Military status within consumer unit: Annual expenditure means and characteristics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys, 2024 : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Consumer Expenditure Survey > Data

Military status within consumer unit: Average annual expenditures and sources of income, Consumer Expenditure Surveys, 2024 (research product)
Item	All consumer units	Military consumer units			Non military consumer units
Item	All consumer units	All veteran and/or active duty consumer units a/	Veteran only consumer units	Active duty only consumer units	Non military consumer units
Number of consumer units	135,760,053	17,773,939	14,618,658	2,882,089	117,986,114

Consumer unit characteristics (mean values):
Income before taxes	$104,207	$105,529	$103,022	$116,672	$104,008

Age of reference person	52.2	59.5	63.0	42.0	51.1

Average number in consumer unit:
People	2.4	2.5	2.4	2.9	2.5
Children under 18	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.8	0.6
Adults 65 and older	0.4	0.8	0.9	0.1	0.4
Earners	1.3	1.2	1.0	1.8	1.3
Vehicles	1.9	2.3	2.3	2.1	1.8

Percent distribution:
Reference person:
Men	48%	62%	62%	63%	46%
Women	52	38	38	37	54

Housing tenure:
Homeowner	65	78	82	60	63
With mortgage	37	41	40	46	36
Without mortgage	28	37	42	15	27
Renter	35	22	18	40	37

Race of reference person:
Black or African-American	13	13	12	16	13
White, Asian, and all other races, not including Black or African American	87	87	88	84	87

Hispanic or Latino origin of reference person:
Hispanic or Latino	16	10	8	17	17
Not Hispanic or Latino	84	90	92	83	83

Education of reference person:
Elementary (1-8)	3	1	1	2	3
High school (9-12)	27	25	26	25	27
College	70	74	74	73	69
Never attended and other	c/	b/	b/	b/	c/

At least one vehicle owned or leased	89	94	94	93	88

Average annual expenditures	$78,535	$84,182	$83,724	$85,033	$77,695

Food	10,169	10,461	10,419	10,666	10,129
Food at home	6,224	6,316	6,424	5,608	6,212
Cereals and bakery products	779	783	798	675	778
Cereals and cereal products	240	235	240	198	240
Bakery products	539	548	559	477	538
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	1,414	1,399	1,398	1,319	1,416
Beef	408	419	414	396	407
Pork	260	273	273	272	258
Other meats	150	151	152	146 d/	150
Poultry	267	256	248	270	269
Fish and seafood	224	198	202	170 d/	227
Eggs	105	103	109	64	106
Dairy products	631	662	689	499	627
Fresh milk and cream	141	137	139	117	142
Other dairy products	490	525	551	382	485
Fruits and vegetables	953	906	923	799	959
Fresh fruits	394	380	383	348	396
Fresh vegetables	355	317	325	270	360
Processed fruits and vegetables	203	208	214	182	203
Other food at home	2,447	2,566	2,615	2,315	2,431
Sugar and other sweets	230	241	259	148	228
Fats and oils	125	124	129	102	125
Miscellaneous foods	1,284	1,339	1,349	1,298	1,277
Nonalcoholic beverages	714	766	783	664	707
Food prepared by consumer unit on out of town trips	94	96	94	103	94
Food away from home	3,945	4,145	3,995	5,058	3,918

Alcoholic beverages	643	591	602	548	650

Housing	26,266	27,487	27,650	26,348	26,086
Shelter	16,317	16,435	16,389	16,400	16,299
Owned dwellings	9,310	10,750	11,232	8,078	9,093
Mortgage interest and charges	3,646	4,076	3,967	4,435	3,581
Property taxes	2,738	2,989	3,170	2,116	2,700
Maintenance, repairs, insurance, and other expenses	2,926	3,684	4,094	1,528	2,812
Rented dwellings	5,660	3,879	3,231	7,117	5,929
Other lodging	1,347	1,806	1,926	1,205	1,277
Utilities, fuels, and public services	4,736	5,133	5,168	4,829	4,677
Natural gas	493	531	554	399	487
Electricity	1,833	1,994	1,996	1,945	1,809
Fuel oil and other fuels	125	111	108	106 d/	128
Telephone services	1,460	1,560	1,559	1,542	1,445
Residential phone service, VOIP, and phone cards	100	139	158	43 d/	94
Cellular phone service	1,359	1,421	1,401	1,500	1,350
Water and other public services	826	938	951	836	809
Household operations	1,921	1,985	2,058	1,665	1,911
Personal services	547	331	310	465 d/	580
Other household expenses	1,374	1,654	1,748	1,200	1,332
Housekeeping supplies	877	1,028	1,077	793	857
Laundry and cleaning products	209	231	230	226 d/	206
Other household products	537	661	706	444	520
Postage and stationery	131	137	141	122 d/	131
Household furnishings and equipment	2,414	2,905	2,958	2,661	2,342
Household textiles	107	105	112	77 d/	107
Furniture	648	796	809	719 d/	626
Floor coverings	30	30	29 d/	38 d/	30
Major appliances	385	563	571	502 d/	359
Small appliances and miscellaneous housewares	155	163	170	122 d/	154
Miscellaneous household equipment	1,089	1,248	1,267	1,203	1,066

Apparel and services	2,001	1,860	1,772	2,320	2,020
Men and boys	467	507	469	707 d/	461
Men, 16 and over	374	398	360	589 d/	371
Boys, 2 to 15	92	109 d/	109 d/	117 d/	90
Women and girls	744	653	612	864 d/	756
Women, 16 and over	632	570	533	758 d/	640
Girls, 2 to 15	112	83 d/	79 d/	106 d/	116
Children under 2	77	42 d/	40 d/	61 d/	82
Footwear	461	414	412	423 d/	468
Other apparel products and services	252	243	239	266 d/	253

Transportation	13,318	16,028	15,626	17,059	12,910
Vehicle purchases (net outlay)	5,337	7,528	7,377	7,667 d/	5,007
Cars and trucks, new	2,469	3,936	4,377	1,342 d/	2,248
Cars and trucks, used	2,818	3,400	2,766	6,325 d/	2,730
Gasoline and other fuels	2,645	2,680	2,534	3,247	2,640
Gasoline	2,411	2,422	2,288	2,919	2,409
Other vehicle expenses	4,206	4,624	4,473	5,127	4,143
Vehicle finance charges	418	490	441	674	407
Maintenance and repairs	984	1,094	1,083	1,058	968
Vehicle rental, leases, licenses, and other charges	811	847	839	877 d/	805
Vehicle insurance	1,993	2,193	2,109	2,518	1,963
Public and other transportation	1,131	1,197	1,243	1,018	1,121

Healthcare	6,197	7,618	8,206	4,804	5,985
Health insurance	4,055	4,958	5,305	3,272	3,919
Medical services	1,252	1,355	1,477	749 d/	1,236
Drugs	658	864	926	597	628
Medical supplies	233	441 d/	497 d/	186	202

Entertainment	3,609	4,168	4,144	4,232	3,527
Fees and admissions	935	976	935	1,103	929
Audio and visual equipment and services	965	1,131	1,136	1,060	940
Pets, toys, hobbies, and playground equipment	1,069	1,288	1,273	1,377	1,038
Pets	880	1,116	1,130	1,064	847
Toys, hobbies, and playground equipment	189	172	143	313 d/	191
Other entertainment supplies, equipment, and services	640	773	800 d/	692	621

Personal care products and services	978	1,023	1,022	1,010	971

Reading	125	187	176	254 d/	117

Education	1,569	1,290	1,101	2,047 d/	1,611

Tobacco products and smoking supplies	352	495	455	649	331

Miscellaneous	1,218	1,260	1,243	1,420	1,212

Cash contributions	2,292	2,951	3,180	1,943	2,192

Personal insurance and pensions	9,797	8,764	8,129	11,734	9,953
Life and other personal insurance	575	855	908	512 d/	533
Retirement, pensions, and Social Security	9,222	7,909	7,221	11,223	9,420

Sources of pretax income:

Income before taxes	$104,207	$105,529	$103,022	$116,672	$104,008
Wages and salaries	80,864	71,825	64,547	107,017	82,226
Self-employment income	7,084	4,091	4,306	3,058	7,535
Social Security, private and government retirement	11,646	22,807	26,655	3,364	9,965
Interest, dividends, rental income, and other property	3,066	3,626	4,277	507	2,982
Public assistance, Supplemental Security Income, Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)	620	398	355	638	654
Unemployment and workers' compensation, veterans' benefits, and regular contributions for support	635	2,565	2,684	1,763	344
Other income	291	218	199	325	302

Addenda:

Other financial information:
Other money receipts	942	1,358 d/	1,587 d/	287 d/	879
Mortgage principal paid on owned property	-2,924	-3,864	-4,041	-2,990	-2,782
Estimated market value of owned home	310,670	357,637	378,640	245,232	303,595
Estimated monthly rental value of owned home	1,556	1,837	1,926	1,383	1,514

Source: Consumer Expenditure Surveys, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, December, 2025 a All veteran and/or active duty consumer units include consumer units with at least one veteran and one active duty. These estimates were not published separately due to the small sample size. b No data reported. c Value is too small to display. d Data have a Relative Standard Error (RSE) equal to or greater than 25 percent. These estimates should be used with caution. See www.bls.gov/cex/tables-getting-started-guide.htm#section5 for more information.