BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey · 2024
U.S. Household Spending Statistics
The key, citable figures on how the average American household spends its money in 2024, drawn directly from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey.
- Average annual spend
- $78,535
- Largest category
- Housing · 33.4%
- Categories tracked
- 14
In 2024 the average U.S. household spent $78,535; housing led at $26,266 (33.4%), with the top three categories taking 63% of the budget.
According to the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024, this page summarizes 14 major spending categories. See the methodology or download the CSV.
Key findings (2024)
Short, attributable one-liners from the same live queries as the category pages. Quote with the Cite this page block below.
- The average U.S. household spent $78,535 in 2024, according to the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey.
- Housing is the single largest household expense at $26,266 a year (33.4% of the total budget).
- The three largest categories (housing, transportation, food) together account for 63% of all household spending.
- Transportation trails Housing at $13,318 (17.0% of the budget) versus $26,266 for housing.
- The highest-income fifth of households spent $150,342 in 2024, 4.3× the $35,046 spent by the lowest-income fifth.
- Average household spending changed +28% over five years, from $61,334 in 2020 to $78,535 in 2024.
- By Census region, West households spent the most ($92,625) and South households the least ($70,376) in 2024.
- PlainHousehold tracks 14 major spending categories broken down by income, age, Census region, household size, and housing tenure.
Download the derived table: household spending by category CSV (CC0).
Reuse is governed by our Terms of Use. The underlying federal tables are public domain; this derived snapshot carries PlainHousehold's stated reuse terms.
Every figure on PlainHousehold is rendered directly from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, no number is typed in by an editor. This data-study page aggregates national CES totals and category shares from the same database tables every category page renders, not editorial estimates. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2024.