For release: 10:00 a.m. (EDT), Tuesday, April 28, 2020 USDL-20-0716 

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

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

CONSUMER EXPENDITURES MIDYEAR UPDATE – JULY 2018 

THROUGH JUNE 2019 AVERAGE

Average expenditures per consumer unit1 for July 2018 through June 2019 were up 2.7 percent 

compared with the July 2017 through June 2018 midyear average, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

reported today. During the same period, the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) rose 2.1 percent and average 

pretax incomes increased 6.4 percent.

Chart 1. Percent change in total expenditures and selected components, July 2018–June 2019 compared with July 

2017–June 2018

Data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) measure how consumers allocate their spending 

among the various components of total expenditures. According to the CE, most major components of 

household spending increased over the 12 months ending June 2019. (See table A.) The 6.9-percent rise 

in transportation spending was the largest percentage increase among all major components, followed by 

a 6.5-percent rise in personal insurance and pensions expenditures. However, the largest change over the 

period was a 7.1-percent drop in education spending. 

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 use their income to make joint expenditure decisions.

2.7

6.9

6.5

2.5 2.5

1.2

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

Average annual

expenditures

Transportation Personal insurance

and pensions

Housing Healthcare Food

Percent
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Selected spending patterns, July 2018–June 2019 compared with July 2017–June 2018 

• Education spending decreased 7.1 percent. This was due to decreases in elementary and

high school tuition and expenditures for finance, late, and interest charges on student loans. 

• Transportation expenditures increased 6.9 percent to $10,410. Within transportation, vehicle 

insurance spending had a large increase (64.3 percent) due to a change in survey source used 

for publication, from the Diary Survey to the Interview Survey2. Average expenditures for 

public transportation were up 2.8 percent, and average household expenditures for gasoline 

and motor oil increased 2.6 percent over the period. 

• Personal insurance and pensions spending increased 6.5 percent, compared to a decrease of 

0.5 percent in the previous midyear period. This was due to a 15.7-percent increase in life 

and other personal insurance spending and a 5.9-percent increase in contributions to 

pensions and Social Security. 

• Cash contributions increased 5.8 percent. This category incorporates a wide array of giving 

and financial obligations such as charitable contributions, support for college students, child 

support, alimony, and other gifts of cash and financial instruments to individuals and 

organizations not part of the household. Other cash gifts accounted for much of the increase. 

• Healthcare spending rose 2.5 percent to $5,049 for July 2018 through June 2019. The 

largest changes in components of healthcare were a 6.8-percent increase in average 

medical services spending and a 1.7-percent increase in health insurance spending. 

• Spending on food increased 1.2 percent. This increase was driven by food at home 

which increased 2.0 percent; food away from home increased slighty, by 0.3 percent.

• Apparel and services spending increased 0.5 percent to $1,859, after increasing 4.5 percent 

during the previous midyear period. 

Spending by income quintile

Chart 2 and table B show average expenditures and income before taxes by quintile from July 2018 

through June 2019. Income quintile is defined based on the pretax income reported by the consumer 

unit. Consumer units are divided into five equal groups. In July 2018 through June 2019, the lower 

bounds for each quintile were $21,512 for the second quintile, $42,254 for the third quintile, $71,403 

for the fourth quintile, and $119,553 for the highest quintile. 

The second income quintile showed a decrease in total average household expenditures (-1.2 percent) 

across the 12 months ending June 2019, despite an increase in income before taxes (3.9 percent). All 

the other quintiles showed an increase in both total average household expenditures and income 

before taxes. 

Overall, pretax income rose 6.4 percent over the 12 months ending June 2019. All income quintiles 

showed increases in pretax income. The first quintile increased the least: 0.2 percent. The highest 

quintile increased the most: 8.2 percent. For the middle three quintiles, the increase was similar (3.9 

percent to 4.3 percent). 

 

2 For expenditures collected in both surveys, the CE program uses a statistical method to select the source used in 

publication. For more information, see www.bls.gov/cex/anthology11/csxanth3.pdf.
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Chart 2. Percent change in average annual expenditures and income before taxes by income quintile, July 2018–June 

2019 compared with July 2017–June 2018

Chart 3 and table C compare the shares of total expenditures allocated to selected expenditures by income 

quintiles. The lowest income quintile allocated larger shares to food and housing than all other quintiles. 

The highest income quintile allocated a larger share to personal insurance and pensions (including 

payments for life insurance, other nonhealth insurance, pensions, and Social Security) than any other 

group. Transportation allocations show little variations among the groups and households in higher 

income quintiles allocate less to healthcare.

Chart 3. Shares of average expenditures on selected major components by income quintiles, July 2018 through June

2019

6.4

-1.2

3.1

1.9

3.2

0.2

3.9

4.3 4.3

8.2

-2.0

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Lowest 20 percent Second 20 percent Third 20 percent Fourth 20 percent Highest 20 percent

Percent

Average Annual Expenditures Income before Taxes

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

Housing Transportation Food Personal insurance

and pensions

Healthcare Apparel and services

Percent

Lowest 20 percent Second 20 percent Third 20 percent Fourth 20 percent Highest 20 percent
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Table A. Average income and expenditures of all consumer units

Item

July 2017- 

June 2018 

Average

July 2018- 

June 2019 

Average

Percent change

July 2017-June 2018 to

July 2018-June 2019 

Income before taxes............................. $76,335 $81,220 6.4

Average annual expenditures................... 60,815 62,438 2.7

Food................................................. 7,869 7,967 1.2

 Food at home................................. 4,445 4,533 2.0

 Food away from home........................ 3,424 3,434 0.3

Housing............................................. 20,001 20,506 2.5

Apparel and services........................... 1,850 1,859 0.5

Transportation...................................... 9,735 10,410 6.9

Healthcare........................................... 4,924 5,049 2.5

Entertainment......................................... 3,379 3,185 -5.7

Education ......................................... 1,505 1,398 -7.1

Cash contributions................................ 1,840 1,946 5.8

Personal insurance and pensions.............. 6,904 7,354 6.5

 Life and other personal insurance............. 429 497 15.7

 Pensions and Social Security.................. 6,474 6,857 5.9

All other expenditures.......................... 2,808 2,764 -1.6

Note: Subcategories may not sum to their respective major item category.

Table B. Average annual expenditures and income before taxes by income quintile, July 2018–June 2019 compared 

with July 2017–June 2018 

Average annual expenditures Average income before taxes

Income quintile July 2017- 

June 2018 

July 2018- 

June 2019 

Percent 

change

July 2017- 

June 2018 

July 2018- 

June 2019 

Percent 

change

Lowest 20 percent $26,012 $27,680 6.4 $11,335 $11,358 0.2

Second 20 percent 40,215 39,731 -1.2 30,544 31,721 3.9

Third 20 percent 51,144 52,708 3.1 53,571 55,870 4.3

Fourth 20 percent 68,506 69,819 1.9 88,394 92,224 4.3

Highest 20 percent 118,277 122,052 3.2 198,045 214,373 8.2
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Table C. Shares of average expenditures on selected major components by income quintiles, July 2018 through 

June 2019

Item

Income quintiles

Lowest 20 

percent

Second 20 

percent

Third 20 

percent

Fourth 20 

percent

Highest 20 

percent

Housing.................................. 40.3 36.6 34.4 32.1 29.7

Transportation........................... 15.6 17.4 17.3 17.5 15.9

Food...................................... 15.6 14.5 13.5 12.6 11.3

Personal insurance and pensions...... 2.5 5.0 9.3 12.6 16.7

Healthcare............................... 9.6 9.8 9.0 8.3 6.7

Apparel and services.................. 2.6 3.3 2.9 3.1 2.9

Additional information 

Data Products

Standard CE midyear tables can be found at www.bls.gov/cex/midyear.htm. Data tables with the most 

detailed subcategories of expenditures sorted by demographics can be obtained by sending a request to 

cexinfo@bls.gov. The all consumer unit detailed annual tables are available at 

www.bls.gov/cex/csxresearchtables.htm#allnew.

The 1980 through 2018 CE public-use microdata, including Interview Survey data, Diary Survey data, 

and paradata (information about the data collection process), are available at 

www.bls.gov/cex/pumd_data.htm. The Interview Survey files contain expenditure data in two 

different formats: MTBI files that present monthly values in an item-coding framework based on the 

Consumer Price Index (CPI) pricing scheme, and detailed data files that organize expenditures by the 

section of the Interview questionnaire in which they are collected. Expenditure values on detailed data 

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. 

Documentation of the CE public-use microdata, its conventions, files, sample code, and methodology 

can be found at www.bls.gov/cex/pumd-getting-started-guide.htm. 

The 2019 annual news release, data tables, LABSTAT database, and public-use microdata are planned 

for release in September 2020. 

Publications 

The Annual Report, at www.bls.gov/cex/csxreport.htm, summarizes major trends found in the annual calendar 

year tables. Each report discusses the trends and provides tables of average expenditures, income, and 

demographics. Other recent CE-specific articles are available in the Beyond the Numbers web report series at 

www.bls.gov/cex/csxwebarticles.htm and the CE Data Comparisons section of 

www.bls.gov/cex/cecomparison.htm. The BLS Beyond the Numbers web report series provides analyses of 

topical economic issues and long term spending trends, and the data comparison articles examine CE data

benchmarked to other sources. Additional methodological and analytical articles using CE data will be 

published in 2020. All data tables published in the Annual Report and posted to the website are integrated from 

the two CE components: the quarterly Interview Survey and weekly Diary Survey.
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Survey Forms

Also available are the Diary Survey questionnaire and a modified version of the computer assisted 

personal interview (CAPI) instrument used to collect the Interview Survey data at 

www.bls.gov/cex/csxsurveyforms.htm.

Methodology

The change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) cited in the text (2.1 percent) was calculated as the 

percentage change between the 12-month average CPI-U for all items from July 2017-June 2018 

(248.126) and the 12-month average CPI-U for all items from July 2018-June 2019 (253.268).

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

www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cex/home.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.

Upcoming Events

The annual CE Survey Methods Symposium and Microdata Users' Workshop is scheduled for July 21-

24, 2020, at the BLS national office. Registration is free. More information and online registration are 

available at www.bls.gov/cex/csxannualworkshop.htm. 

Contact Information 

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

Living Conditions at (202) 691-6900 or by email at cexinfo@bls.gov. Information in this release will be 

made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; 

Federal Relay Service: 1 (800) 877-8339.