A decade of gains: +$1,649 a month at the top, -$132 at the bottom

Change in monthly money left after food at home, housing, transportation, healthcare and personal insurance and pensions. US households by income fifth, 2013 to 2023, in constant 2024 dollars.

Bar chart of the change in monthly money left after five spending categories, by US income fifth, 2013 to 2023. The lowest fifth fell $132 a month while the highest gained $1,649.

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These are spending categories, not a test of necessity: a bigger mortgage counts in full. The deflator is ours, not BLS's. Free data and full methodology at efficientdollar.com.

Chart: Efficient DollarSource: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure SurveysGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper