Weekly interest and loan rates | Home values Northwest stock contest 2004 | Consumer affairs

Stephen Dunphy / Times staff columnist
Economic Memo: A peek at spending

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most e-mailed articles

To get a big-picture look at what we have in our collective shopping carts, we can consult the Bureau of Labor Statistics and its spending survey. Households in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton area spent an average $48,348 a year in 2001-2002, about 21 percent more than the typical U.S. household, according to the latest survey. What's a household, according to the survey? The typical Seattle household was made up of 2.4 persons, including 1.5 wage earners, very similar to the U.S. profile. The household averaged 2.3 vehicles, well above the U.S. norm of two vehicles per household.

Seattle households spent above the national average in the nine major expenditure categories except miscellaneous expenditures and cash contributions. We spent the most for housing, food and transportation.

The report is the only national survey that looks at both household expenditures and demographics. The bureau, however, cautions against making too much of it.

Survey data cannot be used to make cost-of-living comparisons between areas. Expenditure levels vary because of family income, population age, climate, consumer tastes, family size and regional differences.

However, the percentage of a household's budget spent on a particular item can be used to compare spending patterns.

The percentage of the total budget spent by a Seattle household for the three largest categories — food, transportation, and housing — was 66.8 percent, slightly above the 65.3 percent spent by an average U.S. household.

Compared with other areas in the West, San Diego residents spent 70.2 percent on those three areas and Los Angeles residents spent 68.2 percent. Anchorage, on the other hand, had the lowest combined expenditure share at 62.6 percent, followed by Portland at 62.9 percent.

The average Seattle household spent 34.4 percent of its budget on housing, the largest category of consumer spending in Seattle. It reflects higher housing costs, plus increases in the cost of utilities.

Elsewhere in the West, housing costs ranged from 40 percent of budgets in San Diego to 30.8 percent in Anchorage, though most metropolitan areas in the West were above the national average of 32.8 percent.

Transportation was the second-largest cost in the Seattle area, averaging $9,680 a household and accounting for 20 percent of a household's expenses. Nationally, transportation costs made up 19.2 percent of the budget. In the West region, only Denver had a higher expenditure share at 20.6 percent. At the lower end, Portland and San Francisco had shares under 17 percent.
 
Food accounted for 12.4 percent of total expenditures in the Seattle area, less than the U.S. average of 13.3 percent. However, Seattle households spent almost $700 more on food than the U.S. average, a reflection of the higher prices for food here.

One surprise is the low level of spending on eating out. Households in Seattle spent just 31.2 percent of their total food budget on restaurant meals, carry-outs and catered affairs, the smallest share in the West and well below the U.S. average of 42.2 percent. One possible explanation? The period covered — 2001 and 2002 — was during a huge economic downturn in the Puget Sound area, especially the collapse of the dot-coms, well known for restaurant spending.

Among other expenditure categories, the share for entertainment in Seattle was 5.9 percent, above the nationwide average of 5 percent.

Conclusions? Seattle is an expensive place to live, but incomes here are higher than average. We spend 21 percent more than the national average, but incomes here also are 21 percent higher than the national average. The survey tells us what we already know — housing and food are expensive.

Steve Dunphy: 206-464-2365 or sdunphy@seattletimes.com.