Cost of Living

Overview

Cost of living Calculations.

The average cost of living for an American

• $20,194 per person per year according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (value given divided by 2.5 average household size ('consumer unit') - [1]
• Of this, housing ($6844), cars ($3442), and food ($2577) totals $12863 per person - about 64% of the cost of living.

Average food expenditures for an American

• Bureau of Labor Statistics - $2577/person/year - [2]
  • Almost half of this is eating out
• $150/week/2.6 household = $230 per month
• $2700/year according to [3]
• $300/month for moderate - [4]

Average housing expenditures

• $6844/person/year - includes utilities and furnishings - [5]
  • $541 of this is electricity, and 451 is phone
  • $1500 of this is mortgage payments, or about 1/4 of all housing costs

The average transportation expenditures

• $3442 per person per year - BLS - [6]
  • Of this, $1086 is for fuel and oil, and $205 is public transportation

Other highest costs

From [7]:

• Pensions,personal insurance, social security- $2242/person/year
• Healthcare - $1190/person/year
• Entertainment - $1134

Average Debt

The above statistics don't tell much about debt levels.

$8500 is the average debt per person in America in 2008 - [8]

Cost over a lifetime

Say a person lives 78 years [9], and you take the average cost of living from BLS.

Over 78 years, one spends an average of about $1.6 million dollars just to survive.

Of this, one spends about $1M on housing, food, and cars ($12683 per year * 78)

More specifically:

One spends an average of $530,000 to put a roof over their head over their life.

One spends an average of $270,000 on their wheels.

One spends an average of $201,000 on grub.

This certainly makes a case for buying out at the bottom.

See Also

• Calculations
• Chris Martenson
• Homebrew Industrial Revolution
• Digital Fabrication
• Breakdown of cost of living expenses in America - [10]