Your money
This page prices what it costs an average US household to get by each month, tracks grocery, gas & utility prices for your area, and breaks down real total spending by category — all from the U.S. government's official surveys, translated into hours of after-tax work at the median wage, which is what a price really costs out of your pocket.
You're looking at the US national average. Prices differ a lot between cities — pick your metro area above for prices measured where you live.
The average monthly living costs — United States
Essential costs for an average household
priced to June 2026
was $3,558 /mo in 2019
$4,465/mo actual survey figure for 2024
2024 is the newest year the government has published for this survey — it's annual data, released about nine months after each year ends, so 2025's figures aren't out yet. Includes groceries, housing, healthcare, transportation, and education — full breakdown of each is in the spending section further down this page. The estimate above advances those same categories to this month's prices using CPI (see methodology).
Work needed to cover it (median after-tax wage)
wage advanced to Q2 2026
was 232.4 h /mo in 2019
227.7 h/mo actual survey figure for 2024
This is a bare-necessities total — what a household needs just to get by. It deliberately excludes eating out, entertainment, and clothing, which are real, common costs shown separately (with a fuller "comfortable living" total that includes them) in the spending section below.
Grocery, gas & utility prices — United States (city average)
Tax check (verified against BLS's own methodology): grocery prices below are shown before sales tax — BLS publishes them that way, and most US states don't tax groceries at all, so this is the real register total for most readers. Gasoline, electricity, and piped-gas prices already include all applicable taxes — nothing to add there.
White bread
per lb · monthly amount: 4 lb
was $1.30 in 2019
≈ $7/mo at 4 lb
Whole milk
per gallon · monthly amount: 3 gallons
was $3.04 in 2019
≈ $13/mo at 3 gallons
Eggs (grade A, large)
per dozen · monthly amount: 3 dozen
was $1.40 in 2019
≈ $6/mo at 3 dozen
Ground beef (chuck)
per lb · monthly amount: 5 lb
was $3.81 in 2019
≈ $34/mo at 5 lb
Whole chicken
per lb · monthly amount: 5 lb
was $1.49 in 2019
≈ $10/mo at 5 lb
Bananas
per lb · monthly amount: 6 lb
was $0.57 in 2019
≈ $4/mo at 6 lb
Ground coffee
per lb · monthly amount: 2 lb
was $4.14 in 2019
≈ $19/mo at 2 lb
White rice
per lb · monthly amount: 2 lb
was $0.76 in 2019
≈ $2/mo at 2 lb
White potatoes
per lb · monthly amount: 7 lb
was $0.77 in 2019
≈ $6/mo at 7 lb
Gasoline (regular)
per gallon · monthly amount: 60 gallons
was $2.64 in 2019
≈ $252/mo at 60 gallons
Electricity
per kWh · monthly amount: 865 kWh
was $0.14 in 2019
≈ $171/mo at 865 kWh
Utility (piped) gas
per therm · monthly amount: 30 therms
was $1.04 in 2019
≈ $51/mo at 30 therms
Price trend of the tracked items — United States (city average)
Combined price of the fixed 9-item grocery sample + gasoline + utilities over time — a price thermometer, not a full monthly budget (real spending totals are above).
From 2019 to 2026-06, the combined price of these tracked items +55%.
What the average household actually spends — US average, 2024
The price cards above hold amounts fixed so only prices move. These numbers are different: real out-of-pocket spending by the average household, from the government's annual spending survey — they move when prices change and when behavior changes. Shown per month (the survey reports yearly figures; % compares with 2019).
Comfortable living total
Everything a household spends, incl. eating out, entertainment & clothing — US average. Pick a region or metro above to see that area's own total.
right now (estimate)
$5,261/mo actual (2024)
▸Show the full breakdown (44 categories)
Food — total — Northeast
Everything the average household spends on food in a year — groceries plus restaurants and takeaway.
Food — total — Midwest
Everything the average household spends on food in a year — groceries plus restaurants and takeaway.
Food — total — South
Everything the average household spends on food in a year — groceries plus restaurants and takeaway.
Food — total — West
Everything the average household spends on food in a year — groceries plus restaurants and takeaway.
Groceries (food at home) — Northeast
The average household's real, full grocery bill for the year — every food item bought to eat at home.
Groceries (food at home) — Midwest
The average household's real, full grocery bill for the year — every food item bought to eat at home.
Groceries (food at home) — South
The average household's real, full grocery bill for the year — every food item bought to eat at home.
Groceries (food at home) — West
The average household's real, full grocery bill for the year — every food item bought to eat at home.
Housing — total — Northeast
Everything home-related: rent or ownership costs, utilities, furnishings, and household operations.
Housing — total — Midwest
Everything home-related: rent or ownership costs, utilities, furnishings, and household operations.
Housing — total — South
Everything home-related: rent or ownership costs, utilities, furnishings, and household operations.
Housing — total — West
Everything home-related: rent or ownership costs, utilities, furnishings, and household operations.
Healthcare — total — Northeast
Health insurance premiums the household pays itself, plus medical services, drugs, and supplies.
Healthcare — total — Midwest
Health insurance premiums the household pays itself, plus medical services, drugs, and supplies.
Healthcare — total — South
Health insurance premiums the household pays itself, plus medical services, drugs, and supplies.
Healthcare — total — West
Health insurance premiums the household pays itself, plus medical services, drugs, and supplies.
Transportation — Northeast
Vehicle purchases and finance, gasoline, vehicle insurance, maintenance, and public transport.
Transportation — Midwest
Vehicle purchases and finance, gasoline, vehicle insurance, maintenance, and public transport.
Transportation — South
Vehicle purchases and finance, gasoline, vehicle insurance, maintenance, and public transport.
Transportation — West
Vehicle purchases and finance, gasoline, vehicle insurance, maintenance, and public transport.
Entertainment — Northeast
Streaming, hobbies, pets, sports, toys, and other fun.
Entertainment — Midwest
Streaming, hobbies, pets, sports, toys, and other fun.
Entertainment — South
Streaming, hobbies, pets, sports, toys, and other fun.
Entertainment — West
Streaming, hobbies, pets, sports, toys, and other fun.
Clothing & shoes — Northeast
Apparel and related services for the whole household.
Clothing & shoes — Midwest
Apparel and related services for the whole household.
Clothing & shoes — South
Apparel and related services for the whole household.
Clothing & shoes — West
Apparel and related services for the whole household.
Education — Northeast
Tuition, fees, books, and supplies — averaged over all households, including the many with no education spending that year.
Education — Midwest
Tuition, fees, books, and supplies — averaged over all households, including the many with no education spending that year.
Education — South
Tuition, fees, books, and supplies — averaged over all households, including the many with no education spending that year.
Education — West
Tuition, fees, books, and supplies — averaged over all households, including the many with no education spending that year.
Food — total
Everything the average household spends on food in a year — groceries plus restaurants and takeaway.
$847/mo actual (2024)
Groceries (food at home)
The average household's real, full grocery bill for the year — every food item bought to eat at home.
$519/mo actual (2024)
Eating out (food away from home)
Restaurants, fast food, takeaway, work and school canteens.
$329/mo actual (2024)
Housing — total
Everything home-related: rent or ownership costs, utilities, furnishings, and household operations.
$2,189/mo actual (2024)
Shelter (rent / ownership costs)
Rent, or for owners: mortgage interest, property taxes, home insurance, repairs — averaged over renters and owners alike.
$1,360/mo actual (2024)
Utilities, fuels & public services
Electricity, piped gas, water and sewer, trash, phone and internet service.
$395/mo actual (2024)
Healthcare — total
Health insurance premiums the household pays itself, plus medical services, drugs, and supplies.
$516/mo actual (2024)
Health insurance (household's own premiums)
What households pay out of their own pocket in health-insurance premiums — employers' (much larger) share of premiums is not included.
Transportation
Vehicle purchases and finance, gasoline, vehicle insurance, maintenance, and public transport.
$1,110/mo actual (2024)
Entertainment
Streaming, hobbies, pets, sports, toys, and other fun.
$301/mo actual (2024)
Clothing & shoes
Apparel and related services for the whole household.
$167/mo actual (2024)
Education
Tuition, fees, books, and supplies — averaged over all households, including the many with no education spending that year.
$131/mo actual (2024)
Groceries broken down — 2024
What's inside the "food at home" line above, by category. Fruits & vegetables has no dedicated government series and is computed as the remainder after the other four (it still checks out against the published food-at-home total — see methodology).
Cereals & bakery products
Bread, pasta, breakfast cereal, cookies, and other cereal and bakery products bought to eat at home.
$65/mo actual (2024)
Meat, poultry, fish & eggs
Beef, chicken, pork, fish, seafood, and eggs bought to eat at home.
$118/mo actual (2024)
Dairy products
Milk, cheese, and other dairy products bought to eat at home.
$53/mo actual (2024)
Other food at home (sugar, fats, misc.)
Everything else bought to eat at home: sugar and sweets, fats and oils, and miscellaneous foods.
$204/mo actual (2024)
Fruits & vegetablesremainder
Fresh and processed fruit and vegetables bought to eat at home — computed as the remainder after the other four categories (no separate BLS series exists for this one; see the methodology page).
$79/mo actual (2024)
Source: BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, annual averages per "consumer unit" (≈ household, ~2.5 people), averaged over all households — car-free households are inside the transportation average, uninsured households inside health insurance. A year's figures are released about nine months after it ends, so this section lags the price cards above.
Figures in orange are estimates: last year's spending advanced to this month's prices using the matching CPI index for that category ("what last year's pattern would cost today", not a new measurement of actual behavior). Health insurance gets no estimate — CPI's health-insurance index uses an accounting method that has diverged sharply from real premium growth, so we'd rather show nothing than something misleading. Details on the methodology page.
Health insurance here is only what households pay themselves. The full sticker price of job-based family coverage was about $25,600/year in 2024 (KFF employer survey), of which employers paid roughly three quarters — that part never passes through a household budget, so no household survey shows it.
Homeowners' insurance and property taxes sit inside the shelter line; vehicle insurance sits inside transportation.
Tax check: unlike the price cards above, every figure in this section is already tax-inclusive. This is a survey of real money households reported spending, and BLS defines that spending to include any sales and excise tax actually paid — nothing to add on top.
How to read this
- One comparison baseline is used everywhere on this page: 2019. Prices were flat for years before 2019; several overlapping global crises since then drove most of the real rise, so one clean before/after line is more honest than juggling several.
- Prices come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Average Price Data — real prices collected in stores each month. Grocery prices are before sales tax (BLS's own convention; most states don't tax groceries, so this is the real cost for most readers — the few metro areas where it isn't show the tax added alongside). Gasoline, electricity, and piped gas already include all taxes.
- BLS publishes prices for the US, four census regions, and a set of large metro areas — no official state-level prices exist, so this page doesn't show any.
- Where BLS doesn't publish an item for a metro, its census-region price is shown and labeled "regional price".
- Amounts on the price cards are monthly averages per US household (~2.5 people — official consumption data is measured per household, not per family): ~60 gallons of gasoline (from household spending surveys), 865 kWh of electricity (EIA average), and 30 therms of piped gas — the gas average over all households, since only about 6 in 10 US homes use natural gas at all.
- The grocery items on the cards are a 9-item staples sample (bread, milk, eggs, meat, coffee…) sized to a typical household month. Their combined trend chart is a price thermometer, not a full grocery bill — the real average grocery bill was about $519/month in 2024 (see the actual-spending section above).
- The essential-costs hero at the top of the page sums groceries + housing + healthcare + transportation + education from the actual-spending section — a bare-necessities total, not everything a household spends. The comfortable-living total in that section adds eating out, entertainment, and clothing for the fuller picture.
- Wages are the median hourly wage for all occupations in each metro (BLS OEWS), shown after tax: we deduct ≈20% (Social Security & Medicare, typical federal income tax, and average state income tax at the median wage) — the same rate for 2019 and today, in every area. OEWS is annual data, so the vintage is always labeled; census regions use the US median wage because OEWS doesn't publish regional aggregates.
- The recipe (items and amounts) is ours and it's fixed — details and sources on the methodology page.
Computed 29 July 2026 · latest prices 2026-06 · sources: BLS Average Price Data + BLS OEWS + BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, all public domain. Recomputed automatically every night.