Biggest Share of Household Budget
Spending categories ranked by percentage of total expenditures.
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, Census 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.
| # | 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.
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 and U.S. Census Bureau demographic dimensions.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.