Research & Data
Average annual spending by U.S. consumer units reached $81,905 in 2025, up 4.3% from $78,527 in 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday, Oct. 29, in its annual Consumer Expenditures release. Average income before taxes rose faster, climbing 6.4% to $110,847 from $104,207.
Both increases outpaced consumer prices. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 2.6% over the same period, a figure BLS calculated from 11 months of data because the October 2025 index was not available.
The figures describe calendar 2025, not current conditions. They are averages across roughly 138 million consumer units, which BLS defines as families and single persons living alone or sharing a household with others, including financially independent people and groups of two or more who live together and share major expenses. The number of consumer units rose 1.6% from 2024.
Housing and food drove the increase
Housing remained by far the largest expense, at $27,790, or 33.9% of total spending. Housing outlays rose 5.8%, mostly because spending on shelter climbed 8.0% to $17,626. Spending on utilities, fuels and public services rose 4.1% to $4,931. BLS identified food and housing as the major components with statistically significant increases.
Food spending rose 4.6% to $10,633. BLS said the increase was due in part to an 11.7% jump in spending on meats, poultry, fish and eggs. Food at home rose 4.3% to $6,491, while food away from home rose 5.0% to $4,142.
Transportation, the second-largest category at 16.5% of spending, rose just 1.3% to $13,492. Within it, spending on gasoline and other fuels fell a statistically significant 5.4% to $2,503, and net outlays on vehicle purchases fell 5.9% to $5,023. Other vehicle expenses rose 13.3% to $4,765, an increase BLS said partly reflects a change in data source.
Healthcare spending rose 4.4% to $6,470, including a 6.3% increase in health insurance to $4,310. Spending on personal insurance and pensions rose 3.9% to $10,175, or 12.4% of spending. Entertainment spending rose 13.2% to $4,084, though that change was not marked as statistically significant.
Wide gaps by income
Spending varied sharply across income groups. Consumer units in the lowest fifth of the income distribution averaged $18,125 in income before taxes and $37,935 in spending. Those in the highest fifth averaged $286,188 in income and $159,512 in spending. The middle fifth averaged $78,584 in income and $68,983 in spending.
That spread is why the headline average should not be read as a typical paycheck. Income before taxes in the survey is a mean across consumer units, and BLS defines it as total money earnings and selected money receipts over the 12 months before the interview. It covers more than wages, can combine several earners, and is pulled upward by high-income households. It is not a measure of median worker pay, of current 2026 wages, or of the raises employers are setting now.
A gap in data collection
The 2025 figures carry an unusual caveat. Because of the 2025 lapse in federal appropriations, the Census Bureau could not collect the Consumer Expenditure Surveys for BLS in October and November 2025. BLS used a weight adjustment approach to account for the missing data, and collection resumed Dec. 5, 2025.
In a separate explanation, BLS said it doubled September and December 2025 weights in the diary survey to stand in for the missing months, and scaled up affected interview reports to represent a full month of spending. The agency said it expects the 2025 estimates to be accurate but with increased variances because of the smaller sample, and that there is no way to measure the true effect of the missing data.
The release notes other changes that affect comparisons. BLS switched its method for calculating standard errors and will not publish two-year tables for 2024 and 2025. The 2025 sample was updated for new geographic areas based on the latest census. Several 2024 figures differ from those first published because of post-publication corrections.
For workers and employers, the release offers a snapshot of where household budgets went last year, with shelter taking a larger share than in 2024, rather than a gauge of today’s pay or hiring.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Consumer Expenditures–2025” (USDL-26-1619), October 29, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The impact of the 2025 federal lapse in appropriations on the Consumer Expenditure Surveys,” accessed October 29, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/cex/2025-federal-government-shutdown-impact-ce.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Consumer Expenditure Surveys glossary,” accessed October 29, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/cex/csxgloss.htm
Featured photo: Produce section of a grocery store in Alabama, Sept. 1, 2022. Representative image; not a specific store or household covered by the BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys. Photo: Alabama Extension, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0). Cropped from the original.
