Housing expenditure statistics
Published September 24, 2026 · StatsGalore
Average annual housing expenditures per consumer unit, dollars [1]
Housing expenditure statistics in the Consumer Expenditure Surveys describe spending for consumer units, not individual people, visits, or accounts. In the Consumer Expenditures--2024 release, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported average annual expenditures of $78,535 for all consumer units. The housing line in Table A was 26,266 dollars in 2024, and Table B placed housing at 33.4 in the percent distribution of total annual expenditures. These are means, so they should not be interpreted as medians or as amounts paid by every consumer unit. [1]
The numbers
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average annual expenditures, all items | $78,535 | [1] |
| Housing | 26,266 | [1] |
| Housing share of total annual expenditures | 33.4 | [1] |
| Owned dwellings | 9,310 | [1] |
| Rented dwellings | 5,660 | [1] |
| Other lodging | 1,347 | [1] |
| Housing percent change, 2023-24 | 3.3* | [1] |
| Owned dwellings percent change, 2023-24 | 7.0* | [1] |
| Rented dwellings percent change, 2023-24 | 5.4* | [1] |
Housing within total expenditures
For 2024, the main top-line context is that average annual expenditures for all consumer units were $78,535. Housing was one of the major components of that total, with Table A reporting 26,266 for the housing category.
The percent-distribution table reports housing at 33.4 for 2024. Because Table B is explicitly a percent distribution of total annual expenditures, this figure is a share of the published expenditure total, not a count of households, persons, properties, or transactions.
[1]Owned, rented, and lodging components
The release provides selected housing subcategories. In 2024, owned dwellings were 9,310, rented dwellings were 5,660, and other lodging was 1,347 in Table A.
These subcategory figures are average annual expenditures for all consumer units in the published table. They should not be read as conditional averages only among owners, only among renters, or only among consumer units using other lodging. The release also cautions that only selected subcategories are shown, so some subcategories do not sum to their major item category.
[1]Change from 2023 to 2024
The housing category increased 3.3 percent in the 2023-24 column, after a 4.7-percent increase in 2023. The release states that, among the major components of total expenditures, housing was the only statistically significant increase.
Within housing, owned dwellings increased 7.0 percent and rented dwellings increased 5.4 percent in 2024. The asterisks in Table A mark statistically significant differences in means at the 95 percent confidence level, and the methodology says the dollar-amount differences, not the displayed percentages themselves, were tested.
[1]How to read the estimates
The Consumer Expenditure Surveys release presents expenditure means, shares of total expenditures, standard errors, and relative standard errors. That matters for housing because means can differ from medians and can be affected by consumer units with no direct spending in a category or with unusually large expenditures during the reference period.
Users should preserve the timing of the release and data year: the news release is Consumer Expenditures--2024 and was issued on December 19, 2025. The methodology also notes that the 2024 data collection effort included updates focused mainly on housing and medical expenditure sections, with specific changes involving rental and owned properties.
[1]Reliability and publication limits
The release’s publication notes are important for housing expenditure analysis. It says only selected subcategories are shown, and it explains that the tables include statistical measures such as standard errors and relative standard errors.
Beginning with the 2024 publication tables in December 2025, BLS included mean estimates with relative standard errors that equal or exceed 25 percent and flagged them instead of suppressing them. The source says the CE program considers mean estimates with RSEs of 25 percent or more to be unreliable, so detailed housing estimates outside the summary release should be checked for those flags.
[1]Sources & notes
Definitions and limitations: figures are BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys mean expenditures for all consumer units in 2024, released December 19, 2025. They are not medians and not per-person amounts. Only selected subcategories are shown, so subcategories may not sum to the housing total. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences in means at the 95 percent confidence level; the methodology says dollar-amount differences were tested. The 2024 data collection effort included updates focused mainly on housing and medical expenditure sections.
Source review: 2026-09-24. Article publication and underlying data dates are separate. How we use statistics · Suggest a correction