No one in the U.S. eats dinner as early as Pennsylvanians, new report says

Pennsylvania puts the “early bird” in early-bird dinners, data show.

A new analysis on when Americans eat dinner shows that of all 50 states, people in Pennsylvania eat the earliest. According to Nathan Yau, creator of the popular data visualization site Flowing Data, the average Pennsylvania household starts eating dinner at 5:37 p.m.

Yau analyzed data from 2018 through 2022 American Time Use Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to analyze when households across the country were eating. He did not include 2020 data, which was incomplete because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He found that Pennsylvania eats earliest, with Maine (5:40 p.m.) coming in second place. Meanwhile, D.C. starts eating dinner the latest at 7:10 p.m. In New Jersey, dinner starts at 6:17 p.m., according to Yau.

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It’s hard to say exactly what drives the time discrepancies by state. Yau suspects it could be “an age thing” or have something to do with Pennsylvania’s later sunset times compared to other states, but he couldn’t find anything conclusive when he dug deeper.

According to World Population Review data, Pennsylvania has the eighth-highest age of residents; the average age of Pennsylvanians is 40.9 years old. But states including Maine, Vermont, Florida, and Delaware all have higher median ages and later average dinnertimes.

“I was surprised that Pennsylvania’s peak dinnertime was the earliest,” Yau told The Inquirer. “Although the range of dinnertime for Pennsylvania is relatively wide compared to other states.” His best guess is that it might have something to do with the state’s vast range of work and commuting schedules.

Other factors that could play a role in early dining times include family makeup and cultural diversity. For instance, a family with young kids may eat earlier than a childless couple.

“There have been some broad guesses about time zones, cities, and north to south,” Yau said. “But if you look at the times by geography, there isn’t a clear pattern. I also compared peak dinnertime for metro vs. nonmetro areas, but there didn’t seem to be much difference. So my best guess is still related to what people do before dinnertime, most likely commute-related.”

Yau suspects that in D.C.’s case, the late dinners are driven by the area’s much smaller geography compared to other states and a lack of variation in people’s work and commute schedules, leading to a narrower range than other states surveyed. His analysis also revealed that most households eat dinner between 5:07 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., with peak dinnertime dropping at 6:19 p.m.

It’s unclear what portion of diners in Yau’s analysis were dining at home vs. going out to eat. But available data from restaurants appear to support his dinnertime analysis, too.

OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation service, publishes some of its year-over-year data in a report called State of the Restaurants. In its report of dining times by day, Pennsylvania shows an influx of diners between 5 and 6 p.m. on Saturdays. But in D.C. — which ranked the latest for dinnertimes in Yau’s analysis — the highest concentration of diners on a Saturday is at 7 p.m.

Marc Vetri of Vetri Cucina and Fiorella said that when his restaurants started dinner services without offering reservations, people would begin lining up as early as 3 p.m. Today, Fiorella takes reservations beginning at 4 p.m.

“It’s a much easier time to get in,” Vetri said. “People became used to getting to us early in order to get a seat. ... I guess people will do almost anything for good pasta.”

In other areas of Pennsylvania, some chain restaurants offer promotions for early diners, like family or kids’ night.

And, while happy hour snacks are the predominant special in downtown Philly eateries, those in outlying areas continue to offer early bird specials. Benny the Bum’s bar and restaurant in Northeast Philly begins its early bird at 4 p.m. while Ritz Diner, also in the Northeast, starts its specials as early as 2 p.m.

According to the Wall Street Journal, more people of all ages are eating earlier dinners — and seeing movies and shows earlier than ever before. In some cases, the Journal says, the shift has prompted restaurants to change hours or close earlier.

Yelp data acquired by the Journal says restaurants currently seat 10% of diners between 2 and 5 p.m. — that’s double the rate restaurants seated people in the same time window since 2019. Uber trips to restaurants between 4 and 5 p.m. have also jumped 10% since 2019, the newspaper reported. Rides to restaurants past 8 p.m. are down 9%.

During the pandemic, when labor shortages forced restaurants to truncate hours, the Kelly family of Kelly’s Seafood, a fixture in the Northeast since 1958, noticed a shift to earlier dinnertimes.

“We’re busy doing our early birds [from 4-6 p.m.], but when 7 o’clock comes, I’m like, ‘What’s going on?” said Brian Kelly, who runs the restaurant with his twin brother, Brett.

They estimated that the number of dining room patrons after 7 p.m. is perhaps half of what they served before the pandemic. “All of a sudden at 8:30, we’re getting our last diner where we used to be 9:30,” Brett Kelly said. The bar often stays open till midnight.

As for why, Brian’s guess is it has something to do with habit. ”I think with COVID, when everyone was staying home, people ate earlier and got used to it,” he said. “Now, 4:30 is dinnertime instead of 5:30. It’s weird.”

Staff reporter Mike Klein contributed to this article.