[Excerpt] Consumer units spent $39,518 on average in 2001, an increase of 3.9 percent over the previous year. Expenditures had risen 2.8 percent in 2000 and 4.1 percent in 1999. The increase in spending in 2001 was more than the 2.8-percent annual average rise in general price levels over the year, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This report shows the latest results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey.