For release: 10:00 a.m. (EDT), Tuesday, September 10, 2019 USDL-19-1593

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

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

CONSUMER EXPENDITURES - 2018 

Average expenditures per consumer unit1 for 2018 were $61,224, a 1.9-percent increase from 2017 

levels, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1.) During the same period the 

Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) rose 2.4 percent and average pretax income increased by 6.9 percent. 

 

Chart 1. Annual percent change in expenditures and selected components, 2018 

Nine of the 10 largest components of household spending increased during 2018. (See table A.) The 7.8-

percent rise in personal insurance and pensions expenditures was the largest percentage increase among 

all major components, followed by a 2.5-percent rise in food. The only decrease among the largest 

components was a 5.6-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 share major expenses.

1.9

7.8

2.5

1.9

1.0 0.8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Average annual

expenditures

Personal insurance

and pensions

Food Transportation Housing Healthcare

Percent
- 2 - 

Selected spending patterns, 2018 

 

• Personal insurance and pensions spending increased 7.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 

0.9 percent in 2017. This was driven by a 7.5-percent increase in contributions to pensions 

and Social Security. 

• Spending on food increased 2.5 percent. The increase was driven by both food at home 

spending, up 2.3 percent, and food away from home spending, up 2.8 percent. 

• Transportation expenditures were up 1.9 percent. Gasoline, other fuels, and motor oil 

expenditures were up 7.2 percent. Vehicle purchases declined 1.9 percent, following an 

increase of 11.6 percent in 2017. 

• Housing expenditures increased 1.0 percent. Expenditures on rented dwellings were up 2.0 

percent; however, expenditures on owned dwellings were down 3.9 percent. The owned 

dwellings category includes interest on mortgages, interest on home equity loans, property 

taxes and insurance, refinancing charges, homeowners' insurance, and expenses for 

maintenance and repairs.

• Healthcare expenditures were up a modest 0.8 percent, following a 6.9-percent increase in 

2017. The largest component of healthcare, health insurance, was down 0.3 percent, 

following a 8.0-percent increase in the preceding year. 

• Cash contributions were up a modest 0.8 percent after a 10.0-percent decrease in 2017. 

• Expenditures on education were down by 5.6 percent after an increase of 12.2 percent in 

2017. 

Pretax income rose 6.9 percent in 2018, after dropping 1.5 percent in 2017. (See chart 2.) All income 

quintiles with the exception of the lowest income quintile had increases in pretax income. The highest 

quintile increased by 9.0 percent in 2018. Income quintile is defined based on the pretax income 

reported by the consumer unit. Consumer units are divided into five equal groups. In 2018, the lower 

bounds for each quintile were $21,293 for the second quintile, $41,490 for the third quintile, $70,367 for 

the fourth quintile, and $116,625 for the highest quintile. 
- 3 - 

Chart 2. Annual percent change in average pretax income by income quintile, 2018

Spending by composition of consumer unit, 2018 

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

among the various components of total expenditures. Chart 3 and table B compare the shares allocated 

to selected expenditures by composition of consumer units. Over 10 percent of total spending for 

married-couple-only consumer units went to healthcare, almost twice as large a share as reported by 

one-parent consumer units (5.7 percent). Married-couple-with-children consumer units allocated the 

highest share of all groups to personal insurance and pensions (14.0 percent), while other-marriedcouple consumer units (those with married couples and persons other than children living in the 

consumer unit) allocated the highest share to transportation (17.6 percent).

6.9

-1.0

4.7 4.7 4.8

9.0

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

All Consumer Units Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest

Percent
- 4 - 

Chart 3. Shares of average annual expenditures on selected major components by composition of 

consumer unit, 2018 

Spending by income quintile, 2018 

Chart 4 and table C show the percent change for expenditures by income quintile. Overall spending 

increased in all five quintiles, ranging from 1.5 percent in the lowest and highest quintile to 2.5 

percent in the third quintile. Transportation rose for all five quintiles. Food at home, housing, 

apparel and services, entertainment, and personal insurance and pensions rose in four of five 

quintiles. Food away from home and healthcare rose in three of five quintiles. Cash contributions 

fell in four of five quintiles. 

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Housing Transportation Food Personal insurance

and pensions

Healthcare Apparel and services

Percent

All Consumer Units 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
- 5 - 

Chart 4. Annual percent change in average expenditures by income quintile, 2018 

Table A. Average income and expenditures of all consumer units, 2016-18

Item 2016 2017 2018 

Percent change

2016-17 2017-18 

Average income before taxes................................. $74,664 $73,573 $78,635 -1.5 6.9

Average annual expenditures................................. 57,311 60,060 61,224 4.8 1.9

Food................................................................. 7,203 7,729 7,923 7.3 2.5

Food at home.................................................. 4,049 4,363 4,464 7.8 2.3

Food away from home....................................... 3,154 3,365 3,459 6.7 2.8

Housing............................................................. 18,886 19,884 20,091 5.3 1.0

Shelter............................................................ 11,128 11,895 11,747 6.9 -1.2

 Owned dwellings............................................ 6,295 6,947 6,678 10.4 -3.9

 Rented dwellings............................................ 4,035 4,167 4,249 3.3 2.0

Apparel and services............................................ 1,803 1,833 1,866 1.7 1.8

Transportation..................................................... 9,049 9,576 9,761 5.8 1.9

Vehicle purchases............................................ 3,634 4,054 3,975 11.6 -1.9

Gasoline, other fuels, and motor oil....................... 1,909 1,968 2,109 3.1 7.2

Healthcare......................................................... 4,612 4,928 4,968 6.9 0.8

Health insurance.............................................. 3,160 3,414 3,405 8.0 -0.3

Entertainment...................................................... 2,913 3,203 3,226 10.0 0.7

Personal care products and services........................ 707 762 768 7.8 0.8

Education........................................................... 1,329 1,491 1,407 12.2 -5.6

Cash contributions............................................... 2,081 1,873 1,888 -10.0 0.8

Personal insurance and pensions........................... 6,831 6,771 7,296 -0.9 7.8

 Pensions and Social Security............................. 6,509 6,353 6,831 -2.4 7.5

All other expenditures........................................... 1,897 2,010 2,030 6.0 0.0

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

1.9

1.5

1.7

2.5

2.3

1.5

0

1

1

2

2

3

3

All Consumer Units Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest

Percent
- 6 - 

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

unit, 2018

Item All 

Consumer 

Units

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

Housing 32.8 30.2 31.3 31.1 35.8 36.5

Transportation 15.9 15.6 17.1 17.6 16.1 14.8

Food 12.9 12.4 13.2 14.1 14.0 12.8

Personal insurance 

and pensions 11.9 11.7 14.0 12.2 10.2 10.1

Healthcare 8.1 10.2 7.0 8.6 5.7 7.7 

Apparel and services 3.0 2.7 3.2 3.3 3.9 3.0 

Table C. Change in average annual expenditures of major components by income quintile, 2018

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............................ $380 1.5 $668 1.7 $1,259 2.5 $1,527 2.3 $1,793 1.5

Food........................... 39 1.0 169 3.0 -103 -1.5 596 6.8 269 2.1

 At home..................... 127 4.9 -2 -0.1 43 1.1 188 3.8 150 2.2

 Away from home.......... -88 -5.9 171 8.3 -146 -4.8 409 10.6 120 1.9

Housing..................... 140 1.3 198 1.4 398 2.3 -27 -0.1 267 0.8

Apparel and services...... -129 -14.7 28 2.2 171 12.7 51 2.5 47 1.3

Transportation............... 221 6.3 189 2.9 104 1.2 189 1.7 197 1.1

Healthcare.................... -17 -0.7 108 2.8 -5 -0.1 102 1.8 8 0.1

Entertainment................ 99 7.8 310 16.6 25 1.0 24 0.7 -357 -5.2

Cash contributions......... -17 -2.6 -83 -7.0 -158 -10.6 -16 -0.9 335 8.0

Personal insurance and 

pensions...................... 61 9.3 -367 -15.2 611 14.1 403 4.9 1,859 10.2

All other expenditures -17 -0.8 116 5.0 216 7.0 205 5.0 -832 -8.6
- 7 - 

Additional Information 

Data Products

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 2018 CE data by standard classifications that include income 

quintile, income decile, income class, age of reference person, generation of reference person, size of 

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

division of residence, housing tenure, type of area (urban-rural), race, Hispanic origin, occupation, and 

highest education level of any member. 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. 

Standard CE midyear tables, which are similar to the annual tables but cover the third quarter of a given 

year through the second quarter of the next year, are available at www.bls.gov/cex/midyear.htm. Data 

tables with the most detailed subcategories of expenditures by demographic can be obtained by sending 

a request to cexinfo@bls.gov. 

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

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

www.bls.gov/cex/ce-labstat-getting-started-guide.pdf. 

The 1996 through 2018 CE public-use microdata, including Interview Survey data, Diary Survey data, 

and paradata (information about the data collection process), are available on the CE website for free 

electronic download 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 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. For releases prior 

to 1996, users can continue to purchase USB flash drives using the link to the public-use microdata 

order form at www.bls.gov/cex/pumd_data.htm.

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.

Publications

Recent CE-specific articles in the BLS Beyond the Numbers web report series provide analyses of 

topical economic issues and long term spending trends, as well as comparisons of CE data to other data 

series at www.bls.gov/cex/csxwebarticles.htm and www.bls.gov/cex/cecomparison.htm. Additional 

methodological and analytical articles using CE data will be published in 2020. 

The 2018 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. 

The 2018 Annual Report, which includes more detailed information on spending patterns, will be 

published in early 2020. 
- 8 - 

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 was calculated as the percentage 

change between the 12-month average CPI-U for all items from January to December 2017 (245.120) 

and the 12-month average CPI-U for all items from January to December 2018 (251.107). 

Composition of the consumer unit is the classification of interview families according to: (1) 

relationship of other family members to the reference person; (2) age of the children of the reference 

person; and (3) combination of relationship to the reference person and age of the children. Stepchildren 

and adopted children are included with the reference person's own children. Definitions of CE terms are 

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

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. 

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.