In 1971, 1 percent of U.S. citizens described themselves as vegetarians.[127] In 2008 Harris Interactive found that 3.2% are vegetarian and 0.5% vegan.[128] U.S. vegetarian food sales (dairy replacements such as soy milk and meat replacements such as textured vegetable protein) doubled between 1998 and 2003, reaching $1.6 billion in 2003.[129]

According to a report in 2017, the number of consumers claiming to be vegan has risen to 6% in the US.[130] In 2015, a Harris Poll National Survey of 2,017 adults aged 18 and over found that eight million Americans, or 3.4%, ate a solely vegetarian diet, and that one million, or 0.4%, ate a strictly vegan diet.[131]