Household Spending Priorities Change Over 50 Years According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as analyzed by American Demographics, while household spending has increased over the
last 50 years, spending priorities have changed. More than half goes to the house and car at the expense of food and alcohol, almost five times as much for education, and entertainment as popular as
ever.
Average U.S. household Spending Allocation (% of total unadjusted for inflation)
| 1950 | 1960 | 1972 | 1984 | 1993 | 2003 |
| Total annual HH spend | $3,925 | $5,431 | $8,601 | $21,975 | $30,692 | $40,817 |
| Housing | 25.8% | 29.3% | 29.4% | 30.4% | 31.4% | 32.9% |
| Transportation | 13.8 | 15.1 | 24.0 | 19.6 | 17.8 | 19.1 |
| Food & alcohol | 32.5 | 26.0 | 22.6 | 16.2 | 15.2 | 14.0 |
| Health care
| 5.1 | 6.6 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 |
| Entertainment & reading | 5.4 | 4.9 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 5.4 |
| Apparel | 11.5 | 10.3 | 8.4 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 4.0 |
| Education | 0.4 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Other | 5.5% | 6.8% | 4.6% | 16.3% | 17.1% | 16.8% |
Source:
bis.gov and American Demographics Analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data