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Married couples with oldest child under age 6 spent 36.3 percent of total expenditures on housing
August 03, 2017
Housing accounted for 36.3 percent of household spending among married couples whose oldest child was under age 6 in 2015. By comparison, married couples whose oldest child was 18 or older spent 27.5 percent of total expenditures on housing. Single-parent households with at least one child under age 18 spent 36.8 percent of their total expenditures on housing.
Share of total household expenditures spent by married couples with and without children, single parents, and single consumers
Expenditure
All households
Married couple only
Married couple with oldest child under 6
Married couple with oldest child 6 to 17
Married couple with oldest child 18 or older
Other married couple households
One parent, at least one child under 18
Single person and other households
Housing
32.9%
31.3%
36.3%
32.0%
27.5%
30.8%
36.8%
35.7%
Transportation
17.0
16.6
17.4
16.7
19.0
19.2
17.5
16.3
Food
12.5
11.8
12.0
13.2
13.5
12.2
13.4
12.5
Personal insurance and pensions
11.3
11.6
13.4
13.2
13.3
12.8
8.9
9.3
Healthcare
7.8
10.2
6.4
6.7
7.3
7.9
5.2
7.1
Entertainment
5.1
5.8
4.0
5.3
4.5
4.4
4.7
4.9
Apparel and services
3.3
2.5
3.9
3.7
3.4
3.1
3.9
3.5
Cash contributions
3.2
4.3
1.7
2.9
2.8
2.3
2.8
3.2
Education
2.3
1.5
1.2
2.7
4.7
2.9
2.4
2.2
Miscellaneous
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.5
1.5
1.9
1.8
Personal care products and services
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.2
1.1
1.2
1.4
1.2
Alcoholic beverages
0.9
1.1
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.5
1.1
Tobacco products and smoking supplies
0.6
0.4
0.3
0.4
0.5
1.0
0.5
1.0
Reading
0.2
0.3
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.2
Married couples with children spent larger shares of their household budget on personal insurance and pensions than other types of households. Depending on the age of the oldest child, married parents spent 13.2 percent to 13.4 percent of the total spending on personal insurance and pensions. That compares with 11.6 percent for married couples with no one else in the household, 9.3 percent for single people without children, and 8.9 percent for single parents.
Married couples with no one else in the household spent an average of 10.2 percent of total spending on healthcare in 2015. Single-parent households with at least one child under 18 spent 5.2 percent of their total expenditures on healthcare.
United States Department of Labor
