Consumer spending on entertainment by household income in 2013

Entertainment has long been a household budget staple. In 2013, the average household spent $2,482 on entertainment, or 4.9 percent of total household spending. Income affects most household spending patterns. In other words, the higher the household income, the greater the dollar amount spent on goods and services in general.

In 2013, the group with the lowest household income—the lowest 20 percent—spent around $1,000 on entertainment. They spent the most on audio and visual equipment ($548). The highest 20-percent income group spent more than double on entertainment what the third 20-percent group spent ($5,133 versus $1,997, respectively).

More from Bureau of Labor Statistics

BLS Releases Consumer Expenditures: 2012

Average expenditures per consumer unit in 2012 were $51,442, an increase of 3.5 percent from 2011 levels, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This surpassed the spending peak recorded in 2008, after which the effects of the recession led to a low of $48,109 in 2010. The 2012 calendar year increase in spending outpaced the 2.1-percent increase in prices for goods and services during the same period, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). This contrasts with 2010-2011, when the increase in average expenditures mirrored the increase in prices. Read more here.

Canadian information

For Canadian information, you may want to check out Industry Canada which has a business and consumer section. Under the business section, you'll find all types of information.

Household spending cuts

Some of my colleagues were interested to know if there is research regarding where consumers cut back first, second, etc., when times
are hard. This is different than what one OUGHT to cut back in hard
times, for which I find oodles of examples; I was looking for what people
ACTUALLY do.

Where Would You Cut Your Household Budget First? (2007) is interesting but flawed, in that it reflects what people saw they would do if there were hard times. But at the time, things seemed rosy.

More useful were Psychology of Bad Times Fueling Consumer Cutbacks (2008) and Consumer Cutbacks: Temporary or Permanent? (2009), which reported on actual hard-times responses.

Also very helpful: Americans Cutting Back on Everyday Expenses to Save Money (Harris poll, 2011).

Addressing the issue from a different angle: 12 Things We Buy in a Bad Economy (TIME - 2011)

But THE treasure trove, if one takes the time to study it, is the Consumer Expenditure Survey from the US Department of Labor, especially the most recent multiyear table (2006-2010 PDF), as well as the ones for previous years, going back to 1981.

Thanks to Alisa Coddington, John Skutnik, Terese Mulkern Terry, and Chantal Walvoord for their wisdom.

Bureau of Labor Statistics recent statistics

Consumer Expenditures 2010 [PDF]
Multifactor Productivity Trends for Detailed Industries, 2009

Consumer Protection blog

Check out the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Protection blog for valuable tips to help you protect your privacy, manage your money, avoid scams, and much more. Recent posts suggest caution in downloading apps; describe how businesses track your web browsing; and reveal scams that target immigrants.

Consumer Expenditures in 2009

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

April 2011 New York-New Jersey CPI Data Summary

From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index Data Summary for April 2011 is now available. Please refer questions to BLSInfoNY@bls.gov.

Consumer Price Index

Of course, looking for the Consumer Price Index Index, one would look at bls.gov/cpi, which has the CPI for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the U.S.

But someone on a listserv also suggested USDA.gov, and use the advanced search for, e.g., cheese cpi or milk cpi; not as systematic, but interesting.

Have Consumers Become More Frugal?

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the third quarter of 2010, which shows that consumer debt continues its downward trend of the previous seven quarters, though the pace of decline has slowed recently. Since its peak in the third quarter of 2008, nearly $1 trillion has been shaved from outstanding consumer debts.

Additionally, this quarter’s supplemental report addresses for the first time the question of how this decline has been achieved and notes a sharp reversal in household cash flow from debt, indicating a decrease in available funds for consumption.

More HERE.


Quoting the American Consumers Newsletter: At the household level, the Consumer Expenditure Survey shows the same pattern. Household spending peaked in 2006 at $51,688. In 2008, the average household spent $50,486, or $1,200 less after adjusting for inflation. On many categories of products and services, the average household reversed the direction of its spending in the 2006-08 time period compared with the 2000-06 time period. Here are the 10 most telling U-turns in consumer spending:

1. RESTAURANTS: +8 percent to -6 percent. Americans are spending more on groceries.
2. MORTGAGE INTEREST: +21 percent to -5 percent. No age group has been hit as hard as 35-to-44-year-olds.
3. STATIONERY AND GIFT WRAP: +15 percent to -11 percent. Is there anything more discretionary than gift wrap?
4. DAY CARE: +16 percent to -8 percent. As the unemployment rate climbed, spending on day care fell.
5. FURNITURE: +1 percent to -22 percent. Houses were selling furiously during the housing boom, but spending on furniture was surprisingly lackluster.
6. HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES: +24 percent to -23 percent Towels, sheets, blankets, curtains.
7. BABY CLOTHES: 0 percent to -9 percent. When the recession set in, the number of births began to fall, and so did spending on baby clothes.
8. DRUGS: +6 percent to -12 percent. Behind the decline is the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, which went into effect in 2006.
9. ADMISSIONS TO ENTERTAINMENT EVENTS: +1 percent to -5 percent During the downturn, households continued to spend on high-definition television sets. But they cut back on other entertainment categories.
10. CASH CONTRIBUTIONS: +34 percent to -13 percent. Donations to charities are plummeting, says the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

American consumers spent $330 billion a year in borrowed dollars between 2000 and 2007, according to the Fed study. Now those dollars--and many of the businesses they built--are gone for good.

Greendex

In their third annual survey to measure and monitor consumer behaviors that have an impact on the environment, the National Geographic Society and the international polling firm GlobeScan have found that environmentally friendly behavior among consumers in 10 out of 17 countries has increased over the past year. The survey results show that environmentally friendly consumer behavior, as measured by the Greendex, has now increased from 2008 levels in all but one of the 14 countries polled in both 2008 and 2010. By environmentally friendly consumer behavior, we mean people’s transportation patterns, household energy and resource use, consumption of food and everyday consumer goods, and what consumers are doing to minimize the impact these activities have on the environment.

Greendex 2010: Consumer Choice and the Environment — A Worldwide Tracking Survey is a comprehensive measure of consumer behavior in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods. Greendex 2010 ranks average consumers in 17 countries according to the environmental impact of their consumption patterns and is the only survey of its kind.

As in 2008, the top-scoring consumers of 2010 are in the developing economies of India, Brazil, China, in descending order. American consumers’ behavior still ranks as the least sustainable of all countries surveyed since the inception of the survey three years ago, followed by Canadian, French and British consumers. Consumers in emerging economies continue to round out the top tier of the Greendex ranking, while the six lowest scores were all earned by consumers in industrialized countries.

100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending

Here's a Consumer Spending Breakdown.

Six EIU free/gratis reports

Marketing, sales and customer service don’t share information, according to Economist Intelligence Unit surveys. A series of surveys across six industries— financial services, technology, telecommunications, utilities, consumer goods and retail —reveals that most companies still fall short when trying to deliver value consistently in all the functions that interact with customers.

Consumer Protection Board "Ask The Expert"

Consumers from across the State are invited to take advantage of the New York State Consumer Protection Board’s (CPB) upcoming Home Improvement Ask the Expert Call-In Day which will take place on September 30, 2009 from 9AM until 2 PM. This free public service program is designed to empower New Yorkers with information and direction as they contemplate small or large home repair and/or improvement projects. New Yorkers with home improvement questions, concerns and problems may call our “Ask the Expert,” toll-free number, at 1-888-351-4648.
As the fall and winter seasons approach, home improvements and repairs are once again on the minds of New Yorkers. Under Governor Paterson, the CPB has created home improvement resources and worked toward stronger consumer protections to prevent scam victimization.
Last year, the CPB created its online “Ask the Expert” program to make it easier for people to obtain answers to home improvement questions. Given its success, we are expanding the project to enable people who may be “Internet-shy” or who have questions which are too difficult or time-consuming to explain in an e-mail to speak to a “live” professional.
Thanks to the generosity of WMHT, the Capital Region’s public television station which is hosting the call bank, New Yorkers will be able to direct their inquiry to home improvement professionals whose areas of expertise include, but are not limited to: kitchen and bath remodeling, plumbing, heating, A/C, sheet metal installation and servicing, construction management, site development, window/door installation, home building, energy-efficiency, home improvement funding for low-income consumers, and improvements on historical buildings.
To bring this event to the people of the State of New York, the CPB is partnering with public and private entities including WMHT, the New York State Builders Association, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and the Preservation League of New York State.
We are looking forward to helping many New Yorkers who are seeking to preserve the equity in their homes and protect their wallets. Therefore, I am asking your assistance in sharing this information with your colleagues, family, friends and acquaintances. Those who need information before then, may check the Ask the Expert page of the CPB’s website at www.nysconsumer.gov, or may e-mail their question to us at AskTheExpert@consumer.state.ny.us.
Thank you for your interest and support. Together, we can make our phones ring off the hook on September 30th and serve many consumers around the State.

How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck

Where DOES the money go? Great graphic from the US Dept. of Labor.

(Thanks, Dale.)

Consumer Expenditures in 2007

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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-percent 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).

A New Twist on Spring Cleaning

Economy Has Consumers Feeling the Urge to Purge, which does have its upsides.