August 25, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Comparing food expenditures by
income group
Food expenditures by consumer
units vary by income group, in part because average family size also varies by income
level.
[Chart data—TXT]
For example, the chart compares the food expenditures of
consumer units in the second income quintile (that is, the next-to-lowest 20 percent) and
in the fourth income quintile (the next-to-highest 20 percent). On average, consumer units
in the second quintile spent $3,729 on food in 1997, while those in the fourth quintile
spent $5,680, or 52 percent more.
However, the average number of persons in second-quintile consumer units was 2.3 while
in the fourth quintile the average was 2.9. Therefore, there was a smaller difference
between the quintiles in food expenditures per person. The average expenditure on food per
person was $1,621 in the second quintile and $1,959 in the fourth, for a 21-percent
difference.
Per person expenditures for food at home were quite similar for the two
groups—$1,120 in the second and $1,144 in the fourth quintile. There was a
substantial difference in expenditures per person for food away from home. In the
second quintile, the figure was $501 while in the fourth quintile the corresponding number
was 62 percent higher, at $814.
These data are a product of the BLS Consumer
Expenditure Survey program. Additional information is available from "Consumer
Expenditure Survey: Quarterly Data from the Interview Survey, Fourth Quarter 1997: Using
Consumer Unit Characteristics to Compare Expenditures," BLS Report 933.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »