U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
April 2009
Report 1016
Consumer Expenditures
in 2007
125 YEARS
BLS
Consumer units (CUs) spent $49,638, on average, in
2007, a 2.6-percent increase over the previous year.
This was a more moderate increase than the 4.3-per-
cent growth in spending in 2006 and the 6.9-percent increase
in 2005. The increase in consumer expenditures in 2007 was
close to the 2.8-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index
for All Items (CPI-U) in 2007. This report shows the latest
results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer
Expenditure Survey (CE).
Developments in 2007
The major components of spending—food, housing, apparel
and services, transportation, healthcare, entertainment, and
personal insurance and pensions—account for about 90 per-
cent of total expenditures, and all of these showed increases
in 2007. (See table A.) Expenditures increased by 0.4 percent
for food, by 3.4 percent for housing, by 0.4 percent for ap-
parel and services, by 2.9 percent for transportation, by 3.
percent for healthcare, by 3.6 percent for entertainment, and
by .3 percent for personal insurance and pensions.
A .4-percent increase in spending on food at home fol-
lowed an increase of 3.6 percent in 2006. Spending on food
away from home decreased by .0 percent in 2007, after in-
creasing 2.3 percent in 2006. Thus, total food expenditures in
2007 rose 0.4 percent, following increases of 3.0 percent in
2006 and 2.6 percent in 2005.
Across the four Census regions—Northeast, Midwest,
South, and West—changes on food spending in 2007 were
quite varied. The West region had the highest dollar expen-
ditures compared with the other regions. However, food
expenditures in the West decreased by 4.8 percent in 2007,
compared with an increase of 2.9 percent in 2006. Also in
the West region, spending on food at home decreased by 4.9
percent and spending on food away from home decreased
by 4.8 percent. In contrast, total food spending in the North-
east increased