($6.7 billion) of sales, followed by wholesaling and distribution at 34,4% ($6.6 billion). Food Services and Drinking Places accounted for 21.2% ($4.0 billion) of sales. Sales from food producers—fishermen, farmers, aquaculturists—make up a much smaller percentage of total food system sales.

Data sources: Data from U.S. Census Bureau Economic Census, USDA Census of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics, Atlantic Coast Cooperative Statistics Program Data Warehouse, and Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council for 2017 and 2022 were used. Adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars. The value for Agriculture sales does not include the Census of Agriculture estimate of aquaculture sales; the value of aquaculture is provided by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.

Food System Sales by Sector, 2017-2022

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Total retail food sales increased by 12.5% from 2017 ($9.5 billion) to 2022 ($10.7 billion).

Grocery stores, warehouse clubs, and full-service and limited-service restaurants account for 80% of retail food sales. Note that direct sales—from farmer to consumer via farmstands, CSAs, and farmers markets—accounted for 0.1% of total retail food sales.

Animal slaughtering and processing accounted for about 30% of food and beverage manufacturing sales, followed by “other food manufacturing,” a catchall category that covers all kinds of snacks and processed food, and bakeries.

Data sources: Data from U.S. Census Bureau Economic Census, USDA Census of Agriculture, and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics, for 2017 and 2022 were used. Adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars.

Food System Employment Compared to Total Employment, 2002-2024

Total employment in Rhode Island increased 11.0% from 2002 (531,849) to 2024 (590,420). Food system jobs account for about 12.9% (75,210) of all jobs in Rhode Island. This is likely an undercount because we are unable to specify all possible food system jobs (e.g., “general freight trucking” accounts for over 1,500 jobs in Rhode Island. However, although all food ultimately moves via transportation, we can’t delineate trucking jobs that are exclusively for food distribution).

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Food System Employment by Category, 2002-2024

Total food system jobs in Rhode Island increased 36.1%, from from ≈55,000 in 2002 to over 75,000 in 2024. “Food services and drinking places” (e.g., restaurants, fast food, institutional food services, bars) account for the majority of food system jobs – over 47,000 jobs.

(Note that farmers and hired farm workers are not counted here for methodological reasons).

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Restaurants and Bars Employment, 2002-2024

Food services and drinking places—all types of restaurants, caterers, bars, and vending machine operators—account for 62.6% of food system jobs in Rhode Island. Jobs in this category increased from 37,485 in 2002, to 47,071 in 2024. Data for snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars (e.g., coffee shops) was missing in 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024. The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted food service workers in 2020. From 2018 to 2020, over 10,000 Rhode Island food service workers, particularly at full-service restaurants, lost their jobs. Employment subsequently increased in 2022 as COVID restrictions have been removed.

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Grocery Store Employment, 2002-2024

For reasons that are not obvious in the data source, employment at supermarkets and other grocery stores dramatically increased from 2006 to 2007. From 2007 onward, more than 12,000 people have been employed at grocery and liquor stores.

The total number of grocery stores in Rhode Island has essentially stayed at 1,000 stores over the past 20 years.

Data for “warehouse clubs and supercenters” in Rhode Island began to be reported in 2022.

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Food and Beverage Manufacturing Employment, 2002-2024

Food and beverage manufacturing employment steadily increased from 3,928 in 2002, to 4,755 in 2024. Food and beverage manufacturing jobs are generally desirable because they tend to pay more than retail food jobs. Manufactured local food products, like Tilted Barn Brewery or Brickley’s Ice Cream, also contribute to the brand recognition of the state.

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Food Distribution Employment, 2002-2024

Food distribution employment increased from 2,281 in 2002, to 3,097 in 2024.

United Natural Foods (UNFI), based in Providence, is the largest publicly traded wholesale distributor of natural, organic, healthy, and specialty food in the country – and is likely a major employer in Rhode Island.

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Food Production Employment, 2002-2024

Estimating food production employment and businesses is challenging. The Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years, identifies the number of farms, producers, and hired farm workers. The New England Field Office of the USDA National Statistics Service supplies estimated values for the intervening years. It is also the case that most Rhode Island farmers have another job that contributes to household income. Employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the various state departments of labor is available every year, but it rarely captures employment information for businesses without a payroll. This means that most, but not all, farm and fishing businesses are not included in their employment estimates. Nonemployer data for businesses with no employees is also available every year, and this is where our best guess for fishery employment and businesses come from.

Taken together, available data sources suggest that more than 4,000 people are employed in food production (over 1,900 in fishing and support activities, and more than 3,000 as farmers and hired farm workers). And there are more than 2,200 food production businesses, including farms and fishing operations.

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Farm Employment, 2002-2022

The Census of Agriculture, conducted every 5 years, captures detailed information about agricultural activity in each county and state. The total number of people working on farms exceeded 3,500 in 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022. Employment is nearly evenly divided between farm operators (i.e., farmers) and hired farm workers.

Data sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Census of Agriculture.

URI Agriculture Job Estimates, 2012

To highlight the complexity of estimating food production jobs in Rhode Island, Dr. Tom Sproul (University of Rhode Island) found that official data sources significantly underestimated the number of jobs. By his estimate, using surveys, Sproul found at least 2,630 jobs in the agriculture sector in Rhode Island in 2012.

The biggest job generator was Greenhouse/Nursery/Floriculture (47.6%), followed by crop production (29.5%), animal production (13.9%), and lesser numbers for aquaculture, grape vineyards, support activities for animal production (e.g., hay fields), farm machinery and equipment sales, and farm management.

Data sources: Dr. Thomas W. Sproul, February 1, 2015, The Economic Impact of Rhode Island Plant-Based Industries and Agriculture: An Update to the 2012 Study.

Median Hourly Wages for Rhode Island Occupations

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Wage data is collected for nearly 800 occupations by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Median hourly wages for Food Preparation and Serving Occupations—jobs that make and provide food and drink to customers—increased 30.5% from 1999 to 2024. These jobs account for the majority of food system jobs in Rhode Island but they still have the lowest median hourly wages of any major occupational category.

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. MIT, Living Wage Calculator.

Rhode Island Per Capita Food Expenditures, 1997-2024

Per capita annual food expenditures in Rhode Island increased 69.5% (+$2,810) from 1997 to 2024. From 1997 to 2006, RI ranked in the mid-40s among the states for per capita food expenditures. From 2007 on, RI ranked in the low-30s and mid-20s among states for per capita food expenditures.

Data sources: USDA State-Level Food Expenditure Series, State Food Sales Per Capita, Without Taxes and Tips.