Today’s Spending

WHERE DOES ALL OUR money go and is our spending making us happy? This is what the statistics tell us:

• On average, American families spend $24,298 a year on housing, according to the latest Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That’s 33% of the average American household’s $72,967 in spending during 2022. Included in that figure are not just mortgage or rent, but also utilities, property taxes, furniture and appliances.
• The BLS survey found that transportation eats up another $12,295 a year, or 16% of spending. This number takes into account vehicle purchases, gas, repairs and auto insurance, among other items. Add it up, and half our monthly spending is getting swallowed up by our cars and our homes.
• While transportation is a major expense for most Americans, that changes as we grow older. Among households headed by someone age 75 and older, transportation spending wanes, but health care costs soar to more than 14% of spending. Add housing, and you account for more than half of spending by older Americans, says the BLS.
• The total annual cost to drive a new car in 2023 averaged $12,182, calculates AAA. That figure includes finance charges, depreciation, maintenance, fuel costs, insurance, and taxes and registration.
• How much do we spend on fun, broadly defined? Figures for 2022 from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) indicate that U.S. households spent an average $6,500 on eating out and $1,500 on concerts, gym memberships, amusement parks, sports events, museums and movie theaters. We spent another $700 on cable and satellite television, $800 on tobacco, $1,200 on gambling, $1,400 on beer, wine and spirits, another $1,100 on alcohol when eating out, $1,100 on hotels and motels, and $1,500 on foreign travel.
• The District of Columbia, California, Hawaii and Washington state have the country’s highest prices for goods and services, according to the BEA’s measure of so-called regional price parities. The least expensive states are Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.
• In 2022, just 25% of Americans said they were very happy. That was up from 19% in 2021 but down from 31% in 2018. This plunge in reported happiness, which no doubt reflects the pandemic and its aftermath, marked a sharp break from the long-term trend. Between 1972, when the first General Social Survey was conducted, and 2018, the percentage of Americans describing themselves as very happy has fairly consistently hovered around 30%. Over this 46-year stretch, inflation-adjusted per capita disposable income rose 131%. In other words, our standard of living more than doubled, but our reported level of happiness showed no improvement. Money, it seems, hasn’t bought happiness.

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