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Veteran and active duty military spending in 2025

November 10, 2026

As we observe Veterans Day, let's examine the spending of veteran and active duty military households.  In 2025, average annual expenditures for all households were $81,905. Households with veterans and active duty military members spent more than the national average, at $85,345 and $90,890, respectively.

Average annual consumer expenditures (in dollars) by military status, selected components, 2025
ItemAll consumer unitsAll veteran and/or active duty householdsVeteran only households Active duty only householdsNon military households

Average annual expenditures

81,90586,70985,34590,89081,235

Housing

27,79029,01328,28930,62627,620

Transportation

13,49217,42417,29716,46912,942

Food

10,63310,0959,98510,70210,708

Personal insurance and pensions

10,1759,7238,58915,37910,239

Healthcare

6,4707,0707,4825,4946,386

Entertainment

4,0844,3464,4493,7384,048

Cash contributions

2,2373,1023,2972,357[1]2,117

Apparel and services

2,0101,8721,9211,6472,029

Education

1,583887867[1]1,148[1]1,680

All other expenditures

3,4303,1773,1703,3313,467

[1] Cash contributions and education estimates for active duty only households and education estimates for veteran only households have Relative Standard Errors (RSE) equal to or greater than 25 percent. These estimates should be used with caution.

Housing, transportation, and food are typically the three largest spending categories across demographic groups. However, for active duty households, personal insurance and pensions ranked third. Their average expenditure of $15,379 on personal insurance and pensions exceeded nonmilitary spending in that category by more than $5,000.

Households that included veterans spent more than active duty and nonmilitary households on transportation, healthcare, entertainment, and cash contributions. Active duty households were the highest spenders on housing and personal insurance and pensions. Households without military members spent the most on apparel and services, education, and all other expenditures.

These data are from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys. For more information, see the latest news release at “Consumer Expenditures – 2025,” as well as Consumer Expenditures data tables. Households are defined as consumer units, which consist of families, single persons living alone or sharing a household with others, but who are financially independent, or two or more persons living together who share major expenses. 

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Veteran and active duty military spending in 2025 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/veteran-and-active-duty-military-spending-in-2025.htm (visited November 12, 2026).