For many Americans, workplace snacking is a regular ritual, but the office snack drawer isn’t universal. A new CivicScience survey shows workplace snacking habits are unevenly distributed: 19% snack “very often,” 37% “somewhat often,” while 44% rarely or never snack at work (excluding those who answered “does not apply”).
Young adults 18-29 lead the snacking charge with 36% snacking very often—more than double any other age group. This drops dramatically to just 15% for those 30-44 and remains steady through older age groups. Women are three times more likely than men to snack very often (34% vs 11%), though both genders snack “somewhat often” equally. Regionally, the South shows the highest “very often” rate at 39%, while the Northeast is most abstinent with 57% rarely/never snacking.
But workplace snacking patterns reveal more than hunger habits:
- Snack Choices: Frequent snackers overwhelmingly prefer sweets—42% choose candy or chocolate versus just 21% of rare snackers. Meanwhile, those who rarely snack at work are most likely to choose healthy options like fruit or nuts (35% vs 14% of frequent snackers).
- Night Owl Tendency: Very often snackers stay up later—42% go to bed between 8pm-10pm compared to 31% of “somewhat often” snackers. They’re also slightly less likely to stay up past midnight (15% vs 19-20% of others).
- Streaming Habits: Frequent workplace snackers have more streaming subscriptions—36% have 4+ services compared to 40% of “somewhat often” snackers. Non-snackers are most likely to have no streaming services at all (44%).
- Splurge Patterns: When treating themselves, frequent snackers are twice as likely to splurge on luxury designer products (13% vs 6% of occasional snackers) and jewelry (13% vs 6%). Non-snackers lean toward event tickets and expensive meals.
Workplace snackers emerge as younger, predominantly female workers who balance their sweet-tooth habits with later bedtimes, multiple entertainment subscriptions, and luxury shopping preferences. They’re not just grabbing chips from the vending machine—they’re living more indulgent lifestyles overall. Meanwhile, the self-declared data reveal non-snackers appear more likely to be choosing healthier options when they do eat and investing in experiences over products. In the workplace snacking divide, we’re seeing a broader split between immediate gratification and delayed reward.
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This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.