This study analyzes the annual features of rice purchasing behaviors of urban households and revisits the issue through a categorization of the households according to income level. The results state that the amount of rice consumption has been decreasing and the figure is more distinct in the higher income level. It was found that there is a clear difference between the results from an analysis of rice purchasing behaviors of urban consumers as a whole and those from the analysis through a classification of consumers according to income level. This implies that if one analyzes the issue without the classification of consumers, it may distort the information regarding domestic consumers' rice purchasing behaviors and also may cause a bias in the empirical analysis. Therefore, we must consider the difference through the income level in the discussion of rice consumption patterns, in the controversy over the normal-or-inferior goods, and in the policy decision for rice production and consumption.