Household spending rankings · BLS CE 2024 · % of Budget
Biggest Share of Household Budget
Housing leads at 33.4% , ahead of Transportation (17.0%) and Food (12.9%). This list ranks 14 categories from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey. Across all 14 categories the median is 2.5%; the smallest on this top 8 is 2.5%. Explore per-category breakdowns by income, age, and region via the table below.
- Categories ranked
- 14
- #1: Housing
- 33.4%
- Survey year
- 2024
Budget concentration in one line
Housing alone takes 33.4% of the average budget - Apparel and services is only 2.5% at the top-8 cutoff.
- Housing (#1)
- 33.4%
- Apparel and services top-8 cutoff
- #8
- median across all categories
- 2.5%
- categories on this complete list
- 14
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys. Ranking is a comparison of BLS CE averages, not advice.
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. Figures are national averages from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, not advice.
How we calculate this: each category's published annual spend divided by that year's total household spend, from the raw BLS figures.
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.
Other BLS ranking lenses: Highest Spending · Fastest Growing · Budget calculator
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.