Household spending in 2025 averaged $81,905, and 46.9% of it went to housing and food. That is the headline from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditures release, out Oct. 29. Spending rose 4.3% over 2024, though not evenly: rent climbed 10.8% and meat, poultry, fish and eggs 11.7%. Below, we go through what the survey says, which of its changes the BLS treats as solid, a few calculations we ran ourselves, and a quick way to test your own budget against the averages.
What the BLS found about household spending in 2025
The survey counts about 138 million consumer units, the BLS term for a household, and the average one brought in $110,847 before taxes, up 6.4%. Housing was the biggest line at $27,790, a third of everything spent. Food followed at $10,633. The table below also puts each category on a monthly footing, which we did by dividing the yearly figure by 12.
| Category | Average per year | Per month | Share of spending | Change from 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $27,790 | $2,316 | 33.9% | +5.8% |
| Transportation | $13,492 | $1,124 | 16.5% | +1.3% |
| Food | $10,633 | $886 | 13.0% | +4.6% |
| Healthcare | $6,470 | $539 | 7.9% | +4.4% |
| Entertainment | $4,084 | $340 | 5.0% | +13.2% |
Add up those five rows and you get 76.3% of the total. The remaining 23.7%, roughly $19,400 a year, covers everything else the survey tracks. Housing, transportation and food alone account for 63.4% of everything households spent.
Shelter, the biggest piece of housing, cost $17,626, up 8.0%. Money spent on rented homes reached $6,272 (up 10.8%) and on owned homes $9,988 (up 7.3%). At the grocery store households averaged $6,491; restaurants and takeout took another $4,142. Treat the smaller moves with caution. The BLS runs a test on each year-over-year change, and only some clear it: total spending, housing, shelter, rent and food overall did. Transportation, healthcare, entertainment, groceries, eating out and owned housing did not, which means survey noise can’t be ruled out.
What the 46.9% share shows about household spending
Put housing and food together and you get $38,423, which is 46.9% of the average. Is that a jump? We worked backward from the BLS percent changes to estimate 2024. That gives about $36,400 of housing and food out of roughly $78,500 in total household spending, a share near 46.4%. The BLS rounds its percentages, so this is an estimate, but it points to a rise of about half a point. In monthly terms, the average household spent about $6,825 and took in about $9,237 before taxes, with housing and food costing about $3,202 of that spending.
Compare it with income instead and the picture softens. Housing and food equal about 34.7% of the $110,847 average pretax income, and income grew faster than spending, 6.4% against 4.3%. Averages hide a lot, though. Spending on rented homes rose the most, and plenty of households earn less than the mean.
What drove the increase in household spending
Rent and food did most of the damage. Backing out 2024 the same way, housing added about $1,500 per household and food about $470. That is roughly $2,000 of a $3,400 increase, close to 60%, from two categories that made up under half the budget. On rent alone, average spending on rented homes went up about $610 a year, which works out to $51 a month. Meat, poultry, fish and eggs added about $165, or $14 a month.
The survey has a built-in limit, though. It tracks what households say they spent, not what things cost. A bigger figure could mean higher prices, larger purchases or both, so it is no replacement for an inflation reading, and it covers 2025, not today.
How household spending compares across income groups
The release also sorts households into five equal income groups. We divided each group’s average spending by its average pretax income.
| Income group | Average income before taxes | Average spending | Spending as a share of income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest fifth | $18,125 | $37,935 | 209% |
| Second fifth | $46,080 | $51,405 | 112% |
| Middle fifth | $78,584 | $68,983 | 88% |
| Fourth fifth | $126,349 | $92,250 | 73% |
| Highest fifth | $286,188 | $159,512 | 56% |
In the bottom two groups, spending outruns reported income on average. The release gives no reason, so don’t take it as proof of debt. It does show how little a single national average says about any one household. And because the release doesn’t break out housing or food shares by income group, this table can’t tell you which group puts the most of its budget toward rent.
Checking your household spending against the average
Use the same math on your own numbers. The BLS shares are measured against what households spend, not what they take home, so start by totaling a normal month of spending: rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries, restaurants and the rest. Then divide housing by that total, and food by that total.
Suppose you spend $5,000 a month. Average shares would put about $1,695 toward housing and $650 toward food. A $2,100 housing bill means 42% of spending, which is well above average, but that isn’t automatically a problem. Some people pay more to live near work or in a newer home, and they know it. The point is to find the line that looks out of proportion, then work on it first. A tracker helps, and our guide to budgeting apps compared by price and fit weighs seven of them. Our report on September PCE inflation shows how quickly prices are moving now. For more, visit the Finance section.
Editor’s Take
Nearly half of household spending goes to housing and food, and the items rising fastest, rent and protein, are the hardest to cut back. That’s the real finding. The share itself barely moved, about half a point, and several category changes didn’t pass the BLS’s own significance test, so be careful with any single line.
Treat the numbers as a mirror. Add up your housing and food costs, divide by what you spend overall, and look at the result. If it’s well above the averages, begin your budget review there.
