Household spending rankings · BLS CE 2024
Biggest Share of Household Budget
U.S. household spending categories ranked by share of the total budget for 2024, which expenses claim the biggest slice of every dollar. BLS data.
- Categories ranked
- 14
- #1: Housing
- 33.4%
- Survey year
- 2024
Spending Insight: Biggest Share of Household Budget
The top-ranked category in this list is Housing at 33.4%, followed by Transportation (17.0%) and Food (12.9%). In total, this ranking covers 14 spending categories drawn from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey.
The percentage breakdown reveals which expenses dominate household budgets regardless of income level. Housing consistently claims the largest share, followed by transportation and food. Healthcare has been steadily growing as a budget share over the past two decades, while food at home has been declining as a percentage even as absolute spending increases.
The spread between the top-ranked Housing (33.4%) and the bottom-ranked Reading (0.2%) illustrates how uneven household spending is across categories. Rankings like this are most useful when paired with the per-category detail pages, which break spending down by income quintile, age group, region, household size, and housing tenure. Click any category name in the table below to drill into that demographic breakdown and see where your own household might fit within the broader distribution.
Biggest Share of Household Budget - top 8
Top 8 of 14 categories
Across all 14 categories the median is 2.5%; the smallest on this top 8 is 2.5%.
| # | Category | % of Budget |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Housing | 33.4% |
| 2 | Transportation | 17.0% |
| 3 | Food | 12.9% |
| 4 | Personal insurance and pensions | 12.5% |
| 5 | Healthcare | 7.9% |
| 6 | Entertainment | 4.6% |
| 7 | Cash contributions | 2.9% |
| 8 | Apparel and services | 2.5% |
| 9 | Education | 2.0% |
| 10 | Miscellaneous | 1.6% |
| 11 | Personal care products and services | 1.2% |
| 12 | Alcoholic beverages | 0.8% |
| 13 | Tobacco products and smoking supplies | 0.4% |
| 14 | Reading | 0.2% |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys - Verify with BLS →. See methodology.
How we calculate this: each category's published annual spend divided by that year's total household spend, from the raw BLS figures.
What to do with this ranking
Housing tops this list, ahead of Transportation - here's how to put your own household in context.
- Check where your household lands against the national income quintiles. Budget calculator
- See how these categories break down by income, age, and region. All categories
- Save the categories you want to track to your private watchlist. Save categories
Rankings reflect national-average BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey figures; individual households vary.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of income goes to housing?
The average American household spends about 33-34% of their total expenditures on housing, including mortgage/rent, utilities, maintenance, and furnishings. The 30% rule (spend no more than 30% on housing) is exceeded by the national average.
Explore Related Rankings
Browse other rankings compiled from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey demographic dimensions.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.