Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

16-2091-ATL
Thursday, November 03, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Consumer Expenditures for the Atlanta Metropolitan Area: 2014 – 15

Households in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga., metropolitan area spent an average of $53,195 per year in 2014–15, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that this figure was not significantly different from the $54,715 average expenditure level for households in the United States. Atlanta-area households allocated their dollars similarly among six of the eight selected major categories, with two differing significantly from the U.S. average. For example, the share of expenditures for food, which accounted for 11.1 percent of the average household’s budget in the Atlanta area, was lower than the national average of 12.6 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)


Highlights of the Atlanta area’s 2014–15 spending patterns:
  • Housing: This was the largest expenditure category for Atlanta-area households and averaged $17,684. Housing accounted for 33.2 percent of the area’s household budget, similar to the 33.1-percent U.S. average. (See table 1.) Housing expenditures shares among the 16 published areas nationwide for which data were available, ranged from 39.6 percent in New York to 30.3 percent in Detroit. (See table 2.)

  • Transportation: Atlanta-area households spent 16.1 percent of their budgets on transportation, not significantly different from the national average of 17.0 percent. Of the $8,586 in annual transportation expenditures in Atlanta, 94.4 percent was spent buying and maintaining private vehicles; this compared to the national average of 93.3 percent.

  • Food: The portion of an Atlanta household’s budget spent on food, 11.1 percent, was significantly lower than the 12.6-percent U.S. average. Atlanta-area households spent $3,448, or 58.5 percent, of their food dollars on food at home and $2,444 (41.5 percent) on food away from home. In comparison, the average U.S. household spent 57.9 percent of its food budget on food at home and 42.1 percent on food away from home.
Additional Information

Data in this release are from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE), which the U.S. Census Bureau conducts for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data in this release were averaged over a 2-year period, 2014 and 2015.

A household in the CE survey is defined as a consumer unit which consists of members related by blood, marriage, adoption, or other legal arrangement; a single person living alone or sharing a household with others but who is financially independent; or two or more persons living together who share responsibility for at least 2 out of 3 major types of expenses – food, housing, and other expenses. The terms household or consumer unit are used interchangeably for convenience.

Differences in spending among metropolitan areas may reflect differences in the cost of living, but they also may reflect other causes. Spending differences may result from different consumer preferences or variations in demographic characteristics, such as household size, age, or income levels. However, expenditure shares, or the percentage of a household’s budget spent on a particular category, can be used to compare spending patterns across areas. Sample sizes for the metropolitan areas are much smaller than for the nation, so the U.S. estimates and year-to-year changes are more reliable than those for the metropolitan areas. Users should also keep in mind that prices for many goods and services have changed since the survey was conducted.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with our ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. A large difference between two values may not be statistically significant, while a small difference could be significant; both the sample size and the variation among the values in the sample affect the relative error of the estimates.

For additional technical and related information, see www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cex/home.htm. Data for the nation, the four geographic regions of the U.S., and 16 metropolitan areas nationwide are available at www.bls.gov/cex/tables.htm. Metropolitan definitions used in the survey are available at www.bls.gov/cex/ce_msa_201415.pdf. The metropolitan area discussed in this release is the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. MSA, which comprises Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton Counties in Georgia. Metropolitan area news releases for the Consumer Expenditure Survey are available at www.bls.gov/regions/subjects/consumer-spending.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 800-877-8339.

Changes to Consumer Expenditures Survey Data

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) underwent a sample change in 2015. Estimates for the Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) will no longer be produced, as the population for the MSA was below the threshold necessary to qualify as a publishable MSA. The geographical boundaries of the Boston MSA have changed significantly such that estimates are not comparable to estimates for 2014. Thus, both Cleveland and Boston are not represented in the 2014-2015 tables. Boston will return in the 2015-2016 tables when two years of data based on the new boundaries become available.

Table 1. Average annual expenditures, characteristics, and percent distributions, United States and Atlanta metropolitan area, 2014–15
CategoryUnited
States
Atlanta

Consumer unit characteristics:

 

Income before taxes

$68,316$73,671

Age of reference person

50.447.9

Average number in consumer unit:

 

People

2.52.5

Children under 18

0.60.6

Adults 65 and over

0.40.3

Earners

1.31.3

Vehicles

1.91.8

Percent homeowner

6366

Average annual expenditures

$54,715$53,195

Percent distribution

 

Total

100.0100.0

Food

12.611.1*

Alcoholic beverages

0.90.6*

Housing

33.133.2

Apparel and services

3.33.3

Transportation

17.016.1

Healthcare

7.97.7

Entertainment

5.14.8

Personal care products and services

1.21.0*

Reading

0.20.2*

Education

2.32.5

Tobacco products and smoking supplies

0.60.4*

Miscellaneous

1.50.8*

Cash contributions

3.34.1

Personal insurance and pensions

11.014.3*

Note: An asterisk (*) represents a statistically significant difference from the U.S. average at the 95-percent confidence interval.
 

 

Table 2. Percent share of average annual expenditures for housing, transportation, and food, United States and 16 metropolitan areas, 2014–15
AreaHousingTransportationFood

United States

33.117.012.6

Atlanta

33.216.111.1*

Baltimore

34.915.811.4

Chicago

34.5*15.612.4

Dallas-Fort Worth

32.817.712.9

Detroit

30.3*18.812.2

Houston

32.320.0*12.5

Los Angeles

37.4*15.1*12.4

Miami

36.2*18.113.8

Minneapolis-St. Paul

32.216.711.2*

New York

39.6*12.7*11.0*

Philadelphia

35.0*15.911.2*

Phoenix

33.316.313.0

San Diego

35.8*15.510.5*

San Francisco

37.1*13.9*12.1

Seattle

34.414.2*12.9

Washington, D.C.

36.6*15.79.6*

Note: An asterisk (*) represents a statistically significant difference from the U.S. average at the 95-percent confidence interval.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, November 03, 2016