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BLS 04-24 FOR RELEASE: Friday, March 19, 2004

CONSUMER SPENDING PATTERNS IN
SAN DIEGO, 2001-2002

Consumer units¹ in the San Diego, California metropolitan area spent an average of $42,588 per year in 2001-2002, 6.2 percent more than the typical U.S. household, according to the latest Consumer Expenditure Survey results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Acting Regional Commissioner Nancy Treadwell noted that San Diego housing expenses, driven by the high cost for shelter, were 29.7 percent higher than that for the nation and accounted for a larger than average share of a household's budget. The average household in San Diego reported income of $47,722 before taxes, and was comprised of 2.6 persons and 1.3 wage earners. (See table 1.)

* Includes alcoholic beverages, personal care, reading, education, tobacco & supplies, and miscellaneous goods and services.

The percentage of the total budget spent by a typical San Diego household for food, housing, and transportation was 70.2 percent, above the 65.3 percent spent by an average U.S. household. In comparison to the eight other metropolitan areas surveyed in the West region, households in San Diego spent the largest percentage of their budget on these three categories. Households in Anchorage, on the other hand, had the lowest combined expenditure share at 62.5 percent. (See table 2. Geographical boundaries of the region and metropolitan areas referenced in this release are contained in the Technical Note.)

This report contains annual data averaged over a two-year period, 2001 and 2002. The data are from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE), which is conducted on an ongoing basis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Bureau of the Census collects the survey data for BLS. The CE is the only national survey that provides both complete data on household expenditures and the demographic characteristics of those households. Survey data cannot be used to make cost of living comparisons between areas. Expenditure levels vary among areas not only because of economic factors such as the prices of goods and services and family income, but also because of differences such as the age of the population, climate, consumer tastes, family size, etc. However, expenditure shares (or the percentage of a consumer unit's budget spent on a particular item) can be used to compare spending patterns across areas. Data shown are annual averages per consumer unit. An individual consumer unit may spend more or less than the average, depending on its particular characteristics.

Housing expenses accounted for 40.0 percent of total household expenditures in the San Diego area, well above the national average of 32.8 percent. San Diego also had a larger expenditure share for housing than the eight other metropolitan areas in the West. Within the region, Anchorage had the smallest expenditure share for housing at 30.8 percent. The majority (67.2 percent) of a consumer unit's housing costs in San Diego went for shelter, which includes mortgage interest, property taxes, repairs, and rent, among other items. Only 14.4 percent of housing expenses went towards utilities, fuels, and services. In comparison, a typical household in the United States spent 58.7 percent of the housing budget on shelter, but 20.7 percent for utilities, fuels, and services. The rate of homeownership in San Diego, at 55 percent, was considerably below the nationwide average of 66 percent. Honolulu was the only published area in the West that had a lower proportion of homeowners, 53 percent. However, no metropolitan area in the West exceeded the national average.

Transportation was the second largest expenditure category in the San Diego area accounting for 18.3 percent of a household's budget. In the West, Denver had the highest share at 20.6 percent, while Portland had the lowest, 16.1 percent. Nationally, transportation made up 19.2 percent of all expenditures. Households in San Diego allocated a smaller portion of their transportation dollars for vehicle purchases than did consumer units nationwide (43.9 versus 47.1 percent), but spent a larger percentage on gasoline and motor oil for their vehicles (17.1 percent) than did those nationally (16.3 percent). Overall, San Diego area residents averaged 1.8 vehicles per household, slightly below the U.S. average of 2.0 vehicles.

Food accounted for 11.8 percent of total expenditures in the San Diego area, lower than the national average of 13.3 percent and among the lowest in the West. Regionally, expenditure shares for food ranged from 11.7 percent in San Francisco to 14.8 percent in Honolulu. Consumer units in San Diego spent 45.7 percent of their total food budget on food prepared away from home, such as restaurant meals, carry-outs, board at school, and catered affairs; this was well above the nationwide average of 42.2 percent.

Among the other expenditure categories, payments for personal insurance and pensions accounted for 9.2 percent of San Diego budgets, not too different from the 9.5 percent spent nationally. San Diego households allocated 4.6 percent of their budget for entertainment; this was below the national share of 5.0 percent and second lowest in the West behind San Francisco's 4.3 percent allocation. More of a differential was evident in the expenditure shares for both apparel and services, and out-of-pocket health care costs in San Diego, which at 3.4 and 4.4 percent, respectively, were at least 1 percentage point lower than their respective U.S. averages.

San Diego is one of nine metropolitan areas in the West region for which CE data are available. Data tables are also available for the four Census regions and the nation. Additional CE tables are offered on the BLS Internet site http://www.bls.gov/cex/ in both text and PDF formats. For personal assistance or further information on the Consumer Expenditure Survey, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the San Francisco Information Office at 415-975-4350.

¹ See Technical Note for definition of a consumer unit. The terms consumer unit and household are used interchangeably throughout the text for convenience.

The current Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program began in 1980. Its principal objective is to collect information on the buying habits of American consumers. The consumer expenditure data are used in a wide variety of research by government, business, labor, and academic analysts. The data are also required for periodic revision of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The survey consists of two components, a Diary or recordkeeping survey, and an Interview survey. The Diary survey, completed by participating consumer units for two consecutive 1-week periods, collects data on frequently purchased, smaller items. The Interview survey, in which the expenditures of consumer units are obtained in five interviews conducted every 3 months, collects data for larger-cost items and expenditures that occur on a regular basis. The U.S. Census Bureau collects the survey data.

Each component of the survey queries an independent sample of consumer units which is representative of the U.S. population. Over the year, about 7,500 consumer units are sampled for the Diary survey. The Interview sample is conducted on a rotating panel basis, with about 7,500 consumer units participating each quarter. The data are collected on an ongoing basis in 105 areas of the country.

The integrated data from the BLS Diary and Interview surveys provide a complete accounting of consumer expenditures and income, which neither survey component alone is designed to do. Due to changes in the survey sample frame, metropolitan area data in this release are not directly comparable to those prior to 1996.

The expenditure data in this release should be interpreted with care. The expenditures are averages for consumer units with the specified characteristics, regardless of whether or not a specific unit incurred an expense for that specific item during the recording period. The average expenditure may be considerably lower than the expenditure by those consumer units that purchased the item. This study is not intended as a comparative cost of living survey as neither the quantity nor the quality of goods and services has been held constant among areas. Differences may result from variations in consumer unit preferences or characteristics such as consumer unit size, age, income levels, etc. Users should keep in mind that prices for many goods and services have risen since the survey was conducted.

In addition, sample surveys are subject to two types of errors. Sampling errors occur because the data are collected from a representative sample rather than the entire population. Nonsampling errors result from the inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, differences in interviewer ability, mistakes in recording or coding, or other processing errors. The year-to-year changes are volatile and should be interpreted carefully. The sample survey for the nation is much larger than for individual metropolitan areas, meaning the resulting national estimates are more reliable than those for the metropolitan areas.

Some expenditure components are subject to large fluctuations from one year to the next because these components include expensive items that relatively few consumers purchase each year. Thus, shifts from year to year in the number of consumers making such purchases can have a large effect on average expenditures. Examples of these types of expenses are purchases of new cars and trucks in the transportation component, and spending on boats and recreational vehicles in the entertainment component.

The Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSAs) covered by the Consumer Expenditure Survey represent areas designated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and are based on definitions in effect as of December 1992. The general concept of an MSA is one of a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities which have a high degree of economic and social integration with that nucleus. The following metropolitan areas are discussed in this release:

San Diego, California MSA which is comprised of San Diego County;

Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, California CMSA which is comprised of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties;

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California CMSA which is comprised of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma Counties;

Portland-Salem, Oregon-Washington, CMSA which is comprised of Clackamas, Columbia, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington, and Yamhill Counties, Oregon, and Clark County, Washington;

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, Washington CMSA which is comprised of Island, King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston Counties;

Honolulu, Hawaii MSA which is comprised of Honolulu County;

Anchorage, Alaska MSA which is comprised of Anchorage Borough;

Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona MSA which is comprised of Maricopa and Pinal Counties; and

Denver-Boulder-Greeley, Colorado CMSA which is comprised of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Weld Counties.

The Consumer Expenditure Survey also provides data for the four regions of the country as defined the U.S. Bureau of the Census-Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. Data for metropolitan areas presented in table 2 of this release are part of the West region which includes the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Definitions

Consumer unit - members of a household related by blood, marriage, adoption, or other legal arrangement; a single person living alone or sharing a household with others but who is financially independent; or two or more persons living together who share responsibility for at least 2 out of 3 major types of expenses - food, housing, and other expenses. The terms household or consumer unit are used interchangeably for convenience.

Complete income reporter - in general, a consumer unit that provides values for at least one of the major sources of its income such as wages and salaries, self-employment income, or Social Security income. Even complete income reporters may not have provided a full accounting of all income from all sources.

Expenditures - consist of the transaction costs, including excise and sales taxes, of goods and services acquired during the interview or recordkeeping period. Expenditure estimates include expenditures for gifts, but exclude purchases or portions of purchases directly assignable to business purposes. Also excluded are periodic credit or installment payments on goods or services already acquired. The full cost of each purchase is recorded even though full payment may not have been made at the date of purchase.

Income before taxes - the total money earnings and selected money receipts during the 12 months prior to the interview date.

 

Last Modified Date: March 19, 2004