How The Average American Household Earns And Spends Its Money, Visualized

Overspending is often the result, it's said, of trying to keep up with the Joneses. But how much are the Joneses actually spending? Using data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, data analysis site Engaging Data created an eye-opening Sankey graph showing how much money the average American household earns and spends each year. The average American household — comprised of 1.3 income earners, 0.6 children, and 0.4 seniors — takes in $73,574 annually, and spends it thusly:

As you can see, 13.5% of the average household's income is saved, and another 13.5% is taxed, leaving $53,708 for spending. The single greatest expense is — no surprise — housing, on which the average household spends a little less than $1,000 per month. (That doesn't include the cost of utilities or "household" spending, which Engaging Data describes as "a large category that includes things like furniture, furnishings, major and small appliances, housekeeping supplies and services and other household equipment.") The next-biggest category is transportation; when you put together the cost of vehicles, gas and auto insurance and other transportation, you're looking at a whopping 17.8% of the average household's spending. The smallest spending category broken down by this chart is insurance, but Engaging Data clarifies that this category refers only to life and liability insurance; home insurance is included in the housing category. 

Play around with the interactive version of the graph, and compare your own household spending to the average, over at Engaging Data.

[Read more at Engaging Data and Visual Capitalist​]