Skip to main content

University uncovers personal expenditure of American on transportation comparison

Total transportation expenditures in 2016 corresponded to 15.8% of all personal expenditures, down from 18.9% in 1989. Meanwhile, analogous trends were present for the lowest and highest quintiles of income, according to a new report by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. The report is based on data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and performed by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
October 3, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Total transportation expenditures in 2016 corresponded to 15.8% of all personal expenditures, down from 18.9% in 1989. Meanwhile, analogous trends were present for the lowest and highest quintiles of income, according to a new report by the 5594 University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.

The report is based on data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and performed by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labour Statistics. It compared expenditures for all households as well as those at two extremes of income in 1989 and 2016.

Other findings include a higher relative expenditure for gasoline and motor oil for the lowest quintile of income than for the highest quintile of income. Secondly, transportation accounted for the second largest budget category in both 2016 and 1989. Meanwhile, transportation expenditures relative to the expenditures for housing and food decreased. In addition, transportation expenditures for the lowest quintile of income were lower than food expenditures in both years, contrasting transportation expenditures for the highest quintile of income were higher than food expenditures in both years. Finally, transportation expenditure adjusted for inflation decreased by 11.3% from 1989 to 2016.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New report reveals red-light running data and trends across 20 states
    May 22, 2014
    More than 3.5 million drivers in 20 US states ran a red light in 2013, according to the second biannual Safer Roads Report 2014: Trends in Red-Light Running from the National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR). The report, released today, examines red-light running trends across 20 states and is designed to help raise driver awareness of the dangers of red-light running. The risks of red-light running are clear: intersection-related vehicle accidents caused more than 8,500 causalities in 2011 – the most r
  • Government incentives ‘vital to help OEMs tackle costs for gasoline particulate filters’
    November 2, 2015
    According to the latest analysis from Frost & Sullivan, the competitive, growing gasoline particulate filters (GPFs) market in Europe and North America presents suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with diverse opportunities as well as challenges. The inclusion of particulate number regulation within emission norms will accelerate the adoption of GPFs. However, government incentives will be vital to help OEMs tackle the rising costs of GPF installations. The analysis, Analysis of the GP
  • Promoting cycling is the solution to congestion and pollution
    August 20, 2015
    Cycling offers health, air quality and road space/parking benefits, promoting governments and the EU to look at tax and technology initiatives. David Crawford reports. One way to improve urban air quality is to make green alternatives to car use financially attractive. Incentivising employees to switch their travel-to-work mode to using their own bikes could increase cycling’s modal share of commuting travel by 50%, a recent French research project suggests. The country’s government already subsidises pu
  • China to ‘see unparalleled urban growth by 2025’
    November 7, 2012
    New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, New Mega Trends in China: Macro to Micro Implications of Mega Trends to 2025, says that China is set to become the largest economy in the world by 2025 with a nominal GDP value of US$38 trillion. Fuelled by a strong urbanisation rate, a favourable corporate environment, huge infrastructure investment and the largest working age population, the Chinese economy will finally transform itself from being the manufacturing site of the globe to one of the biggest and largest con