For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Friday, September 8, 2023 USDL-23-1943

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

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

CONSUMER EXPENDITURES – 2022

Average annual expenditures for all consumer units1 in 2022 were $72,967, a 9.0-percent increase from 

2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. (See table A.) During the same period, 

the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 8.0 percent, and average income 

before taxes increased 7.5 percent.

The average annual expenditures for 2022 were broken down into 14 major components (table B), nine 

of which are shown in chart 1. The other expenditures category shown in chart 1, is the aggregate of the 

five smallest components which are miscellaneous (1.4 percent), personal care products and services 

(1.2 percent), alcoholic beverages (0.8 percent), tobacco products and smoking supplies (0.5 percent), 

and reading (0.2 percent). Overall, housing accounted for the largest share (33.3 percent), followed by 

transportation (16.8 percent), food (12.8 percent), personal insurance and pensions (12.0 percent), and 

healthcare (8.0 percent). Each of the remaining categories contributed less than 5.0 percent of total

expenditures.

Chart 1. Annual expenditure shares (percentage) by major components, 2022

1 Consumer units consist of 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 major expenses.
- 2 -

Among the 14 major components of household spending, the largest percent increase in expenditures 

was in cash contributions (+14.1 percent). The next largest increase was in food (+12.7 percent), 

followed closely by a 12.3-percent rise in personal care products and services spending, and a 12.2-

percent increase in transportation spending. The only major component to decrease from 2021 to 2022 

was entertainment (-3.1 percent). (See chart 2).

Chart 2. Annual percent change in expenditures and selected components, 2021-22

Selected spending changes, 2022

• Housing expenditures increased 7.4 percent in 2022, after a 5.6-percent increase in 2021. 

Expenditures on both rented dwellings and owned dwellings increased by 6.5 percent and 8.4 

percent, respectively. (For more information on how owned dwellings is defined see the 

methodology section). The largest housing-related spending increase in all major components 

of housing was in other lodging, up 30.9 percent, due largely in part to a 38.6-percent 

increase in lodging on out of town trips. 

• Transportation expenditures increased 12.2 percent in 2022, after an increase of 11.6 

percent in 2021. This increase was driven by the component category public and other 

transportation spending (+86.9 percent), followed by a 45.3-percent increase in gasoline, 

other fuels, and motor oil. Average expenditures for vehicle purchases (net outlay) were 

down 6.9 percent in 2022, after a 6.7-percent increase in 2021. A net outlay is defined as the 

household's total payment or purchase amount of a good or service minus any 

reimbursements. A net outlay is commonly referred to as the total out of pocket spending.

Vehicle purchases (net outlay) includes the purchase price minus trade-in value on new and 

used domestic and imported cars and trucks and other vehicles, such as motorcycles.

9.0

7.4

12.2 12.7

11.0

-3.1

14.1

10.9

12.3

-5.0

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

Average annual

expenditures

Housing Transportation Food Personal

insurance and

pensions

Entertainment Cash

contributions

Apparel and

services

Personal care

products and

services

Percent
- 3 -

• Spending on food increased 12.7 percent in 2022, compared to an increase of 13.4 percent in 

2021. The increase was driven by food away from home spending, up 20.1 percent, 

accompanied by an increase in food at home spending, up 8.4 percent. Expenditures for food 

away from home in 2022 exceeded 2019 levels, marking the first time since the onset of the 

COVID-19 pandemic that this has happened.

• Personal insurance and pensions spending increased 11.0 percent in 2022, after increasing 

8.7 percent in 2021. This was driven by an 11.1-percent increase in contributions to pensions 

and Social Security. Within contributions to pensions and Social Security, there was a 28.8-

percent increase in expenditures on non-payroll deposits to retirement plans. At the same 

time, spending on life and other personal insurance increased by 9.7 percent.

• Entertainment expenditures decreased 3.1 percent in 2022, after exhibiting an increase of 

22.7 percent in 2021. This decrease was driven by a 24.5-percent decrease in other 

entertainment supplies, equipment, and services expenditures, which contrasts with the 60.6-

percent increase in 2021. Toys, hobbies, and playground equipment also decreased from 

2021 to 2022 (-16.1 percent). Although there was a 27.4-percent increase on fees and 

admissions, this was offset by the previously stated declines. 

• Spending on cash contributions increased 14.1 percent in 2022, after a 5.8-percent increase 

in 2021. This increase in 2022 was driven by a 36.3-percent increase in other cash gifts.2

Cash contributions includes cash contributed to persons or organizations outside the 

consumer unit, including alimony and child support payments; care of students away from 

home; and contributions to religious, educational, charitable, or political organizations.

• Spending on apparel and services increased 10.9 percent in 2022, after an increase of 22.3 

percent in 2021. All major components of apparel and services exhibited increases, the 

largest being an 18.8-percent increase in footwear. With this 10.9-percent growth in apparel 

and services, spending has surpassed 2019 levels, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Personal care products and services increased 12.3 percent in 2022, which follows the 

large increase of 19.3 percent from 2021. Personal care products increased by 15.5 percent 

after a 1.0-percent decrease in 2021. Personal care services increased by 9.1 percent, 

particularly notable since this follows the 50.4-percent rise from 2021.

Transportation spending by type of area, 2022

Chart 3 shows the percent changes in transportation expenditures for urban and rural areas. As gas prices 

climbed and more workers continued to go back into the office in 2022, this led to an increase in 

expenditures for public transportation as well as gasoline, other fuels, and motor oil. Rural consumer 

units saw a decrease in total transportation spending (-3.3 percent), while consumer units in urban areas 

increased their total transportation spending by 16.6 percent. Consumer units living in urban areas had a

bigger increase in gasoline, other fuels, and motor oil spending (+46.7 percent compared to +38.9 

percent for rural consumer units). Consumer units located in rural areas had a bigger increase in public 

transportation spending (+108.5 percent compared to +85.2 percent for urban consumer units). Public 

transportation includes fares for mass transit, buses, trains, airlines, taxis, school buses for which a fee is 

charged, and boats. Rural consumer unit spending on vehicle purchases (net outlay) decreased from 

2 Estimate has a high Relative Standard Error (RSE) and is suppressed in the published tables. See the methodology section 

below for more information.
- 4 -

2021 to 2022 (-28.6 percent). Rural consumer units also had a smaller increase in other vehicle expenses 

(+4.4 percent compared to +9.5 percent for urban consumer units), which includes items such as vehicle 

finance charges, maintenance and repairs, and rented vehicles.

Chart 3. Annual percent change in average transportation expenditures by type of area, 2022

Spending by size of consumer unit, 2022

Chart 4 and table C compare the shares allocated to selected expenditures by size of consumer unit. In 

particular, they show that the percentage of total expenditures allocated to food increases as the size of 

the consumer unit increases, with the largest increase occurring between consumer units with four 

people to consumer units with five or more people (12.9 percent compared to 15.3 percent). In contrast, 

the percent of total expenditures allocated to housing decreases as the consumer unit size increases, until 

the consumer unit increases to five or more people, which spends slightly more than consumer units 

with four people (31.9 percent compared to 31.6 percent). Allocation of entertainment spending was 

consistent regardless of the size of the consumer unit, with the biggest difference observed between oneand two-person consumer units (4.3 percent and 5.0 percent, respectively).

Compared to all sizes of consumer units, one-person consumer units allocated the highest shares to 

housing (39.4 percent), but the lowest shares to transportation (14.6 percent), food (11.8 percent), and 

entertainment (4.3 percent). In contrast, households with five or more people allocated the lowest shares 

to healthcare (6.2 percent) and the highest shares to food (15.3 percent). Consumer units with four 

people had the highest shares in personal insurance and pensions (14.1 percent), while having the lowest 

shares in housing (31.6). Three-people consumer units had the highest shares in transportation (18.5 

percent).

12.2 16.6

-3.3 -6.9

0.7

-28.6

45.3 46.7

38.9

8.5 9.5

4.4

87.1 85.2

108.5

-40.0

-20.0

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

120.0

All

consumer

units

Urban Rural

Percent

Total transportation Vehicle purchases (net outlay)

Gasoline, other fuels, and motor oil Other vehicle expenses

Public and other transportation
- 5 -

Chart 4. Shares of average annual expenditures on selected major components by size of consumer unit, 

2022

*Other expenditures include alcoholic beverages, apparel and services, personal care products and services, reading, education, tobacco 

products and smoking supplies, miscellaneous, and cash contributions.

33.3

39.4

32.1 31.8 31.6 31.9

16.8

14.6

16.3 18.5 18.4 17.5

12.8

11.8

12.2 12.9 12.9 15.3

12.0 8.9

11.8

13.4 14.1 12.4

8.0 8.5 9.0

7.7 7.2 6.2

4.7 4.3 5.0

4.7 4.7 4.7

12.3 12.4 13.6 10.9 11.2 12.0

 -

 10.0

 20.0

 30.0

 40.0

 50.0

 60.0

 70.0

 80.0

 90.0

 100.0

All

consumer

units

One

person

Two

people

Three

people

Four

people

Five or

more

people

Percent

Housing Transportation Food

Personal insurance and pensions Healthcare Entertainment

Other expenditures*
- 6 -

Spending and income before taxes by income quintile, 2022

Chart 5 and table D show the annual percent change in expenditures and income before taxes by 

income quintile. Overall spending increased in all five quintiles, with the largest increase in the 

third quintile (+10.8 percent) and the smallest increase in the lowest quintile (+5.6 percent). These

major components of spending—food, alcoholic beverages, housing, transportation, and personal 

care products and services—all increased for each of the five quintiles. 

Overall, expenditures increased faster than income in 2022. That is, average annual income before taxes 

rose 7.5 percent in 2022, while expenditures increased 9.0 percent. This general finding held for all but 

the lowest quintile, where expenditures rose 5.6 percent while income rose 7.8 percent. The fourth 

quintile experienced the largest increase in income (+8.2 percent). The third quintile had the lowest 

increase in income (+7.3 percent), along with the largest increase in spending (+10.8 percent).

This increase in income for all consumer units in 2022 (+7.5 percent) follows a modest increase in 2021

(+3.7 percent). Increases in income before taxes ranged from 7.3 percent for the third quintile to 8.2 

percent for the fourth quintile. 

Chart 5. Annual percent change in average expenditures and income before taxes by income quintile, 

2022

9.0

5.6

8.5

10.8

8.9

9.7

7.5 7.8 7.7

7.3

8.2 7.8

 -

 2.0

 4.0

 6.0

 8.0

 10.0

 12.0

All consumer units Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest

Percent

Average annual expenditures Income before taxes
- 7 -

Table A. Average income and expenditures of all consumer units, 2020-22

Item 2020 2021 2022

Percent change

2020 - 2021 2021 - 2022

Number of consumer units (000's) 131,234 133,595 134,090 0.0 0.0

Average Income before taxes $84,352 $87,432 $94,003 3.7 7.5

Average annual expenditures $61,332* $66,928 $72,967 9.1 9.0

Food 7,310* 8,289 9,343 13.4 12.7

Food at home 4,935* 5,259 5,703 6.6 8.4

Food away from home 2,375 3,030 3,639 27.6 20.1

Alcoholic beverages 478 554 583 15.9 5.2

Housing 21,417* 22,624 24,298 5.6 7.4

Owned dwellings 7,473 7,591 8,230 1.6 8.4

Rented dwellings 4,408 4,684 4,990 6.3 6.5

Other lodging 722 983 1,287 36.1 30.9

Lodging on out-of-town trips 318 604 837 89.9 38.6

Apparel and services 1,434 1,754 1,945 22.3 10.9

Transportation 9,826 10,961 12,295 11.6 12.2

Vehicle purchases (net outlay) 4,523 4,828 4,496 6.7 -6.9

Gasoline, other fuels, and motor oil 1,568 2,148 3,120 37.0 45.3

Public and other transportation 263 452 845 71.9 86.9

Healthcare 5,177 5,452 5,850 5.3 7.3

Health insurance 3,667 3,704 3,843 1.0 3.8

Medical services 864 1,070 1,184 23.8 10.7

Entertainment 2,909* 3,568 3,458 22.7 -3.1

Fees and admissions 425 654 833 53.9 27.4

Pets, toys, hobbies, and playground equipment 859 969 908 12.8 -6.3

Other entertainment supplies, equipment, and services 576* 925 698 60.6 -24.5

Personal care products and services 646 771 866 19.3 12.3

Reading 114 114 117 0.0 2.6

Education 1,271 1,226 1,335 -3.5 8.9

Tobacco products and smoking supplies 315 341 371 8.3 8.8

Miscellaneous 907 986 1,009 8.7 2.3

Cash contributions 2,283 2,415 2,755 5.8 14.1

Personal insurance and pensions 7,246 7,873 8,742 8.7 11.0

Pensions and Social Security 6,760 7,400 8,223 9.5 11.1

*Due to corrections that occurred post-publication, 2020 numbers are different than those published in the 2020 annual release. These 

corrections did not meet CE’s threshold for republication. 

Note: Only selected subcategories are shown; as a result, the subcategories do not sum to their respective major item category.
- 8 -

Table B. Percent distribution of total annual expenditures by major category for all consumer units, 

Consumer Expenditure Surveys, 2019-22

Spending Category 2019 2020 2021 2022

Average annual expenditures 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Food 13.0 11.9 12.4 12.8

Alcoholic beverages 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8

Housing 32.8 34.9 33.8 33.3

Apparel and services 3.0 2.3 2.6 2.7

Transportation 17.0 16.0 16.4 16.8

Healthcare 8.2 8.4 8.1 8.0

Entertainment 4.9 4.7 5.3 4.7

Personal care products and services 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.2

Reading 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2

Education 2.3 2.1 1.8 1.8

Tobacco products and smoking supplies 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

Miscellaneous 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.4

Cash contributions 3.2 3.7 3.6 3.8

Personal insurance and pensions 11.4 11.8 11.8 12.0

Table C. Shares of average expenditures on selected major components by size of consumer unit, 2022

Item

All

consumer

units

One

person

Two

people

Three

people

Four

people

Five or

more

people

Housing 33.3 39.4 32.1 31.8 31.6 31.9

Transportation 16.8 14.6 16.3 18.5 18.4 17.5

Food 12.8 11.8 12.2 12.9 12.9 15.3

Personal insurance and pensions 12.0 8.9 11.8 13.4 14.1 12.4

Healthcare 8.0 8.5 9.0 7.7 7.2 6.2

Entertainment 4.7 4.3 5.0 4.7 4.7 4.7

Other expenditures* 12.3 12.4 13.6 10.9 11.2 12.0

Other expenditures* includes alcoholic beverages, apparel and services, personal care products and services, reading, education, tobacco 

products and smoking supplies, cash contributions, and miscellaneous.
- 9 - 

Table D. Change in average annual expenditures of major components by income quintile, 2021-22 

Item

Lowest Quintile Second Quintile Third Quintile Fourth Quintile Highest Quintile

Over-the-year change Over-the-year change Over-the-year change Over-the-year change Over-the-year change 

Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent Dollar Percent 

Total 1,743 5.6 3,739 8.5 6,036 10.8 6,673 8.9 12,441 9.7 

Food 215 4.4 730 12.6 1,187 16.1 1,397 14.8 1,741 12.5 

 At home 100 2.8 295 7.3 771 16.2 661 11.3 396 4.9 

 Away from home 116 8.6 435 24.3 417 16.0 736 20.8 1,345 23.0 

Alcoholic beverages 24 11.6 11 3.7 63 15.6 44 7.1 5 0.4 

Housing 522 4.1 1,254 7.5 1,603 8.0 1,218 4.9 3,903 10.1 

Apparel and services -39 -4.1 11 0.9 179 11.6 497 28.0 306 9.3 

Transportation 655 15.3 168 2.1 463 4.5 1,735 13.4 3,722 19.4 

Healthcare 278 9.0 189 4.4 1,148 23.9 335 5.3 76 0.9 

Entertainment -161 -11.5 -90 -4.4 387 15.2 -159 -4.0 -497 -6.3 

Personal care products 

and services 11 2.9 46 8.3 188 30.1 71 7.8 166 12.1 

Reading 12 20.4 1 1.7 14 18.3 -12 -8.8 -2 -0.8 

Education 142 27.8 80 18.7 126 23.6 136 13.0 79 2.2 

Tobacco products and 

smoking supplies 39 11.6 44 11.9 -12 -3.1 39 10.3 39 16.6 

Miscellaneous 24 5.1 48 7.6 20 2.5 23 2.0 3 0.2 

Cash contributions -77 -8.2 1,070** 76.0** 268 16.8 16 0.7 451 7.6 

Personal insurance 

and pensions 97 18.0 177 8.2 402 8.0 1,334 14.1 2,448 11.1 

**Estimate has a high Relative Standard Error (RSE) and is suppressed in the published tables. See the methodology section below for more 

information. 

Additional Information

Data Products

In addition to expenditures, the BLS Consumer Expenditures Surveys (CE) program also collects data 

on income, demographics, assets, and liabilities. Tables with more expenditure detail than are presented 

here are available at www.bls.gov/cex/tables.htm. Published tables provide 2022 CE data by standard 

classifications that include income quintile, income decile, income range, age of reference person,

generation of reference person, size of consumer unit, number of earners, composition of consumer unit, 

region of residence, Census division of residence, housing tenure, race, Hispanic origin, occupation, 

highest education level of any member, and type of area (urban or rural). These tables include 

expenditure means, aggregates, shares, and standard errors. Expenditure tables by age, region, size, or 

sex cross-tabulated by income before taxes and other demographic variables can also be found on the 

CE website. Furthermore, a table showing results for all consumer units including the most detailed 

breakdown of expenditures is available at www.bls.gov/cex/tables/top-line-means.htm. Historical 

published tables for data dating back to 1984 and for selected metropolitan area tabulations are also 

available. Unpublished, but releasable, tables of detailed expenditures by demographic can be obtained 

by sending a request to cexinfo@bls.gov.

The CE LABSTAT database provides tools to access CE estimates and can be found at 

www.bls.gov/cex/data.htm. Documentation for how to use the CE LABSTAT database is available at 

www.bls.gov/cex/ce-labstat-getting-started-guide.pdf. Beginning with the 2022 data release, the CE 

LABSTAT database now includes standard errors and shares of average annual expenditures (2010 

onward), and shares of aggregate expenditures (2011 onward). Also, the CE LABSTAT database now 
- 10 -

includes a top picks feature. This tool allows users to quickly retrieve BLS time series data from lists of 

those most commonly requested. 

Additionally, CE public use microdata (PUMD) for 1980 through 2022 are available at 

www.bls.gov/cex/pumd_data.htm. The PUMD includes Interview Survey files, Diary Survey files, and 

paradata (information about the data collection process). The Interview Survey files contain expenditure 

data in three different formats: MTBI files that present monthly values in an item-coding framework 

based on the CPI-U pricing scheme, FMLI files that present user-friendly summary expenditure 

variables (e.g., total expenditures, total expenditures on food, etc.), and detailed data files that organize 

expenditures by the section of the Interview Survey 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, such as policy type and number of persons covered by health insurance. The Diary Survey files 

contain expenditure data in two different formats: EXPD files that present weekly values in the same 

item-coding framework based on the CPI-U pricing scheme, and FMLD files that present user-friendly 

summary expenditure variables (e.g., food at home, cereal and bakery products, beef, etc.). 

Documentation of the CE PUMD, its conventions, files, sample code, and methodology can be found at 

www.bls.gov/cex/pumd-getting-started-guide.htm.

Publications

The BLS Beyond the Numbers publication series provides analyses of topical economic issues and longterm spending trends. At the time of publication of this release, the most recent Beyond the Numbers 

article that features CE data (May 2023) is “Four personal tax liabilities trends that have emerged from 

recent tax legislation” (www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-12/four-personal-tax-trends.htm). This and other 

recent CE-specific articles are available in the Beyond the Numbers publication series at 

www.bls.gov/cex/csxwebarticles.htm. Additional methodological and analytical articles using CE data 

will be published in these series as they become available.

The BLS CE program also produces occasional articles for publication in the Monthly Labor Review 

(MLR) and Spotlight on Statistics series. The flagship publication of the BLS, the MLR publishes 

scholarly articles on many topics in labor economics. Items in the Spotlight series are meant to be 

shorter pieces accessible to the general public. A Spotlight generally includes a series of charts or graphs 

accompanied by a brief explanation of their relevance to the analysis. At the time of publication of this 

release, the most recent analytical MLR article that features CE data (April 2023) is “Developing a 

consumption measure, with examples of use for poverty and inequality analysis: a new research product 

from BLS” (www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2023/article/developing-a-consumption-measure-with-examples-ofuse-for-poverty-and-inequality-analysis-a-new-research-product-from-bls.htm); the most recent 

Spotlight (December 2022) is “How the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed Urban and Rural Spending 

Habits” (www.bls.gov/spotlight/2022/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-changed-urban-and-rural-spendinghabits/home.htm).

In addition, articles in The Economics Daily (TED) series occasionally feature findings using CE data. 

Members of the BLS CE program authored the most recent articles, while BLS staff in the publication’s

office authored earlier TED articles. The most recent TED articles have described consumer spending 

for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment (www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/consumerexpenditures-for-athletic-gear-game-tables-and-exercise-equipment-doubled-in-2021.htm), consumer 

expenditures in April-June of 2022 (www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/consumer-expenditures-rise-8-6-

percent-in-april-june-2022-quarter-compared-with-year-earlier.htm), and spending on public and other 

transportation during COVID-19 (www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/consumer-spending-on-public-and-othertransportation-in-metro-areas-before-and-during-covid-19.htm).
- 11 -

The 2022 Data Quality Profile, which reports quality metrics and indicators for the Interview and Diary 

Surveys regarding measurement, nonresponse, and processing error, will be available shortly after this 

release at www.bls.gov/cex/cecomparison.htm.

The 2022 Annual Report, which includes more detailed information on spending patterns, is planned for 

publication in late 2023. (See www.bls.gov/cex/csxreport.htm#annual). The 2021 Annual Report, 

published January 2023, is available at www.bls.gov/opub/reports/consumerexpenditures/2021/home.htm.

The CE program is also working on the development of a new research table investigating spending 

patterns of consumer units with veterans and active-duty military. The program aims to publish this table 

in September. Please check the notices on the CE home page for updates on this table, as well as other 

new releases. 

For a listing of links to other published reports featuring CE data, see the CE publications page at 

www.bls.gov/cex/csxreport.htm.

Survey Materials

Also available at www.bls.gov/cex/csxsurveyforms.htm are the Diary Survey questionnaire and a 

modified version of the Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) instrument used to collect the 

Interview Survey data.

Methodology

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

change between the 2021 12-month (January to December) average CPI-U for all items (270.970) and 

the 2022 12-month (January to December) average CPI-U for all items (292.655). The change in the 

CPI-U for gasoline (all types) was 31.7 percent. This was calculated as the percent change between the 

2021 12-month (January to December) average CPI-U for gasoline (all types) (264.017) and the 2022 

12-month (January to December) average CPI-U for gasoline (all types) (347.747).

Beginning with the 2022 tables publication, BLS includes data suppressions for estimates with a Relative 

Standard Error (RSE) of 25 percent or more. RSE is defined as the ratio of the mean to its standard error

(SE). For any estimate with an RSE that equals or exceeds the 25 percent threshold, the mean expenditure, 

SE, expenditure share, and RSE will be suppressed. The BLS CE program determined that estimates with 

RSEs of 25 percent or more were considered unreliable. RSEs tend to be smaller for the nationwide 

estimates than for smaller demographic groups. This is primarily due to their different sample sizes. In 

general, RSEs decrease as the sample size “n” increases. RSEs often decrease as the frequency of 

purchases increases. Infrequently purchased items are more susceptible to large RSEs while frequently 

purchased items tend to have smaller RSEs. For more information on variance estimation please see the 

Tables Getting Started Guide at https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables-getting-started-guide.htm. While data are 

suppressed in the tables estimates, users can still use the CE Public Use Microdata to obtain estimates 

suppressed in published tables.

Owned dwellings include interest on mortgages, interest on home equity loans and lines of credit, property 

taxes and insurance, refinancing and prepayment charges, ground rent, expenses for property management 

and security, homeowners' insurance, fire insurance and extended coverage, expenses for repairs and 

maintenance contracted out, and expenses of materials for owner-performed repairs and maintenance for 

dwellings used or maintained by the consumer unit. Mortgage principal payments and home purchases 

are excluded from this category.
- 12 -

The Type of Area definitions used in Chart 3 reflect the definitions that were introduced with the 2021 

Type of Area table. See the Beyond the Numbers article “Changing how BLS defines “geographic 

areas” in the Consumer Expenditure Surveys” (www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-12/changing-how-blsdefines-geographic-areas-in-the-consumer-expenditure-surveys.htm) for more information.

Reference person is defined as the first member mentioned by the respondent when asked to "Start with 

the name of the person or one of the persons who owns or rents the home." It is with respect to this 

person that the relationship of the other consumer unit members is determined.

Size of the consumer unit is defined as the number of persons whose usual place of residence at the time 

of participation (in either the Interview or Diary Survey) in the sample unit. This and other definitions of 

CE terms are in the CE glossary at www.bls.gov/cex/csxgloss.htm.

Income before taxes in the CE includes the following components: Wages and salaries; self-employment 

income; Social Security; private and government retirement; interest and dividends; rental and other 

property income; unemployment, workers' compensation, and veterans' benefits; public assistance, 

supplemental security income, and food stamps; regular contributions for support; and other income.

The CE before-tax income estimates include government transfer payments of these three types: 

Supplement Security Income; Public Assistance; and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 

payments. Not included in these estimates are government subsidies for businesses as these are out of 

scope for the CE survey. 

Income quintiles are constructed by sorting consumer units in the sample from lowest to highest income 

before taxes. The population weight (i.e., the number of consumer units within the population that each 

sampled unit represents) associated with each consumer is summed with those of the consumer units 

preceding it in the sorted set, resulting in a cumulative frequency count. The first quintile includes all 

consumer units for which the cumulative frequency count is less than or equal to 20 percent of the 

number of consumer units in the population. The second quintile includes all those consumer units for 

which the cumulative frequency count is greater than 20 percent, but less than or equal to 40 percent of

the population, and so forth. Because there were approximately 134 million consumer units in the 

population in 2022, each quintile includes over 26 million consumer units. In 2022, the lower income

bounds for each quintile were: $25,807 for the second quintile; $50,092 for the third quintile; $83,696

for the fourth quintile; and $140,363 for the highest quintile.

Some expenditures are collected only in one survey. For example, detailed food expenditures (e.g., rice, 

round roast, and lettuce) are collected only in the Diary Survey. Travel expenditures (goods or services 

purchased on out-of-town trips) are collected only in the Interview Survey. This makes the source of 

these data in the published tables obvious. However, several expenditures are collected in both surveys. 

For these expenditures, the BLS CE program uses a statistical method to select the source used in 

publication.

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.

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. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or 

have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.