For release: 10:00 a.m. (EDT), Tuesday, August 29, 2017 USDL-17-1175 

Technical Information: (202) 691-6900 • CEXInfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cex 

Media Contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov

CONSUMER EXPENDITURES – 2016 

Average expenditures per consumer unit1 for 2016 were $57,311, a 2.4-percent increase from 

2015 levels, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the 

Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) rose 1.3 percent2

, and average pre-tax income per consumer unit 

increased 7.2 percent to $74,664. In 2015, spending increased 4.6 percent from 2014 levels. 

Six of the eight major components of household spending increased in 2016, as shown in table 

A. Of these, cash contributions expenditures showed the greatest percentage increase, 14.4 

percent. This was followed by expenditures for personal insurance and pensions, rising 7.6 

percent, healthcare, rising 6.2 percent, food and housing, both rising 2.6 percent, and 

entertainment, rising 2.5 percent. Expenditures on transportation fell 4.8 percent, while 

expenditures on apparel and services fell 2.3 percent. 

Spending patterns by selected component

Expenditures on cash contributions rose again this year, up 14.4 percent after rising 1.7 percent 

in 2015. 

Personal insurance and pensions expenditures rose 7.6 percent to $6,831. This was primarily 

driven by the 8.2-percent increase in pensions and Social Security expenditures. The non-payroll 

deposits in retirement plans subcomponent was up over 26 percent in 2016 and up over 83 

percent since 2014. The subcomponent life and other personal insurance fell 3.3 percent.

Healthcare expenditures rose 6.2 percent. This was primarily driven by increased health 

insurance expenditures, up 6.1 percent. 

Housing expenditures increased 2.6 percent. The largest subcomponent, shelter, rose 3.6 percent. 

The change was driven by rented dwellings, up 6.1 percent. Owned dwellings, which includes 

mortgage interest, property taxes, and maintenance, repairs, and insurance increased 1.4 percent. 

 

1 Consumer units include families, single persons living alone or sharing a household with others but who are 

financially independent, or two or more persons living together who share expenses.

2 This is calculated as the percentage change between the annual average CPI-U for all items for 2016 (240.007) and 

the annual average CPI-U for all items for 2015 (237.017). See CPI Detailed Report, Data for January 2017, Table 

24.
Expenditures on the discretionary categories of food away from home and entertainment 

continued increasing in 2016, up 4.9 percent and 2.5 percent respectively, after increasing 7.9 

percent and 4.2 percent in 2015.

Transportation expenditures fell 4.8 percent primarily driven by the 9.1-percent decline in 

vehicle purchases expenditures and the 8.7-percent decline in gasoline and motor oil 

expenditures. Gasoline and motor oil expenditures have declined each year since 2012. The 

second largest subcomponent of transportation, other vehicle expenses, which includes finance 

charges, maintenance, insurance, and rentals/leases/licenses, rose 4.6 percent. 

Table A. Average expenditures and income of all consumer units and percent changes for 

selected components, 2014-161

Item 2014 2015 2016 

Percent change

2014 - 2015 2015 - 2016 

Average income before taxes................................. $66,877 $69,629 $74,664 4.1 7.2

Average annual expenditures................................. 53,495 55,978 57,311 4.6 2.4

Food................................................................. 6,759 7,023 7,203 3.9 2.6

Food at home.................................................. 3,971 4,015 4,049 1.1 0.8

Food away from home....................................... 2,787 3,008 3,154 7.9 4.9

Housing............................................................. 17,798 18,409 18,886 3.4 2.6

Shelter............................................................ 10,491 10,742 11,128 2.4 3.6

 Owned dwellings............................................ 6,149 6,210 6,295 1.0 1.4

 Rented dwellings............................................ 3,631 3,802 4,035 4.7 6.1

Apparel and services............................................ 1,786 1,846 1,803 3.4 -2.3

Transportation..................................................... 9,073 9,503 9,049 4.7 -4.8

Vehicle purchases............................................ 3,301 3,997 3,634 21.1 -9.1

Gasoline and motor oil....................................... 2,468 2,090 1,909 -15.3 -8.7

Other vehicle expenses..................................... 2,723 2,756 2,884 1.2 4.6

Healthcare......................................................... 4,290 4,342 4,612 1.2 6.2

Health insurance.............................................. 2,868 2,977 3,160 3.8 6.1

Entertainment...................................................... 2,728 2,842 2,913 4.2 2.5

Cash contributions............................................... 1,788 1,819 2,081 1.7 14.4

Personal insurance and pensions........................... 5,726 6,349 6,831 10.9 7.6

 Life and other personal insurance....................... 327 333 322 1.8 -3.3

 Pensions and Social Security............................. 5,399 6,016 6,509 11.4 8.2

All other expenditures........................................... 3,547 3,845 3,933 8.4 2.3

1 Subcategories do not sum to 100%.
Spending by composition of consumer unit

Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) data measure how consumers allocate their spending among 

the various components of average annual expenditures. Table B and chart 1 compare the shares 

allocated to selected major expenditure categories by composition of consumer unit in 2016. One 

parent consumer units with at least one child under 18 allocated over one-half of their total 

spending to food and housing, increasing their share for both categories from 2015 and reported 

the highest shares of spending on food and housing among the groups studied.

Over 10 percent of total spending for married couple only consumer units went to healthcare, 

over twice as large a share as reported by one parent consumer units (5.1 percent). Married 

couple with children consumer units allocated the highest share of all groups to personal 

insurance and pensions (12.5 percent), while other married couple consumer units (those with 

married couples and persons other than children living in the consumer unit) allocated the 

highest share to transportation (18.6 percent). 

Table B. Shares of average annual expenditures on selected major components by 

composition of consumer unit, 2016

Item Married 

couple only

Married couple 

with children

Other married 

couple consumer 

units

One parent, at 

least one child 

under 18

Single person 

and other 

consumer units

Food 11.8 12.9 14.5 14.8 12.4

Housing 30.5 31.8 30.5 38.0 36.7

Transportation 17.5 17.3 18.6 17.0 15.9

Healthcare 10.3 7.3 7.8 5.1 7.3

Personal insurance and 

pensions

11.1 12.5 11.6 7.5 8.9

Chart 1. Shares of average annual expenditures on selected major components by 

composition of consumer unit, 2016

0

10

20

30

40

Food Housing Transportation Healthcare Personal insurance and

pensions

Percent

Married couple only Married couple with children Other married couple consumer units

One parent, at least one child under 18 Single person and other consumer units
Spending by income quintile

Table C and Chart 2 show the percent change for expenditures by income quintile. Overall 

spending increased in all five quintiles, ranging from 1.6 percent in the highest quintile to 4.9 

percent in the second quintile. Healthcare, personal insurance and pensions, food away from 

home, and housing expenditures increased across all income quintiles. Spending on food at 

home, apparel and services, and entertainment saw increases in three of five quintiles. Cash 

contributions had increases in two of five quintiles. Transportation expenditures increased by 5.8 

percent and 1.2 percent for the lowest and second quintiles, but declined between 3.5 percent and 

9.6 percent for the highest three quintiles. 

Table C. Dollar change and percent change in average annual expenditures on major 

components by income quintile, 2015-16 

Item Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest

Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent

Average annual 

expenditure change: 

Total............................ $668 2.7 $1,707 4.9 $1,752 3.8 $1,239 1.9 $1,713 1.6

Food........................... 95 2.5 -44 -0.9 425 7.3 271 3.3 163 1.3

 At home..................... 3 0.1 -158 -4.8 252 7.3 193 4.3 -117 -1.8

 Away from home.......... 92 7.2 115 6.6 172 7.3 78 2.2 280 4.6

Housing..................... 377 3.8 720 5.6 506 3.2 279 1.4 626 1.9

Apparel and services...... 84 10.9 25 2.2 217 16.6 -25 -1.2 -514 -12.8

Transportation............... 208 5.8 69 1.2 -356 -4.0 -399 -3.5 -1,719 -9.6

Healthcare.................... 226 11.7 105 3.1 301 7.6 114 2.1 628 8.9

Entertainment................ -124 -9.7 45 2.6 126 5.7 358 11.7 -31 -0.5

Cash contributions......... -154 -21.7 377 35.7 -34 -2.5 1 0.0 1,144 28.0

Personal insurance and 

pensions...................... 53 8.9 26 1.5 247 6.2 595 7.8 1,603 9.1

All other expenditures..... -97 -4.9 385 17.6 321 12.0 45 1.2 -189 -2.2

Chart 2. Percent change in average annual expenditures by income quintile, 2015-16 

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest

Percent
Other available data 

Consumer Expenditure (CE) data include the expenditures and income of consumers, as well as 

the demographic characteristics of those consumers. Tables with more expenditure detail are 

available at www.bls.gov/cex. Published tables provide 2016 CE data by standard classifications 

that include income quintile, income decile, income class, age of reference person, size of 

consumer unit, number of earners, composition of consumer unit, region of residence, housing 

tenure, type of area (urban-rural), race, Hispanic origin, occupation, and highest education level 

of any member. A generational table, published as an experimental table since 2014, is being 

added as a new standard table this year. It uses the birth year of the reference person to 

categorize consumer units into five generational categories defined by the Pew Research Center. 

These annual tables include means, shares, and standard errors. Other tables available on the 

website include expenditures by age, region, size, or gender cross-tabulated by income before 

taxes and other demographic variables. Historical tables back to 1984 and selected metropolitan 

area tabulations are also available.

Future articles in the BLS Beyond the Numbers publication series will highlight recent trends in 

prices and spending in the U.S. economy, and will feature 2016 CE data. Recent CE-specific 

Beyond the Numbers articles provide analyses of topical economic issues and long term 

spending trends, as well as comparisons of CE data to other data series (see 

www.bls.gov/cex/csxwebarticles.htm). Other survey information available on the CE website 

includes answers to frequently asked questions and a glossary of terms. Also available are the 

Interview information booklet and computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) instrument 

specifications as well as the Diary survey form and information booklet.

The 2016 CE public-use microdata, including Interview Survey data, Diary Survey data, and 

paradata (information about the survey process), are available on the CE website for download. 

The Interview files contain expenditure data in two different formats: MTBI files that present 

monthly values in an item-coding framework based on the CPI pricing scheme, and EXPN files 

that organize expenditures by the section of the Interview questionnaire in which they are 

collected. Expenditure values on EXPN files cover different time periods depending on the 

specific questions asked, and the files also contain relevant non-expenditure information not 

found on the MTBI files. The public-use microdata for 2016 also includes estimates of state and 

federal tax liabilities. The CE introduced these estimates in 2013 to improve the quality of the 

tax data. The tax data collected directly from consumer units during the Interview survey are no 

longer available. CE public-use microdata from 1996 to 2015 are also available on the CE 

website for download. For releases prior to 1996, users can continue to purchase USB Flash 

Drives using the public-use microdata order form (see www.bls.gov/cex/csxform.pdf). 

Information on the methodology used to calculate and collect CE data is available at 

www.bls.gov/cex/ce_methodology.htm. General articles and research papers using CE data are 

in the CE research library at www.bls.gov/cex/research_papers/research-paper-catalog.htm. 

For further information, contact the Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys, Office of Prices 

and Living Conditions, Bureau of Labor Statistics at cexinfo@bls.gov or (202) 691-6892. 

Information in this release is available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice 

phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1 (800) 877-8339.