Every year the Bureau of Labor Statistics produces The Consumer Expenditure Survey, a study that provides information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. Here are a few stories as told by the data, and a playground to find more.
Each visualization has been picked to facilitate the exploration of a different aspect of the dataset. For each visualization, we provide preset configurations that tell a story. Click the story links and the corresponding filters will be selected.
The Radar Chart is useful for exploring who is consuming what. Who's spending more on entertainment? Elderly or young? Northeasterners or Westerners? Low income earners or High-income earners? Who eats the most eggs? Buys the most personal care items?
The Area Chart lets you drill down into the details of what the average american spends their money on. Expenditure items are grouped in convenient categories that can be expanded to examine the details.
The Money Tree is a unique visualization that gives insight into how the average american allocates key parts of their budget. In particular, it highlights the relative weight of those expenditures and the effect of changes in buying power.
The timeline below will remain fixed as you navigate the visualizations. Use it to select the range of years you want to examine and it will affect all the visualizations on the page.
Overlaid on the timeline, markers indicate major events that have occured since 1984. Use the links above to change the category of events being displayed.
The trees represent the beginning and end of the selected range in the timeline. Slide, expand or contract the timeline selection to see trends over time.
Refine the data by selecting from the various demographics, and hover over the leaves for more details.
In 2014, older households (those with a reference person 55 years and older) made up 41.5 percent of the CE sample, compared with 37.5 percent in 2009 and 34.6 percent in 2004, reflecting the aging of the U.S. population.
Housing was the greatest expense in dollar terms ($16,219) and as a share of annual expenditures (32.9 percent) for older households. The statistically significant decline in dollar expenditure reflects the decline in mortgage debt among (aging) households.
Looking at the data for the last ten years, there is a marked decrease in the amount of money spent on beef and pork, and generally on meats. What could it mean? The consumer price index does not suggest that meat got more affordable; are we making healthier choices?
In 1993, the middle class cut their spending by almost 50% on alcohol compared to 1987. They also spent less on entertainment, though recreational costs remained relatively cheap compared to increasing costs in healthcare and education. Income was also flat between the two years. The early 90's was not kind to the middle class.
Click here to see how the top 20% was doing over the same time period.