Consumer Expenditure Survey

Alternate Titles(s): CE Survey
UID: 10117
Description
The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) consists of two parts: the Quarterly Interview Survey and the Diary Survey. Both surveys provide information on the purchasing habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit characteristics (e.g., age, education, occupation). The Quarterly Interview Survey (CEQ) includes information on monthly out-of-pocket expenses like housing, apparel, transportation, healthcare, insurance, and entertainment. The Diary Survey (CED) includes information on frequently purchased items like food, beverages, tobacco, personal care products, and nonprescription drugs. Approximately 20,000 independent interview surveys and 11,000 independent diary surveys are completed annually. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes 12-month estimates of consumer expenditures annually, summarized by various income levels and demographic characteristics. Geographic data is available at the national level; for regions, divisions, selected states, and selected metropolitan statistical areas; and by population size of area.
Publisher
Timeframe
1972 - Present
Geographic Coverage
United States
Local Expert
Subject of Study
Subject Domain
Keywords

Access

Restrictions
Free to All
Application Required
Instructions
De-identified data, documentation, and supplemental resources are available publicly online for free. Summary data is available as research tables. Researchers may also export data for custom queries through the CE LABSTAT database or download public use microdata (PUM) files for further analysis.
Access via BLS

Public Use Microdata (PUM) files

Data Type
Study Type
Observational
Dataset Format(s)
SAS, SPSS, Stata, ASCII, PDF
Data Collection Instruments
Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey
Consumer Expenditure Diary Survey
PubMed Search
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Other Resources
FAQ

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