Consumer spending statistics show how U.S. consumer units allocate money across housing, transportation, food, healthcare, protection, and other priorities. In 2024, average annual expenditures were $78,535 per consumer unit, while BEA national-accounts estimates show current-dollar personal consumption expenditures rising 0.5% in July 2025.
Key Consumer Spending Statistics
The following highlights summarize distinct measures across the 2024 BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey and July 2025 BEA national accounts:
- In 2024, average annual expenditures were $78,535 per U.S. consumer unit.
- In 2024, the Consumer Expenditure Surveys represented 135,760 thousand U.S. consumer units.
- In 2024, average income before taxes was $104,207 per U.S. consumer unit.
- In 2024, the average consumer unit contained 2.4 people in the United States.
- In 2024, about 65% of U.S. consumer units were homeowners.
- From 2023 to 2024, average annual expenditures increased 1.8% for U.S. consumer units.
- From 2023 to 2024, consumer prices rose 2.9% under CPI-U in the United States.
- In 2024, housing accounted for 33.4% of consumer-unit spending.
- In 2024, transportation accounted for 17.0% of consumer-unit spending.
- In 2024, food accounted for 12.9% of consumer-unit spending.
- In 2024, food spending averaged $10,169 per consumer unit.
- In 2024, the highest income quintile spent $150,342 per consumer unit.
- In 2024, the lowest income quintile spent $35,046 per consumer unit.
- In 2024, healthcare accounted for 7.9% of consumer-unit spending.
- In 2024, personal insurance and pensions accounted for 12.5% of spending.
- In July 2025, real PCE increased 0.3% from June for U.S. residents.
- In July 2025, the PCE price index was 2.6% higher than in July 2024.
- In July 2025, the personal saving rate was 4.4% of disposable personal income.
Contents
- Consumer spending scale and household measures
- Consumer spending trends and inflation
- Housing, transportation, and food spending
- Consumer spending by income quintile
- Goods, services, and personal priorities
- How national consumer spending statistics are measured
Consumer Spending Statistics: Scale and Consumer-Unit Measures
The BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys describe consumer units rather than using “household” as a perfect synonym. A consumer unit can include a family, a financially independent single person, or people sharing a household who share major expenses.
BLS reported $78,535 in average annual expenditures for U.S. consumer units in 2024. The survey represented 135,760 thousand consumer units, an estimate of the population represented through survey weighting.
The average consumer unit had 2.4 people and 1.3 earners, and about 65% were homeowners. These are nominal survey measures, not inflation-adjusted spending totals. Consumer Expenditures–2024
| 2024 measure | Result | Population or unit |
|---|---|---|
| Average annual expenditures | $78,535 | U.S. consumer unit |
| Average income before taxes | $104,207 | U.S. consumer unit |
| Consumer units represented | 135,760 thousand | United States |
| Average people | 2.4 | Consumer unit |
| Average earners | 1.3 | Consumer unit |
| Homeowners | About 65% | Consumer units |
The annual spending average is equivalent to about $6,545 per month, but this is a derived annual-to-monthly equivalent rather than a separate monthly survey estimate. Average income before taxes was $104,207 per consumer unit in 2024, another nominal survey-reported measure. Consumer expenditures in 2024
Consumer Spending Trends and Inflation Data, 2021–2024
Nominal spending growth slowed over the four latest year-to-year comparisons reported by BLS, while consumer-price growth also varied. The spending series and CPI-U are related but different measures: one tracks survey-reported expenditures, and the other tracks prices.
| Period | Average annual expenditures | CPI-U consumer prices |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | +9.1% | +4.7% |
| 2021–22 | +9.0% | +8.0% |
| 2022–23 | +5.7% | +4.1% |
| 2023–24 | +1.8% | +2.9% |
From 2023 to 2024, average annual expenditures rose $1,377 per consumer unit, or 1.8%, while average income before taxes increased 2.4%. BLS presents the simple nominal-minus-CPI comparison as a 2024 real spending growth estimate of -1.1%; it is not a chained real-expenditure index. Consumer expenditures in 2024
For a more recent national-accounts view, BEA estimated that July 2025 current-dollar personal consumption expenditures increased $108.9 billion from June, or 0.5%. Real PCE increased 0.3%, while the PCE price index rose 0.2% in July and 2.6% from July 2024 to July 2025. Personal Income and Outlays, July 2025
Housing, Transportation, and Food Consumer Spending Statistics
Essential categories made up most reported 2024 consumer-unit spending. Housing was the largest category, followed by transportation and food.
| Category, 2024 | Average spending | Share of expenditures | Change from 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $26,266 | 33.4% | +3.3% |
| Transportation | $13,318 | 17.0% | +1.1% |
| Food | $10,169 | 12.9% | Not stated as a total |
Housing expenditures were the only major component identified by BLS as having a statistically significant increase from 2023 to 2024, rising 3.3%. Transportation spending averaged $13,318 and increased 1.1%; both figures are nominal U.S. consumer-unit survey measures. Consumer Expenditures–2024
Food spending averaged $10,169 per consumer unit. Of that amount, food at home averaged $6,224 and food away from home averaged $3,945; the latter includes restaurant, takeout, delivery, and similar prepared-food purchases. Consumer Expenditures–2024
Food-at-home spending increased 2.8% from 2023 to 2024. Within that component, spending on meat, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 21.5%, while spending on fruits and vegetables decreased 3.5%; these are nominal changes in BLS categories, not price-only measures. Consumer expenditures in 2024
Consumer Spending Statistics by Income Quintile
BLS forms income quintiles by ranking weighted consumer units according to before-tax income. Quintile spending figures are nominal survey averages per consumer unit, not individual-person averages or spending thresholds.
| 2024 income quintile | Average annual spending per consumer unit |
|---|---|
| Lowest | $35,046 |
| Second | $50,054 |
| Third | $66,900 |
| Fourth | $89,972 |
| Highest | $150,342 |
The highest-quintile spending average was about 4.3 times the lowest-quintile average. The lowest quintile spent about 44.6% of the all-consumer-unit average, while the highest quintile spent about 191.4% of that average; both are ratios of published nominal survey averages. Consumer Expenditures–2024
For context, the lower before-tax income bounds used in the 2023 weighted quintile construction were $28,262 for the second quintile, $54,553 for the third, $90,239 for the fourth, and $148,682 for the highest. These thresholds describe income ranking, not the amount each group spent in 2024. Consumer Expenditures–2024
Consumer Spending Data for Goods, Services, and Personal Priorities
Beyond essentials, the BLS categories show how consumer units distributed spending among healthcare, future-oriented financial categories, entertainment, education, gifts, and apparel.
| 2024 category | Average spending where reported | Share of expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare | $6,197 | 7.9% |
| Personal insurance and pensions | $9,797 | 12.5% |
| Entertainment | $3,609 | 4.6% |
| Education | Not stated | 2.0% |
| Cash contributions | Not stated | 2.9% |
| Apparel and services | Not stated | 2.5% |
Healthcare averaged $6,197 per consumer unit and represented 7.9% of spending in 2024. Personal insurance and pensions averaged $9,797 and represented 12.5%, but BLS cautions that this category is not simply discretionary saving. Consumer Expenditures–2024
Entertainment averaged $3,609, or 4.6% of spending. Education represented 2.0%, cash contributions represented 2.9%, and apparel and services represented 2.5%; cash contributions include gifts and contributions and are not retail consumption, while apparel and services includes clothing, footwear, and services such as dry cleaning. Consumer expenditures in 2024
How National Consumer Spending Statistics Are Measured
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data and BEA personal consumption expenditures answer related but different questions. BLS reports survey averages for consumer units, while BEA PCE measures purchases by or on behalf of U.S. residents in the national accounts.
In July 2025, BEA estimated that current-dollar PCE increased by $60.2 billion for services and $48.7 billion for goods from June. These are national-accounts aggregates, not additions to the BLS average household or consumer-unit survey. Personal Income and Outlays, July 2025
| July 2025 BEA measure | Reported result | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Current-dollar PCE change | +$108.9 billion | June to July, annual-rate framework |
| Services change | +$60.2 billion | June to July |
| Goods change | +$48.7 billion | June to July |
| Personal income change | +$112.3 billion | Related income measure |
| Disposable personal income change | +$93.9 billion | Related income measure |
| Personal saving | $985.6 billion | Seasonally adjusted annual rate |
| Personal saving rate | 4.4% | Share of disposable personal income |
Personal income and disposable personal income are related measures, not consumer spending itself. The July 2025 personal saving estimate of $985.6 billion is presented at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, so it is not literal cash saved during that calendar month; the 4.4% saving rate is a BEA national-accounts ratio. Personal Income and Outlays, July 2025
BEA provides annual, quarterly, and monthly PCE coverage, while monthly figures are estimates commonly presented at seasonally adjusted annual rates. Comparing BLS and BEA therefore requires attention to population, coverage, units, inflation treatment, and whether the number is an observed survey average, a derived comparison, or a national-accounts estimate. Consumer Spending