Top Spending for Seniors (65+)
Where households headed by someone 65+ spend the most.
Spending Insight: Top Spending for Seniors (65+)
This ranking pulls spending categories from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey and sorts them by the relevant metric for this view.
Senior households (65+) spend less overall than working-age households but allocate a larger share to healthcare and cash contributions (including charitable giving). Housing remains the top expense, though many seniors have paid off mortgages, reducing this cost. Transportation spending drops as commuting ends, while healthcare spending increases significantly with age.
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.
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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys — Verify with BLS →. See methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does spending change in retirement?
Total spending drops about 20-25% after retirement. Transportation falls sharply (no commute), apparel decreases, and food spending shifts from dining out to eating at home. Healthcare spending increases 30-50%, and cash contributions (charity, gifts to family) rise. Housing costs depend heavily on whether the mortgage is paid off.
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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.