Average Household Spending on Travel Tops $1,800

Americans are spending more on travel than ever before. The average household spent $1,852 on travel in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey. This is 7 percent more than it spent in 2007, after adjusting for inflation. A 7 percent increase doesn't sound like much, but consider this: travel spending fell 15 percent between 2007 and 2010, in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Between 2010 and 2017, average household spending on travel grew 26 percent.

Average household spending on travel, 2007 to 2017 (in 2017 dollars)
2017: $1,852
2010: $1,468
2007: $1,735

The single biggest item in the average household's travel budget is lodging, which accounts for 27 percent of total travel spending. Airline fares are second at 24 percent of the budget, and restaurant meals (17 percent) are third. Together, these three items account for two-thirds of household spending on travel. The remaining one-third of the budget is accounted for by a range of items listed here in rank order: recreational expenses on trips, gasoline on trips, alcohol on trips, ship fares, groceries purchased while traveling, local transportation on trips, train fares, luggage, vehicle rentals, parking fees and tolls on trips, and intercity bus fares.

Between 2010 and 2017, average household spending increased on all but two travel budget items, after adjusting for inflation. Average household spending on gasoline fell 18 percent because of lower gas prices. Spending on vehicle rentals fell by a larger 30 percent because of competition from ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft.

One of the biggest gains in travel spending was experienced by the category "local transportation on trips," which includes spending on ride-sharing services. Between 2010 and 2017, average household spending on local transportation on trips climbed 45 percent, after adjusting for inflation. In 2010, the average household spent 52 percent more on rented vehicles than on local transportation when traveling. Ride-sharing has reversed this pattern. In 2017, the average household spent 36 percent more on local transportation than on rented vehicles when traveling.

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Consumer Expenditure Survey