Virginia millennials feast on fast food

Virginia has once again achieved a national ranking, but in a very odd category.

The Old Dominion is No. 4 in the nation in spending on fast food by members of the millennial generation, ages 18 to 35.  The ranking was part of an analysis of millennials’ spending on “guilty pleasures” by San Francisco-based Level Money. The startup financial services company provides a mobile device application described  as a “digital money meter” helping users keep track of their spending.

The  Level Money report found that Virginia millennials spend an average of $971 a year on fast food. That figure put Virginia behind Oklahoma ($1,194), Kansas (($1,040) and Texas ($978).

Following Virginia in the top 10 are Maryland, Nevada, West Virginia, Arkansas, Florida and Colorado.

The states with the lowest average spending on fast food are (Nos. 46-50): Montana, Pennsylvania, New York Connecticut and Vermont.

Fast-food spending was only one category in the report. Other rankings included:

Top states for coffee shop purchases
• 1. Maine
• 2. Massachusetts
• 3. New Hampshire
• 4. Connecticut
• 5. Washington

States with the lowest coffee shop spending
• 46. Utah
• 47. Wyoming
• 48. West Virginia
• 49. North Dakota
• 50. Mississippi

Top states for bar and liquor store purchases
• 1. Massachusetts
• 2. Colorado
• 3. New York
• 4. Wyoming
• 5. Illinois

States with the lowest bar and liquor store spending
• 46. West Virginia
• 47. Iowa
• 48. South Dakota
• 49. Alabama
• 50. Mississippi

Top brands for fast food
• 1. McDonald’s, 11.7 percent of total fast food purchases
• 2. Chipotle, 6.4 percent
• 3. Subway, 6.2 percent
• 4. Taco Bell, 4.6 percent
• 5. Chick-Fil-A, 4.2 percent

Top brands for coffee
• 1. Starbucks, with 45.5 percent of total coffee shop purchases
• 2. Dunkin' Donuts, 12.9 percent 
• 3. Peet’s Coffee, 1.2 percent
• 4. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, 0.9 percent 
• 5. Tim Horton’s, 0.9 percent

In collecting data for the report, Level Money analyzed the spending behavior of its more than 500,000 member base from January to June this year.