For release: 10:00 a.m. (EDT), Tuesday, August 30, 2016 USDL-16-1768 

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

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

CONSUMER EXPENDITURES - 2015 

Average expenditures per consumer unit1 for 2015 were $55,978, a 4.6 percent increase from 

2014 levels, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the 

Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) was virtually unchanged, rising 0.1 percent2. In 2014, spending 

increased 4.7 percent. Average pre-tax income per consumer unit increased at a slightly slower 

pace than expenditures, up 4.1 percent from 2014 to $69,629. 

All major components of household spending increased in 2015, as shown in table A. Of these, 

expenditures on personal insurance and pensions showed the greatest percentage increase, 10.9 

percent. This was followed by education expenditures, rising 6.4 percent, transportation 

expenditures, rising 4.7 percent, and entertainment expenditures, rising 4.2 percent. 

Expenditures on food, housing, and apparel and services showed smaller, positive gains between 

3.4 percent and 3.9 percent, while expenditures on cash contributions, increased 1.7 percent. 

Healthcare expenditures rose 1.2 percent in 2015. 

Spending patterns, 2014-15 

Personal insurance and pensions expenditures rose 10.9 percent to $6,349. This was primarily 

driven by the 11.4 percent increase in pensions and Social Security expenditures. In particular, 

non-payroll deposits to retirement plans, such as IRAs and Keoghs, rose 45.2 percent to $795 

and payroll deductions for private pensions increased 25.2 percent to $645. 

Education expenditures increased 6.4 percent. This was largely driven by a 63.7 percent increase 

in finance, late, and interest charges for student loans to $157. 

 

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 2015 (237.017) and 

the annual average CPI-U for all items for 2014 (236.736). See CPI Detailed Report, Data for December 2015, 

Table 1A.
Transportation expenditures increased 4.7 percent to $9,503. Within transportation, expenditures 

on vehicle purchases increased 21.1 percent, while spending on gasoline and motor oil declined 

15.3 percent, continuing trends highlighted in the 2014-15 midyear report. 

Expenditures on cash contributions reversed their 2013 and 2014 declines, increasing by 1.7 

percent. 

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

continued increasing in 2015, up 7.9 percent and 4.2 percent respectively, after increasing 6.2 

percent and 9.9 percent in 2014. 

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

selected components, 2013-20151

Item 2013 2014 2015 

Percent change

2013 - 2014 2014 - 2015 

Average income before taxes................................. $63,784 $66,877 $69,629 4.8 4.1

Average annual expenditures................................. 51,100 53,495 55,978 4.7 4.6

Food................................................................. 6,602 6,759 7,023 2.4 3.9

Food at home.................................................. 3,977 3,971 4,015 -0.2 1.1

Food away from home....................................... 2,625 2,787 3,008 6.2 7.9

Housing............................................................. 17,148 17,798 18,409 3.8 3.4

Shelter............................................................ 10,080 10,491 10,742 4.1 2.4

Utilities............................................................ 3,737 3,921 3,885 4.9 -.9

Household furnishings and equipment.................. 1,542 1,581 1,818 2.5 15.0

Apparel and services............................................ 1,604 1,786 1,846 11.3 3.4

Transportation..................................................... 9,004 9,073 9,503 0.8 4.7

Vehicle purchases............................................ 3,271 3,301 3,997 0.9 21.1

Gasoline and motor oil....................................... 2,611 2,468 2,090 -5.5 -15.3

Healthcare......................................................... 3,631 4,290 4,342 n/a 1.2

Health insurance.............................................. 2,229 2,868 2,977 n/a 3.8

Entertainment...................................................... 2,482 2,728 2,842 9.9 4.2

Education........................................................... 1,138 1,236 1,315 8.6 6.4

Cash contributions............................................... 1,834 1,788 1,819 -2.5 1.7

Personal insurance and pensions........................... 5,528 5,726 6,349 3.6 10.9

 Life and other personal insurance....................... 319 327 333 2.5 1.8

 Pensions and Social Security............................. 5,209 5,399 6,016 3.6 11.4

All other expenditures........................................... 2,129 2,311 2,530 8.5 9.5

1 Subcategories do not sum to 100%. 

n/a: Because of a questionnaire change, the 2013-14 change was not strictly comparable to previous years. 
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 2015. One 

parent households with at least one child under 18 allocated just over one-half of their total 

spending to food and housing; they reported the highest shares of spending on food and housing 

among the groups studied.

Over 10 percent of total spending for married couple only households went to healthcare, almost

twice as large a share as reported by one parent households (5.2 percent). Married couple with 

children households allocated the highest share of all groups to personal insurance and pensions 

(13.3 percent), while other married couple households (those with married couples and persons 

other than children living in the consumer unit) allocated the highest share to transportation (19.2 

percent). 

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

composition of consumer unit, 2015 

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 13.1 12.2 13.4 12.5

Housing 31.3 31.2 30.8 36.8 35.7

Transportation 16.6 17.6 19.2 17.5 16.3

Healthcare 10.2 6.8 7.9 5.2 7.1

Personal insurance and 

pensions

11.6 13.3 12.8 8.9 9.3
Chart 1. Shares of average annual expenditures on selected major components by 

composition of consumer unit, 2015 

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 1.1 percent in the third quintile to 5.9 

percent in the highest quintile. Personal insurance and pensions showed the largest overall 

increases across income quintiles, 9.0 percent to 18.2 percent. Food away from home 

expenditures also increased across all income quintiles, with increases ranging from 1.4 percent 

to 10.5 percent. Spending on apparel and services was mixed across quintiles, with the highest 

two quintiles increasing by 11.0 percent and 6.8 percent respectively, the lowest two quintiles 

changing less than 2.0 percent, and the third quintile down 15.1 percent. Cash contributions were 

also mixed by quintile, with the middle three quintiles reporting lower contributions and the 

lowest and highest quintiles showing increases. Transportation expenditures rose for all income 

quintiles, with the magnitude of the rise increasing as the level of income increased.

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

Food Housing Transportation Healthcare Personal insurance and

pensions

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

components by income quintile, 2014-15 

Item Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest

Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent

Average annual 

expenditure change: 

Total............................ $757 3.2 $1,517 4.5 $517 1.1 $3,254 5.4 $6,145 5.9

Food........................... 100 2.7 268 5.6 -193 -3.2 386 5.0 755 6.5

 At home..................... -7 -0.3 133 4.3 -225 -6.1 44 1.0 271 4.5

 Away from home.......... 106 9.2 135 8.3 32 1.4 343 10.5 485 8.7

Housing..................... 247 2.6 324 2.6 361 2.3 840 4.3 1,215 3.8

Apparel and services...... -10 -1.2 17 1.5 -231 -15.1 126 6.8 400 11.0

Transportation............... 4 0.1 227 4.0 345 4.1 486 4.5 1,046 6.2

Healthcare.................... 62 3.3 171 5.2 -61 -1.5 245 4.8 -171 -2.4

Entertainment................ 162 14.7 172 11.0 -146 -6.2 83 2.8 290 5.1

Cash contributions......... 206 40.6 -80 -7.1 -84 -5.9 -23 -1.2 123 3.1

Personal insurance and 

pensions...................... 91 18.2 146 9.1 427 12.0 921 13.7 1,467 9.0

All other expenditures..... -105 -5.0 273 14.2 99 3.8 191 5.2 1,019 13.6

Chart 2. Percent change in average annual expenditures by income quintile, 2014-15 

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest
Other available data 

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 2015 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. 

The classes in the income class table have been revamped to provide more detail at income levels 

above $70,000 and less detail at levels below $40,000. 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 tabulations for selected metropolitan areas are also available.

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

prices and spending in the U.S. economy, and will feature 2015 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 internet 

includes answers to frequently asked questions, a glossary, order forms for survey products, and 

analytical articles that use CE data. Also available are the Diary Survey questionnaire form and a 

modified version of the computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) instrument used to 

collect the Interview Survey data.

The 2015 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 free 

electronic 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 2015 also includes the 

new 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 2014 are

also available on the CE website for free 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/pumd.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.