How Much Money Does the Average American Spend in a Year?

In a survey of nearly 130,000 Americans, the categories of housing, transportation, and food accounted for more than 60% of all financial costs.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Consumer Expenditure Survey, Americans spent 76.8% of their yearly earnings before taxes with their annual spending totaling just over $57,000 in 2016.

Expenditures by Category
Housing 33%
Transportation 16%
Food 12.5%
Personal Insurance and Pensions 12%
Healthcare 8%
Misc. 7%
Entertainment 5%
Cash Contributions 3.5%
Clothing 3%

Of the major components, only spending on transportation and clothing fell from the previous year. Meanwhile, despite being up 14.4%, cash contributions were just over $2,000 or approximately 2.8% of an average American’s income. After cash contributions, the other top increases were personal insurance and pensions, rising 7.6%; healthcare, rising 6.2%; food and housing, both rising 2.6%, and entertainment, rising 2.5%.

Also of note, 43.8% of food costs for the average American occurred outside the home. While spending on food away from home was up 4.9% from 2015, spending on food at home jumped only 0.8%.