The Average U.S. Consumer

I found this information fascinating. According to the United States Department of Labor, the average U.S. Consumer “unit” has the following characteristics:

• Average age is 48.8
• Number of vehicles owned is 1.9
• Percent that are homeowners is 67%
• Number of persons in each unit is 2.5
• Number of wage earners in each unit is 1.3
• Average annual expenditures is $49,638
• Average income before taxes is $63,091

And how does the average “unit’ spend their money?

• Food (Home and Restaurant)                14.7%
• Pension, Insurances                                   10.7%
• Personal Care                                                   5.0%
• Healthcare                                                         5.7%
• Education                                                           1.9%
• Misc.                                                                     1.6%
• Household Expenses / Utilities               13.9%
• Shelter (Rent or Mortgage)                       20.2%
• Transportation (Including Gas)              17.6%
• Entertainment                                                  5.6%
• Charity                                                                 3.7%

Are you average? Above or below? How do you spend differently?

You can see a visual representation of this over at Visual Economics . If you would like to see the government data, you can go to the Department of Labor – Consumer Expenditures in 2007.