Neither on its own is a good or a bad thing. Maybe you find that you spend similar portions of your monthly income in each category, or your spending patterns could be completely different. It's interesting to see what the typical American spending habits look like and compare them to your own. How do your average monthly expenses compare? Here's a more detailed look at the different expenses of home ownership and how much Americans spend on them: Housing size and whether a person has roommates also have a big impact on how much they spend here. Average housing costs can be anywhere from under $1,000 to over $3,000 depending on the area. This fluctuates quite a bit depending on a person's living situation. Of the $1,784 per month that Americans spend on housing, $1,050 of it goes towards housing payments. Housing is the biggest living expense in the national average budget by a wide margin, and it increased by 3.5% in 2020. Average monthly spending on housing: $1,784 (34.9%) But over the course of the year, the average is $2,346. For example, most people aren't spending $196 per month on furniture and appliances. It's also worth noting that not all of the typical expenses are monthly expenses. Because we rounded to the nearest dollar, there may be small discrepancies when comparing the monthly and annual numbers. The BLS survey only calculates annual spending, so we divided those numbers by 12 to get the average household expenses per month.
PERSONAL BUDGET BREAKDOWN FULL
Here's a full breakdown of the average spending by category: The best option is a high-yield savings account to maximize the interest you earn.ĬOMPARE TOP PICKS: Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Where Americans spend their money While the amount you save is most important, where you put that money also matters. That's close to the recommended savings rate of at least 20%. Average pre-tax income is $84,352.īased on the income and spending figures, Americans spend 82% of their income after taxes and have a savings rate of 18%. The average American household's annual income after taxes is $74,949. Average annual income per household: $74,949 Three roommates would be three consumer units.
The average household's monthly expenses are $5,111 ($61,334 per year).Where does all that money go? For the typical person, it covers quite a few different things from major costs like payments to their mortgage lender and groceries to smaller expenses like apparel.īy peeking into the national average budget for all these categories, we can get a better idea of where people spend the most and how our own spending habits compare.
The average monthly expenses for American households are $5,111, according to the most recent Consumer Expenditure Survey from the U.S.