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Household spending increased for all income groups from 2015 to 2016

August 31, 2017

From 2015 to 2016, average household spending increased 2.4 percent, compared with 4.6 percent from 2014 to 2015. Household spending increased for all five income groups, ranging from 1.6 percent for households in the top 20 percent of income to 4.9 percent for households in the second 20 percent of income.

Percent change in average annual household spending for major components by income group, 2015–16
Item All households Lowest 20% Second 20% Middle 20% Fourth 20% Highest 20%

Total

2.4% 2.7% 4.9% 3.8% 1.9% 1.6%

Food at home

0.8 0.1 -4.8 7.3 4.3 -1.8

Food away from home

4.9 7.2 6.6 7.3 2.2 4.6

Housing

2.6 3.8 5.6 3.2 1.4 1.9

Apparel and services

-2.3 10.9 2.2 16.6 -1.2 -12.8

Transportation

-4.8 5.8 1.2 -4.0 -3.5 -9.6

Healthcare

6.2 11.7 3.1 7.6 2.1 8.9

Entertainment

2.5 -9.7 2.6 5.7 11.7 -0.5

Cash contributions

14.4 -21.7 35.7 -2.5 0.0 28.0

Personal insurance and pensions

7.6 8.9 1.5 6.2 7.8 9.1

All other expenditures

2.3 -4.9 17.6 12 1.2 -2.2

For all income groups, household spending from 2015 to 2016 increased for healthcare, personal insurance and pensions, food away from home, and housing. Spending on food at home, apparel and services, and entertainment increased for most income groups. Cash contributions increased in two of five income groups.

From 2015 to 2016, household spending on transportation increased 5.8 percent and 1.2 percent for the lowest and second-lowest income groups, respectively. Spending decreased for the three highest income groups, ranging from a decrease of 3.5 percent for households in the fourth 20 percent of income to a decrease of 9.6 percent for those in the highest 20 percent of income.

These data come from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. To learn more, see "Consumer Expenditures — 2016" (HTML) (PDF). 

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Household spending increased for all income groups from 2015 to 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/household-spending-increased-for-all-income-groups-from-2015-to-2016.htm (visited April 25, 2024).

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