Household spending rankings · BLS CE 2024

Where Americans spend the most

Six ranking views sort 6 household spending lenses, by total dollars, budget share, growth, age, and income, from the average U.S. budget of $78,535 in 2024. Every list links to per-category breakdowns by income quintile, age, and region.

Highest spending → Budget share Fastest growing Statistics
Ranking views
6
Survey year
2024
Avg spend
$78,535

The rankings hub in one line

Housing leads the national highest-spending preview at $26,266; Healthcare sets the top-5 hub cutoff at $6,197 against an average U.S. household budget of $78,535 (2024).

Housing (#1 preview)
$26,266
Healthcare top-5 cutoff
#5
2024 average household spend
$78,535
ranking views on this hub
6

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys. Preview rows match the highest-spending board top five.

Open Data

Download plainhousehold-spending-by-category.csv (same extract as the homepage Dataset): the national amounts behind these rankings.

Highest Spending Categories

Where American households spend the most money.

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  1. 1 Housing $26,266
  2. 2 Transportation $13,318
  3. 3 Food $10,169
  4. 4 Personal insurance and pensions $9,797
  5. 5 Healthcare $6,197

Biggest Share of Budget

Categories that consume the largest percentage of household budgets.

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  1. 1 Housing 33.4%
  2. 2 Transportation 17.0%
  3. 3 Food 12.9%
  4. 4 Personal insurance and pensions 12.5%
  5. 5 Healthcare 7.9%

Fastest Growing Expenses

Spending categories with the biggest 2-year growth rate.

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  1. 1 Reading 6.8%
  2. 2 Housing 3.3%
  3. 3 Personal care products and services 2.9%
  4. 4 Miscellaneous 2.9%
  5. 5 Personal insurance and pensions 2.5%

Top Spending for Young Adults

Where households under 25 spend the most.

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  1. 1 Housing $16,853
  2. 2 Transportation $9,243
  3. 3 Food $7,215
  4. 4 Personal insurance and pensions $4,428
  5. 5 Education $2,652

Top Spending for Seniors

Where households 65+ spend the most.

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  1. 1 Housing $22,193
  2. 2 Transportation $9,538
  3. 3 Food $7,940
  4. 4 Healthcare $7,799
  5. 5 Personal insurance and pensions $3,480

Top Spending for High Income

Where $200K+ households spend the most.

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  1. 1 Housing $44,033
  2. 2 Personal insurance and pensions $27,279
  3. 3 Transportation $25,378
  4. 4 Food $16,989
  5. 5 Healthcare $9,771

Every figure on PlainHousehold is rendered directly from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.