Consumer Expenditures in 2010

Abstract

[Excerpt] Consumer spending decreased for the second year in a row in the United States, according to 2010 data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE). Average annual expenditures of consumer units (CUs) dropped from $49,067 in 2009 to $48,109 in 2010. This 2.0-percent decline comes after a 2.8-percent drop in average annual expenditures from 2008 to 2009, due in part to falling incomes. Average annual income before taxes decreased 0.6 percent, from $62,857 in 2009 to $62,481 in 2010, while U.S. prices, as measured by the average annual change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items), began to rise again. Following a decrease of 0.4 percent in 2009, prices rose by 1.6 percent in 2010. This report details the results of the 2010 CE.