{ "profile": "tabular-data-package", "name": "leftover-money-after-essentials", "title": "Money Left After Essentials — US households by income fifth", "description": "What is left of a US household's after-tax income once five categories of spending are subtracted — food at home, housing, transportation, healthcare, and personal insurance & pensions — nationally, by income fifth. Two derived tables from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys: leftover dollars 2013-2023 (nominal and constant 2024 dollars), and the same five categories as a share of total household spending 1984-2024. Both a broad basket (five categories) and a narrow one (excluding personal insurance & pensions) are published for every row, because the distributional conclusion reverses between them.", "version": "1.0.0", "homepage": "https://efficientdollar.com/data/leftover-money-after-essentials/", "licenses": [ { "name": "CC-BY-4.0", "title": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International", "path": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } ], "keywords": [ "consumer expenditure survey", "cost of living", "discretionary income", "household finance", "income inequality", "essentials", "united states", "bls" ], "temporalCoverage": "1984/2024", "spatialCoverage": "United States", "contributors": [ { "title": "Efficient Dollar", "path": "https://efficientdollar.com/", "role": "author" }, { "title": "Jared Lundrigan", "path": "https://efficientdollar.com/about/", "role": "author" } ], "sources": [ { "title": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys", "path": "https://www.bls.gov/cex/", "note": "LABSTAT bulk time series (download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/). Public domain (US federal government work). Exact input files are pinned by SHA-256 in methodology.md." }, { "title": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0, annual average)", "path": "https://www.bls.gov/cpi/", "note": "Used to express dollars in constant 2024 terms. The choice of deflator is ours, not BLS's." } ], "relatedIdentifiers": [ { "relation": "isDocumentedBy", "identifier": "https://efficientdollar.com/blog/leftover-money-after-essentials/" }, { "relation": "isDocumentedBy", "identifier": "https://efficientdollar.com/data/leftover-money-after-essentials/" } ], "citation": "Efficient Dollar, \"Money Left After Essentials, US Households by Income Fifth\" (1.0.0), https://efficientdollar.com/data/leftover-money-after-essentials/ — CC BY 4.0. Derived from US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys.", "resources": [ { "name": "data", "path": "data.csv", "format": "csv", "mediatype": "text/csv", "encoding": "utf-8", "title": "Money left after five spending categories, by income fifth, 2013-2023", "description": "One row per income group per year. After-tax income, the five category totals, both essentials baskets, and the residual — nominal and in constant 2024 dollars — plus each basket as a share of after-tax income.", "bytes": 10614, "hash": "sha256:865e38dec7011528786428d15163e0e28915581dba139abb6ee6fa39be1a08cf", "rowCount": 66, "dialect": { "delimiter": ",", "header": true, "lineTerminator": "\n" }, "schema": { "fields": [ { "name": "income_group", "type": "string", "title": "income group", "description": "Income quintile of the consumer unit, or 'all' for all consumer units. A CE consumer unit is close to, but not identical with, a household.", "unit": "code", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "income_group_label", "type": "string", "title": "income group label", "description": "Human-readable name of income_group, as BLS labels the series.", "unit": "text", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "year", "type": "integer", "title": "year", "description": "CE survey year. Annual averages, not a point-in-time measure.", "unit": "calendar year", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "income_after_tax_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "income after tax nominal usd", "description": "Mean after-tax income of the consumer unit (CE INCAFTAX). From 2013 taxes are TAXSIM-modeled, not reported by the household.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "income_after_tax_real_2024_usd", "type": "number", "title": "income after tax real 2024 usd", "description": "income_after_tax_nominal_usd deflated to 2024 dollars by CPI-U annual averages (CUUR0000SA0, period M13). The deflator choice is ours, not BLS's — BLS publishes CE in nominal dollars and has no house method for deflating it.", "unit": "US dollars per year, constant 2024 dollars", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "spend_food_at_home_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "spend food at home nominal usd", "description": "Mean annual spending on Food at home (CE FOODHOME). One of the five categories subtracted from income to form the broad basket. This is a SPENDING category, not a test of what a household could not avoid.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "spend_housing_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "spend housing nominal usd", "description": "Mean annual spending on Housing (CE HOUSING). One of the five categories subtracted from income to form the broad basket. This is a SPENDING category, not a test of what a household could not avoid.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "spend_transportation_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "spend transportation nominal usd", "description": "Mean annual spending on Transportation (CE TRANS). One of the five categories subtracted from income to form the broad basket. This is a SPENDING category, not a test of what a household could not avoid.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "spend_healthcare_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "spend healthcare nominal usd", "description": "Mean annual spending on Healthcare (CE HEALTH). One of the five categories subtracted from income to form the broad basket. This is a SPENDING category, not a test of what a household could not avoid.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "spend_insurance_pensions_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "spend insurance pensions nominal usd", "description": "Mean annual spending on Personal insurance & pensions (CE INSPENSN). One of the five categories subtracted from income to form the broad basket. This is a SPENDING category, not a test of what a household could not avoid.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "essentials_broad_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "essentials broad nominal usd", "description": "Sum of all five spend_* columns. The 'broad' basket, which counts personal insurance & pensions.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "essentials_narrow_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "essentials narrow nominal usd", "description": "The broad basket minus personal insurance & pensions, which is mostly Social Security contributions and retirement deposits — arguably saving rather than consumption. Neither basket is privileged; both are published because conclusions can reverse between them.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "leftover_broad_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "leftover broad nominal usd", "description": "income_after_tax_nominal_usd minus essentials_broad_nominal_usd. Negative means the basket cost more than take-home pay; the gap is met by borrowing, drawing down assets, transfers, or under-reporting.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "leftover_narrow_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "leftover narrow nominal usd", "description": "income_after_tax_nominal_usd minus essentials_narrow_nominal_usd.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "leftover_broad_real_2024_usd", "type": "number", "title": "leftover broad real 2024 usd", "description": "leftover_broad_nominal_usd deflated to 2024 dollars. This is the column the published article's headline figures come from.", "unit": "US dollars per year, constant 2024 dollars", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "leftover_narrow_real_2024_usd", "type": "number", "title": "leftover narrow real 2024 usd", "description": "leftover_narrow_nominal_usd deflated to 2024 dollars.", "unit": "US dollars per year, constant 2024 dollars", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "essentials_broad_share_of_after_tax_income", "type": "number", "title": "essentials broad share of after tax income", "description": "essentials_broad_nominal_usd divided by income_after_tax_nominal_usd. Exceeds 1.0 for the lowest quintile in every published year.", "unit": "ratio (1.0 = 100%; values above 1.0 mean the basket costs more than the income it is measured against)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "essentials_narrow_share_of_after_tax_income", "type": "number", "title": "essentials narrow share of after tax income", "description": "essentials_narrow_nominal_usd divided by income_after_tax_nominal_usd.", "unit": "ratio (1.0 = 100%; values above 1.0 mean the basket costs more than the income it is measured against)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "cpi_u_annual_average", "type": "number", "title": "cpi u annual average", "description": "The CPI-U annual average for this row's year (series CUUR0000SA0, US city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted). Published so the deflator below is checkable from inside this file rather than on trust: cpi_deflator_to_2024 is exactly this column's 2024 value divided by this row's. Identical across all six income groups within a year.", "unit": "index (1982-84 = 100)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index" }, { "name": "cpi_deflator_to_2024", "type": "number", "title": "cpi deflator to 2024", "description": "The factor that converts this row's nominal dollars to constant 2024 dollars: the CPI-U annual average of 2024 divided by that of the row's year, both published in cpi_u_annual_average. Identical across all six income groups within a year. Published so the nominal spend_* columns can be deflated by the reader — real per-category dollars are deliberately not published, because they are not figures we verified. NOTE: the choice to deflate at all, and the choice of this index, are ours and not BLS's.", "unit": "multiplier", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" } ], "primaryKey": [ "income_group", "year" ], "missingValues": [] } }, { "name": "essentials-share-of-spending-1984-2024", "path": "essentials-share-of-spending-1984-2024.csv", "format": "csv", "mediatype": "text/csv", "encoding": "utf-8", "title": "Five spending categories as a share of total household spending, by income fifth, 1984-2024", "description": "One row per income group per year. The long series. In ratio form, so it needs no deflation — but see income_comparable_across_breaks before using the pre-tax income column across 2003/2004.", "bytes": 19520, "hash": "sha256:145c132e7dbb4941ea4196a66ca4132f3ec68371fdfd32b3e00c67126ae02367", "rowCount": 246, "dialect": { "delimiter": ",", "header": true, "lineTerminator": "\n" }, "schema": { "fields": [ { "name": "income_group", "type": "string", "title": "income group", "description": "Income quintile of the consumer unit, or 'all' for all consumer units. A CE consumer unit is close to, but not identical with, a household.", "unit": "code", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "income_group_label", "type": "string", "title": "income group label", "description": "Human-readable name of income_group, as BLS labels the series.", "unit": "text", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "year", "type": "integer", "title": "year", "description": "CE survey year. Annual averages, not a point-in-time measure.", "unit": "calendar year", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "essentials_broad_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "essentials broad nominal usd", "description": "Sum of the same five categories as in data.csv. Published here without the per-category breakdown, which BLS does not supply for every year of this span in a comparable form.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "total_expenditures_nominal_usd", "type": "integer", "title": "total expenditures nominal usd", "description": "Mean total annual expenditures (CE TOTALEXP). NOT money out the door: CE treats mortgage principal as asset accumulation and excludes it.", "unit": "US dollars per year, nominal (the dollars of the year in the row)", "source": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys" }, { "name": "essentials_broad_share_of_expenditures", "type": "number", "title": "essentials broad share of expenditures", "description": "essentials_broad_nominal_usd divided by total_expenditures_nominal_usd. A ratio of two nominal figures from the same year, so it needs no deflation.", "unit": "ratio (1.0 = 100% of total household spending; structurally below 1.0, because the five categories are a subset of total expenditures)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "essentials_narrow_share_of_expenditures", "type": "number", "title": "essentials narrow share of expenditures", "description": "The same ratio on the narrow basket. WHICH INCOME GROUP GOT SQUEEZED REVERSES between this column and the broad one — do not publish either alone.", "unit": "ratio (1.0 = 100% of total household spending; structurally below 1.0, because the five categories are a subset of total expenditures)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "essentials_broad_share_of_pretax_income", "type": "number", "title": "essentials broad share of pretax income", "description": "essentials_broad_nominal_usd divided by mean PRE-tax income. Pre-tax, not after-tax: after-tax income does not exist in CE before 2013. Not comparable across the 2003/2004 break — see income_comparable_across_breaks.", "unit": "ratio (1.0 = 100%; values above 1.0 mean the basket costs more than the income it is measured against)", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" }, { "name": "income_comparable_across_breaks", "type": "boolean", "title": "income comparable across breaks", "description": "false for 1984-2003, when CE income statistics came from complete income reporters only while expenditure statistics came from all consumer units — a different set of households in the numerator and the denominator. Any income-based figure in a false row may not be compared with a true row.", "unit": "true / false", "source": "Derived by Efficient Dollar" } ], "primaryKey": [ "income_group", "year" ], "missingValues": [] } }, { "name": "data-parquet", "path": "data.parquet", "title": "The dollar table, Apache Parquet", "format": "parquet", "bytes": 16576, "hash": "sha256:84d9d5a1a9f51bae6d34a24af7a37be8de50447e6623349a2db1dbacb05c9142" }, { "name": "essentials-share-of-spending-1984-2024-parquet", "path": "essentials-share-of-spending-1984-2024.parquet", "title": "The spending-share table, Apache Parquet", "format": "parquet", "bytes": 14192, "hash": "sha256:58709579972d3657d30e6714e27cb5724704ef0d36cf8e8205dfac77748ac525" }, { "name": "data-dictionary-csv", "path": "data-dictionary.csv", "title": "Data dictionary for both tables", "format": "csv", "bytes": 9295, "hash": "sha256:9bfda5cbd5315d5cdbf5d86a8c7bcbeae1ea67fa1c995b2c2330c1e3c9cf6beb" }, { "name": "readme-md", "path": "README.md", "title": "Overview, caveats and citation", "format": "md", "bytes": 9686, "hash": "sha256:82dd437fc7908583e13024a7251439becd95332a8854c6d3351ee7a9a70acfe2" }, { "name": "methodology-md", "path": "methodology.md", "title": "Full working methodology, published unedited", "format": "md", "bytes": 30257, "hash": "sha256:9dab55a8d85ffe59389b009032dd6b7ee58ad9a34ae67dd85a1847996ffded9f" }, { "name": "license-txt", "path": "LICENSE.txt", "title": "CC BY 4.0 legal code", "format": "txt", "bytes": 19928, "hash": "sha256:c07214764649b4ac91022ff7ca21f255d815607d251dd34b31ae1b269215d3a2" } ] }