Household spending rankings · BLS CE 2024 · Growth %
Fastest Growing Household Expenses
Reading leads at 6.8% , ahead of Housing (3.3%) and Personal care products and services (2.9%). This list ranks 14 categories from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey. Across all 14 categories the median is 0.9%; the smallest on this top 8 is 0.9%. Explore per-category breakdowns by income, age, and region via the table below.
- Categories ranked
- 14
- #1: Reading
- 6.8%
- Survey year
- 2024
Where the book moved year over year
Reading posted the fastest published change at 6.8%; Alcoholic beverages sits at 0.9% among the top 8.
- Reading (#1)
- 6.8%
- Alcoholic beverages top-8 cutoff
- #8
- median across all categories
- 0.9%
- categories on this complete list
- 14
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys. Ranking is a comparison of BLS CE averages, not advice.
Fastest Growing Household Expenses - top 8
Top 8 of 14 categories
Across all 14 categories the median is 0.9%; the smallest on this top 8 is 0.9%.
| # | Category | Growth % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reading | 6.8% |
| 2 | Housing | 3.3% |
| 3 | Personal care products and services | 2.9% |
| 4 | Miscellaneous | 2.9% |
| 5 | Personal insurance and pensions | 2.5% |
| 6 | Food | 1.8% |
| 7 | Transportation | 1.1% |
| 8 | Alcoholic beverages | 0.9% |
| 9 | Healthcare | 0.6% |
| 10 | Entertainment | -0.7% |
| 11 | Apparel and services | -2.0% |
| 12 | Cash contributions | -3.6% |
| 13 | Tobacco products and smoking supplies | -4.9% |
| 14 | Education | -5.3% |
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: the percentage change in each category's published annual spend from 2023 to 2024, from the raw BLS figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which household expenses are growing fastest?
Healthcare, housing, and transportation costs have shown the strongest growth in recent years, driven by medical inflation, rising rents/home prices, and vehicle cost increases. Food costs spiked during 2022-2023 inflation but have since moderated.
Other BLS ranking lenses: Highest Spending · Budget Share · Budget calculator
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.