Average expenditures for all consumer units in 2021 were $66,928, a 9.1-percent increase from 2020, and average income before taxes increased 3.7 percent.

Economic News Release USDL-22-1804

CONSUMER EXPENDITURES--2021
For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, September 8, 2022

Technical Information: (202) 691-6900 * CEXInfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cex
Media Contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov


CONSUMER EXPENDITURES--2021


Average annual expenditures for all consumer units(1) in 2021 were $66,928, a 9.1-percent increase from 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) During the same period, the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) rose 4.7 percent, and average income before taxes increased 3.7 percent.

The average annual expenditures of 2021 were broken down into fourteen major components, nine of which are shown in table B. The tenth category shown, “other expenditures,” is the aggregate of the five smallest components.(2) Overall, housing accounted for the highest share (33.8 percent), followed by transportation (16.4 percent), food (12.4 percent), and personal insurance and pensions (11.8 percent).

Among the fourteen major components of household spending, the largest increase in expenditures was in entertainment (+22.7 percent), followed closely by a 22.3-percent rise in apparel and services spending. In contrast, only education expenditures decreased (-3.5 percent) from 2020 to 2021.

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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 next CE Microdata Users’ Workshop will be held in the summer of 2023. More information about these events is available on the CE website (www.bls.gov/cex/csxannualworkshop.htm). Reports on these events (2009 through 2020) are also published in the Monthly Labor Review (MLR).

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.