See how you stack up against the average US household on expenses and if you're on track with your spending

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Sarah Li-Cain, AFC

Sat, Mar 29, 2025, 7:30 AM 4 min read

Although your monthly expenses volition alteration depending connected wherever you unrecorded and your lifestyle, it’s inactive adjuvant to look astatine definite pieces of data.

Seeing wherever you basal compared to the mean American household tin assistance you gauge whether you request to rein successful your spending oregon you’re doing conscionable fine.

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean American household spent $77,280 — oregon $6,400 per period successful 2023. Today, the fig could beryllium higher owed to inflation.

Let’s interruption down the mean monthly expenditure by demographics.

The mean of $6,400 a period doesn’t instrumentality into relationship household size.

Using the aforesaid information from 2023, a azygous idiosyncratic spent an mean $4,641 a month, portion joined couples with nary children spent $7,390. Meanwhile, the mean four-person household (with 2 kids) spent $8,450 to $9,817, depending connected the children’s ages.

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Your determination has a large interaction connected however overmuch you spend. Overall, agrarian surviving is cheaper. The statistic amusement that agrarian American households spent an mean $73,967 successful 2023, $4,089 little than their municipality American peers, who spent $78,056 connected average.

One objection is the outgo of transportation. Those successful municipality areas with casual entree to nationalist transit spent little connected proscription ($12,911 successful 2023) than the mean $14,295 agrarian households spent.

Remember, these are each averages. Your spending could beryllium higher due to the fact that of the outgo of goods and services wherever you live. But the big-picture information tin assistance you acceptable realistic spending goals.

Say you unrecorded successful downtown Philadelphia and person $6,500 successful monthly expenses. That’s what the mean American household spends successful an municipality area, truthful your expenditures are reasonable, adjacent if it seems pugnacious to marque ends meet.

But if you’re spending mode much than comparable households of akin size and location, look much intimately astatine wherever your wealth is going.

Housing costs are big. The Bureau of Labor Statistics information amusement the mean American spent $2,120 connected housing, $1,098 connected proscription and $832 connected nutrient successful 2023.