Consumer expenditures rise 8.6 percent in April–June 2022 quarter compared with year earlier

From April to June of 2022, total expenditures averaged $18,059 per consumer unit, an increase of 8.6 percent over the same period in 2021. The largest percentage increase was in transportation spending, a gain of 16.5 percent to a total of $3,215 per household for the quarter. Within transportation, gasoline, other fuels, and motor oil had the largest impact, increasing $375 per household or 71.8 percent from 2021 to 2022. Spending on public and other transportation had the largest percentage increase within transportation, rising 90.3 percent over the year.

Spending for both food and housing increased in the April–June 2022 quarter as compared with a year earlier. Food expenditures increased 10.8 percent, and housing expenditures rose 6.1 percent. Within food, spending for food away from home increased 17.1 percent over the year.

Education had the largest decrease in spending in 2022. Education spending fell 8.8 percent in April–June 2022 from the same period in 2021.

These data are from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys. Consumer units are similar to households and consist of the household members who use their income to make joint expenditure decisions. To learn more about the data in this article, see our public use microdata for consumer expenditures.