For release: 10:00 a.m. (EDT), Tuesday, April 28, 2020 USDL-20-0716
Technical Information: (202) 691-6900 * CEXInfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cex
Media Contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
CONSUMER EXPENDITURES MIDYEAR UPDATE -- JULY 2018
THROUGH JUNE 2019 AVERAGE
Average expenditures per consumer unit(1) for July 2018 through June 2019 were up 2.7 percent compared with the July
2017 through June 2018 midyear average, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period,
the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) rose 2.1 percent and average pretax incomes increased 6.4 percent.
Data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) measure how consumers allocate their spending among the various
components of total expenditures. According to the CE, most major components of household spending increased over
the 12 months ending June 2019. (See table A.) The 6.9-percent rise in transportation spending was the largest
percentage increase among all major components, followed by a 6.5-percent rise in personal insurance and pensions
expenditures. However, the largest change over the period was a 7.1-percent drop in education spending.
Selected spending patterns, July 2018 – June 2019 compared with July 2017 – June 2018
--Education spending decreased 7.1 percent. This was due to decreases in elementary and high school tuition
and expenditures for finance, late, and interest charges on student loans.
--Transportation expenditures increased 6.9 percent to $10,410. Within transportation, vehicle insurance
spending had a large increase (64.3 percent) due to a change in survey source used for publication, from the
Diary Survey to the Interview Survey(2). Average expenditures for public transportation were up 2.8-percent,
and average household expenditures for gasoline and motor oil increased 2.6 percent over the period.
--Personal insurance and pensions spending increased 6.5 percent, compared to a decrease of 0.5 percent in the
previous midyear period. This was due to a 15.7-percent increase in life and other personal insurance
spending and a 5.9-percent increase in contributions to pensions and Social Security.
--Cash contributions increased 5.8 percent. This category incorporates a wide array of giving and financial
obligations such as charitable contributions, support for college students, child support, alimony, and
other gifts of cash and financial instruments to individuals and organizations not part of the household.
Other cash gifts accounted for much of the increase.
--Healthcare spending rose 2.5 percent to $5,049 for July 2018 through June 2019. The largest changes in
components of healthcare were a 6.8-percent increase in average medical services spending and a 1.7-percent
increase in health insurance spending.
--Spending on food increased 1.2 percent. This increase was driven by food at home which increased 2.0
percent; food away from home only increased slightly, by 0.3 percent.
--Apparel and services spending increased 0.5 percent to $1,859, after increasing 4.5 percent during the
previous midyear period.
Spending by income quintile
Table B shows average expenditures and income before taxes by quintile from July 2018 through June 2019.
Income quintile is defined based on the pretax income reported by the consumer unit. Consumer units are divided
into five equal groups. In July 2018 through June 2019, the lower bounds for each quintile were $21,512 for the
second quintile, $42,254 for the third quintile, $71,403 for the fourth quintile, and $119,553 for the highest
quintile.
The second income quintile showed a decrease in total average household expenditures (-1.2 percent) across the 12
months ending June 2019, despite an increase in income before taxes (3.9 percent). All the other quintiles showed
an increase in both total average household expenditures and income before taxes.
Overall, pretax income rose 6.4 percent over the 12 months ending June 2019. All income quintiles showed increases
in pretax income. The first quintile increased the least: 0.2 percent. The highest quintile increased the most:
8.2 percent. For the middle three quintiles, the increase was similar (3.9 to 4.3 percent).
Table C compares the shares of total expenditures allocated to selected expenditures by income quintiles.
The lowest income quintile allocated larger shares to food and housing than all other quintiles. The highest
income quintile allocated a larger share to personal insurance and pensions (including payments for life insurance,
other nonhealth insurance, pensions, and Social Security) than any other group. Transportation allocations show
little variations among the groups and households in higher income quintiles allocate less to healthcare.
Table A. Average income and expenditures of all consumer units
_____________________________________________________________________________
Percent change
July 2017- July 2018- July 2017 - June 2018
Item June 2018 June 2019 to
Average Average July 2018 - June 2019
--------------------------------------- ---------- ---------------------
Income before taxes $76,335 $81,220 6.4
Average annual expenditures 60,815 62,438 2.7
Food 7,869 7,967 1.2
Food at home 4,445 4,533 2.0
Food away from home 3,424 3,434 0.3
Housing 20,001 20,506 2.5
Apparel and services 1,850 1,859 0.5
Transportation 9,735 10,410 6.9
Healthcare 4,924 5,049 2.5
Entertainment 3,379 3,185 -5.7
Education 1,505 1,398 -7.1
Cash contributions 1,840 1,946 5.8
Personal insurance and 6,904 7,354 6.5
pensions
Life and other personal 429 497 15.7
insurance
Pensions and Social 6,474 6,857 5.9
Security
All other expenditures 2,808 2,764 -1.6
____________________________________________________________________________
Note: Subcategories may not sum to their respective major item category.
Table B. Average annual expenditures and income before taxes by income quintile,
July 2018–June 2019 compared with July 2017–June 2018
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Average annual expenditures Average income before taxes
July 2017- July 2018- Percent July 2017- July 2018- Percent
Income quintile June 2018 June 2019 change June 2018 June 2019 change
---------------------------- ---------- -------- ---------- ---------- -------
Lowest 20 $26,012 $27,680 6.4 $11,335 $11,358 0.2
percent
Second 20 40,215 39,731 -1.2 30,544 31,721 3.9
percent
Third 20 51,144 52,708 3.1 53,571 55,870 4.3
percent
Fourth 20 68,506 69,819 1.9 88,394 92,224 4.3
percent
Highest 20 118,277 122,052 3.2 198,045 214,373 8.2
percent
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Table C. Shares of average expenditures on selected major components by
income quintiles, July 2018 through June 2019
__________________________________________________________________________
Income quintiles
Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest
Item 20 20 20 20 20
percent percent percent percent percent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Housing 40.3 36.6 34.4 32.1 29.7
Transportation 15.6 17.4 17.3 17.5 15.9
Food 15.6 14.5 13.5 12.6 11.3
Personal insurance 2.5 5.0 9.3 12.6 16.7
and pensions
Healthcare 9.6 9.8 9.0 8.3 6.7
Apparel and 2.6 3.3 2.9 3.1 2.9
services
__________________________________________________________________________
Additional information
Data Products
Standard CE midyear tables can be found at www.bls.gov/cex/midyear.htm. Data tables with the most detailed
subcategories of expenditures sorted by demographics can be obtained by sending a request to cexinfo@bls.gov.
The all consumer unit detailed annual tables are available at www.bls.gov/cex/csxresearchtables.htm#allnew.
The 1980 through 2018 CE public-use microdata, including Interview Survey data, Diary Survey data, and
paradata (information about the data collection process), are available 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 detailed data
files that organize expenditures by the section of the Interview questionnaire in which they are collected.
Expenditure values on detailed data 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.
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.
The 2019 annual news release, data tables, LABSTAT database, and public-use microdata are planned for release
in September 2020.
Publications
The Annual Report, at www.bls.gov/cex/csxreport.htm, summarizes major trends found in the annual calendar
year tables. Each report discusses the trends and provides tables of average expenditures, income, and
demographics. Other recent CE-specific articles are available in the Beyond the Numbers web report series at
www.bls.gov/cex/csxwebarticles.htm and the CE Data Comparisons section of www.bls.gov/cex/cecomparison.htm.
The BLS Beyond the Numbers web report series provides analyses of topical economic issues and long term
spending trends, and the data comparison articles examine CE data benchmarked to other sources. Additional
methodological and analytical articles using CE data will be published in 2020. All data tables published in
the Annual Report and posted to the website are integrated from the two CE components: the quarterly
Interview Survey and weekly Diary Survey.
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 (2.1 percent) was calculated as the
percentage change between the 12-month average CPI-U for all items from July 2017-June 2018 (248.126) and
the 12-month average CPI-U for all items from July 2018-June 2019 (253.268).
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 annual CE Survey Methods Symposium and Microdata Users' Workshop is scheduled for July 21-24, 2020, at
the BLS national office. Registration is free. More information and online registration are available at
www.bls.gov/cex/csxannualworkshop.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.
(1)Consumer units include families, single persons living alone or sharing a
household with others but who are financially independent, or two or
more unrelated persons living together who pool their income to make
joint expenditure decisions.
(2)For expenditures collected in both surveys, the CE program uses a
statistical method to select the source used in publication. For more
information, see www.bls.gov/cex/anthology11/csxanth3.pdf.
United States Department of Labor
