Household spending rankings · BLS CE 2024
Top Spending for Young Adults (Under 25)
Where households headed by someone under 25 spend the most, every category ranked by average annual expenditure, from BLS Consumer Expenditure 2024 data.
Spending Insight: Top Spending for Young Adults (Under 25)
This ranking pulls spending categories from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey and sorts them by the relevant metric for this view.
Young adult households (under 25) have distinctly different spending patterns. They spend less overall but allocate disproportionately to transportation (car payments, insurance), education, and food away from home. Housing takes a massive share of their smaller budgets. Understanding these patterns helps young adults benchmark their own spending and identify areas for optimization.
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.
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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys - Verify with BLS →. See methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do young adults spend per year?
Households headed by someone under 25 spend approximately $35,000-$40,000 annually, about 55% of the national average. Their biggest expenses are housing, transportation, and food, which together consume over 70% of their budget.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.