当たりper (person, day, kilo)
After a unit, 当たり is "per": the amount for one person, one day, one kilo. It is the plain word for a rate or an average, and is often written あたり.
an average
The team averaged two points a game.
How to form it
Number + unit + 当たり（の + noun）
一人当たり, 一日当たり, 一キロ当たり. Before a noun it takes の: 一人当たりの費用.
- Before it
- A unit you count by, usually with 一: a person, an hour, a day, a kilo, a liter, a game.
- After it
- A price, an amount or an average.
- Where you'll meet it
- Price labels (百グラム当たり), working out a shared bill, the news, statistics.
In use
The meal came to 3,000 yen per person.
This car does 18 kilometers to the liter.
This factory turns out an average of 500 items a day.
につき or 当たり?
Parking here costs 300 yen per hour.
Stiffer, as on the sign: a price or a limit someone has set.
Parking here costs 300 yen per hour.
Plainer, and fine in speech: a rate, or an average you work out.
A limit in a rule is 一人につき一枚まで. An average is 一人当たり平均三冊. In everyday talk people often use neither: 一時間三百円.
Not 辺り
辺り, also written あたり, sounds the same but means "around", after a place or a time: この辺り (around here), 来週あたり (around next week).
Close neighbours
につきN3
The "per" of price lists and rules. On signs the same word is "because of": 工事中につき.
Admission is 1,000 yen per person.
ずつN3
The amount each one really gets or does: two each, one at a time. 一人当たり may be only an average: the total divided by the number of people.
We gave each participant two handouts.
Check yourself
1Four friends shared a taxi. What did the ride cost in all?
タクシー代は
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one fits?
この
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
In headlines and tables the 一 is often left out.
Gasoline is now 170 yen a liter.
More sentences
They studied annual medical spending per person.
Electricity use per household in this area was down on last year.
This company has sales of 20 million yen per employee.
This field yields about four kilograms of tomatoes per square meter.