How many calories are in Philadelphia cream cheese?
Two tablespoons of Philadelphia cream cheese, the standard bagel schmear, weigh 30 g and carry 103 calories. Per 100 g the plain full-fat block runs 343 calories, almost all of it fat. That makes it one of the densest things Americans spread by the knifeful, and the number of tablespoons matters more than the bread underneath.
You'd need to walk about 21 minutes to burn the 103 calories in a 2-tablespoon (30 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off 103 kcal of Philadelphia cream cheese?
A 2-tablespoon (30 g) serving is 103 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 103 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 21 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 13 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 15 min |
| Jogging | 12 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 23 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (30 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Cream cheese quick facts
- US servings, from one tablespoon to an 8 oz block
- Light, fat free, flavored and whipped
- Saturated fat is the row that bites
- How does cream cheese compare?
- Most popular cream cheese brands
- FAQ
Cream cheese quick facts
The row used here is FNDDS 2705760, "Cream cheese, regular, plain" — the ordinary full-fat block or tub you pull out of the fridge door, not a spread and not a light version. USDA also keeps a Foundation record for the same food, 2346385, with essentially identical macros. Its calories are calculated by Atwater factors and it carries no sugar or fiber values, so it works as a cross-check rather than as the main row.
The Philadelphia package prints 100 calories per 1 oz (28 g) and works out to 357 per 100 g. USDA says 343. The gap is label rounding, which the FDA allows in 10-calorie steps above 50 calories, not a different cheese in the box.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 2 tbsp (30 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 343 | 103 | — |
| Total fat | 33.49 g | 10.0 g | 13% |
| Saturated fat | 19.7 g | 5.9 g | 30% |
| Carbohydrate | 4.56 g | 1.4 g | 0% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0.0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 3.76 g | 1.1 g | — |
| Protein | 5.79 g | 1.7 g | 3% |
| Sodium | 368 mg | 110 mg | 5% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you would see on the tub are missing above: added sugars and trans fat. USDA does not publish either value for plain cream cheese, so printing a number for them would be invention. Cholesterol and potassium are published: 101 mg and 125 mg per 100 g, which comes to 30 mg of cholesterol (10% DV) and 38 mg of potassium (1% DV) in a 2-tablespoon schmear. The sodium in that schmear, 110 mg, is roughly a twentieth of a teaspoon of table salt — trivial on its own, and the reason cream cheese never tastes salty even though a cup of it holds 883 mg. The FDA's Daily Value reference is what those percentages are measured against.
US servings, from one tablespoon to an 8 oz block
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 tablespoon | 15 g | 51 kcal |
| 1 oz, one foil single-serve cup | 28.35 g | 97 kcal |
| 2 tbsp, one bagel schmear | 30 g | 103 kcal |
| Half an 8 oz block | 113 g | 389 kcal |
| One 8 oz block | 227 g | 779 kcal |
| 1 cup | 240 g | 823 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 343 kcal |
The tablespoon, the individual container and the cup are USDA household measures for this record. The 2-tablespoon schmear, the 8 oz block, the half block and the 1 oz figure are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g number, not USDA servings — 8 oz converts to 227 g, and 227 g at 343 calories per 100 g gives 779.
Those last rows are where the damage hides. Nobody eats a cup of cream cheese with a spoon, but plenty of people bake with it. A standard cheesecake asks for two 8 oz packages, 454 g of cheese, and that is 1,557 calories before a gram of sugar, a crumb of crust or a single egg joins in. Frosting recipes are usually one block, so 779.
The gap between one tablespoon and a deli schmear is the other trap. A careful 1 tbsp is 51 calories. A generous hand at a bagel shop puts closer to 2 oz on the bread, which is 196 calories by the same arithmetic — nearly four tablespoons, and almost double what most people would guess they are spreading.
Light, fat free, flavored and whipped
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original, plain block | 343 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 103 kcal |
| Light, reduced fat | 264 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 79 kcal |
| Fat free | 105 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 32 kcal |
| Flavored, strawberry or chive and onion | 275 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 83 kcal |
| Whipped cream cheese spread | 295 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 89 kcal |
| Full-fat block, Foundation record | 342.8 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 97 kcal |
Light cream cheese saves 24 calories per schmear. That is real but small, and it comes with a trade: sodium rises from 368 mg per 100 g to 479 mg, so a 2-tablespoon serving goes from 110 mg to 144 mg. Saturated fat drops from 19.7 g per 100 g to 13.35 g.
Fat free is the only version that changes the arithmetic instead of nudging it. At 105 calories per 100 g, a schmear is 32 calories — 71 fewer than the original — and the protein climbs to 15.69 g per 100 g, nearly triple the 5.79 g in the full-fat block, because taking the fat out leaves the milk solids behind. The sodium goes the other way, to 702 mg per 100 g, which puts 211 mg in 2 tablespoons.
Flavored tubs are the ones people misjudge. Strawberry and chive-and-onion styles land at 275 calories per 100 g, lower than the original, but the sugar is 12.96 g per 100 g against 3.76 g — a 2-tablespoon serving carries 3.9 g of sugar instead of 1.1 g. Less fat, more sweetener, roughly 20 fewer calories per schmear.
Whipped spread is the honest surprise. At 295 calories per 100 g it looks lighter than 343, and per 2 tablespoons it is: 89 against 103. But that saving is air whipped into the cheese, not fat taken out. Spoon for spoon it feels the same and spreads further, which is exactly how people end up using more of it.
On the shelf, the Philadelphia labels line up with those tiers: Neufchatel at 250 calories per 100 g and 70 per ounce, Reduced Fat at 194 per 100 g and 60 per 2 Tbsp, Fat Free at 91 per 100 g and 30 per 2 Tbsp, and Deli Style running the other way at 375 per 100 g.
Saturated fat is the row that bites
Calories are not the interesting column on this label. Saturated fat is. Two tablespoons deliver 5.9 g, which is 30% of the Daily Value from something most people file mentally as a condiment. The protein in the same 30 g is 1.7 g, or 3% DV. That ratio — ten to one, fat percentage against protein percentage — is the whole nutritional story of cream cheese in one line.
Put it in a day's context. Bagel with cream cheese at breakfast, a cheesecake slice after dinner, and the saturated fat budget is spent before anything else on the plate is counted. Two schmears alone come to 11.8 g against the FDA's 20 g Daily Value, close to 60% of it. If saturated fat is the number you are watching, this is a food to measure rather than eyeball; if it isn't, cream cheese is a cheap 100 calories of flavor on an otherwise plain carbohydrate.
Cholesterol runs 30 mg per schmear, 10% DV. Cream cheese counts toward the dairy group on MyPlate only loosely — it is classed with the cream products rather than the milk and yogurt that carry the calcium, so it does not do the job a glass of milk does.
How does cream cheese compare?
| Spread | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cream cheese, plain block | 343 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 97 kcal |
| Cheese spread, cream cheese | 295 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 84 kcal |
| Sour cream, regular | 196 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 56 kcal |
| Cream, whipped | 346 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 98 kcal |
Our take: of these four, only whipped cream is denser per 100 g, and only by 3 calories. Sour cream is the genuinely lighter swap at 196 per 100 g — 41 fewer calories per ounce than cream cheese — and it works anywhere the cheese is going into a sauce, a dip or a baked potato rather than onto bread. For a bagel there is no swap, so the lever is the amount: measure the schmear at one tablespoon and you are at 51 calories, take fat free and you are at 32, or spread the full-fat block with a light hand and accept 103. Choosing between light and whipped to save 14 or 24 calories is not where this food is won.
Most popular cream cheese brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese | 357 cal |
| Philadelphia Deli Style Cream Cheese | 375 cal |
| Philadelphia Neufchatel Cheese | 250 cal |
| Philadelphia Reduced Fat Cream Cheese | 194 cal |
| Philadelphia Chive & Onion Reduced Fat | 194 cal |
| Philadelphia Fat Free Cream Cheese | 91 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Cream cheese FAQs
How many calories are in Philadelphia cream cheese?
103 calories for the standard 2-tablespoon schmear, 30 g of the regular full-fat block. That is 343 calories per 100 g. The Philadelphia label rounds its own 1 oz serving to 100 calories, close to the 97 that USDA's 343 figure gives for the same 28 g.
How many calories in 1 oz of cream cheese?
97 calories in 1 ounce (28.35 g), our own arithmetic from the USDA figure of 343 per 100 g rather than a USDA serving. That is one foil single-serve cup. Philadelphia prints 100 calories for its 28 g ounce, a rounding difference rather than a different cheese.
How many calories in an 8 oz block of cream cheese?
779 calories in a full 8 oz block, which is 227 g, scaled by us from the USDA 100 g figure. Half a block is 389. A cheesecake calling for two blocks starts at 1,557 calories from the cheese alone, before sugar, crust or eggs.
How many calories in a bagel with cream cheese?
103 calories come from the cheese if the schmear is 2 tablespoons; a deli hand is closer to 2 oz, or 196 calories, our own scaling of the USDA figure. The bagel is a separate USDA record and is not counted on this page, so add it yourself.
Light vs original Philadelphia cream cheese calories?
79 calories for 2 tablespoons of light cream cheese against 103 for the original, a saving of 24. Light runs 264 calories per 100 g instead of 343 and 13.35 g of saturated fat instead of 19.7 g, but sodium climbs from 368 mg to 479 mg per 100 g.
How much protein is in cream cheese?
1.7 g of protein in 2 tablespoons, 3% of the Daily Value, or 5.79 g per 100 g. This is a fat food that happens to be made from milk, not a protein food. The fat free version carries 15.69 g per 100 g, nearly triple, because the fat is gone.
Is Neufchatel the same as cream cheese?
250 calories per 100 g for Philadelphia Neufchatel against 357 on the Original label, and 70 calories per ounce instead of 100. It is the same style of soft spreadable cheese made with less milk fat, which is why American Neufchatel is sold as the lighter swap rather than a separate cheese.
How much saturated fat is in cream cheese?
5.9 g of saturated fat in 2 tablespoons, 30% of the Daily Value, from something most people treat as a condiment. Per 100 g it is 19.7 g. Two schmears in a day come to 11.8 g against the FDA's 20 g Daily Value, close to 60% of it.
Similar foods
- Gouda cheese — 75 cal per slice
- Condensed Milk — 122 cal per 2 tbsp
- Thousand Island Dressing — 216 cal per dipping-size container
- Honey — 64 cal per tablespoon
- Cheeseburger — 488 cal per cheeseburger
- Wonton wrapper — 23 cal per wonton wrapper
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bagel and BodyPal counts the schmear with it.
