Housing is by far the largest expense, especially for lower-income families

Average household expenditures

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey for California, 2021-22. NOTES: This figure shows the percent of expenditures on average in each category for households in quintiles of the income distribution. Income quintiles reflect total pretax amounts (adjusted to 2025 dollars based on CPI-U) and do not include cash assistance, tax credits, or borrowing. Statewide average income is $104k in these data and average by quintile are as follows (L to R): $17k, $47k, $81k, $132k, $256k. FROM: PPIC Blog, March 2025. Get the data Embed Download image