Spending

Where the average household's money goes, in the US and Canada

Before deciding what to cut, it helps to know what everyone else spends. The US and Canadian statistical agencies survey thousands of households every year. Here is what they found, and what the numbers suggest about where the room is.

Updated October 29, 20268 min readData as of BLS 2025 (published September 2026); Statistics Canada 2023

The United States in 2025

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Surveys interview and track the diaries of thousands of households a year. The 2025 annual averages, published in September 2026, put total spending per consumer unit at $81,905, up from $78,535 in 2024, against income before taxes of $110,847.¹ A consumer unit is roughly a household: people who share a home and major expenses.

Three things stand out. Housing, at $27,790, is 34% of all spending, and transportation another 16%. Those two lines are mostly set by decisions made every few years, not every week. Food is the next block: $6,491 at home and $4,142 away from home, which means the average household spends 39% of its food money in restaurants, on take-out and on delivery. And the lines people argue about most, entertainment ($4,084), apparel ($2,010) and personal care ($986), add up to less than health care alone ($6,470).

Canada in 2023

Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending is run every two years; the 2023 results are the latest.² Total expenditure per household was $105,367. That figure includes income taxes ($21,545), pension contributions and insurance ($6,264) and gifts ($1,411); current consumption, the part that compares with the US figure above, was $76,146.

Shelter was $24,501, or 32% of current consumption. Transportation was $12,019, of which $2,558 was fuel and $1,137 air travel. Food from stores was $8,579 and restaurants $3,316, so Canadians sent 28% of their food dollars to restaurants, a smaller share than in the US. Cell phone service ran $1,494 a year and internet $1,040. Bank service charges averaged $175.

The same numbers, per month

Annual averages hide how a budget feels. Here are the discretionary lines as monthly amounts, which is how they show up on a statement.

Sources: BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys 2025;¹ Statistics Canada Survey of Household Spending 2023.² Canadian recreation includes package trips and recreational vehicles.

What is easy to change, and what is not

Sort the categories by how fast you can move them and the picture changes.

• Fixed for years: rent or mortgage, car payments, insurance, tuition. These are the biggest lines, and they move only when you move, refinance, or replace a vehicle. They deserve the most thought when the decision comes up, and no guilt in between.
• Fixed until you act: phone and internet plans, subscriptions, bank fees, gym memberships. Each is a single phone call or cancellation. A $1,494-a-year phone plan in Canada, or bank service charges of $175 that a no-fee account would remove, are the classic examples.²
• Variable every week: restaurants, delivery, groceries, rides, shopping. This is where the monthly numbers live, and where a habit changes the total without a big decision. Cutting food away from home by a quarter is about $1,036 a year for the average US household.

The second group is the one most people skip, and it is where our statement reader starts: recurring charges, fees, and subscriptions whose price went up. The habits that keep the third group in check are in our guide on money habits that last, and if a card balance is part of the picture, the guide on credit card debt comes first.

Averages are not targets

An average household does not exist. Spending rises with income, changes with household size, and differs by city and by whether you rent or own. The BLS publishes its tables by income, age, region, household size and housing tenure, and Statistics Canada by household type, age, tenure and city size.¹² That is why Don compares each category with every published group a person belongs to, with the survey's own margin of error, rather than with a single national figure. Use the numbers above to see the shape of a typical budget. Use your own statement to see yours.

This guide is general information, not financial, tax, or investment advice. Rules and limits change; check the sources for the current figures before acting.

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