The BLS has the Consumer Expenditure Survey. One of the tables breaks down the numbers based on the number of people in the household. This gives us an easy way to find the spending for single people. This is the 2011 data.
Here are the main categories and the annual & monthly amounts:
| yearly | monthly | |
| Food at home | $2,072 | $173 |
| Eating out | $1,567 | $131 |
| Alcohol | $370 | $31 |
| Rent/mortgage | $7,176 | $598 |
| Utilities | $2,380 | $198 |
| Household operation | $692 | $58 |
| Housekeeping supplies | $348 | $29 |
| Household furnishings | $859 | $72 |
| Apparel and services | $1,021 | $85 |
| Car purchases | $1,235 | $103 |
| Gasoline /motor oil | $1,399 | $117 |
| Other vehicle | $1,418 | $118 |
| Public transport | $316 | $26 |
| Health insurance | $1,232 | $103 |
| Out of pocket medical | $880 | $73 |
| Entertainment | $1,522 | $127 |
| Personal care products | $388 | $32 |
| Reading | $90 | $8 |
| Education | $782 | $65 |
| Tobacco | $255 | $21 |
| Misc | $577 | $48 |
| Cash contributions | $1,446 | $121 |
Now I've renamed some of the categories from the CEX report and I've rearranged a couple of them. I did that just to present it in what I think are simpler budget categories. There are a few things to keep in mind with these numbers. They are averages across the entire population and not everyone spends money on all of these. So for example most people don't spend $255 a year on tobacco but the 20% or so of people who do buy tobacco probably spend $1275 a year and averaged out that comes to $255.
Gotta have a graphic so there's the categories shown with percents :
 |
| (click image to see full size) |
Here's the list sorted by the size of the spending per category:
| yearly | |
| Rent/mortgage | $7,176 |
| Utilities | $2,380 |
| Food at home | $2,072 |
| Eating out | $1,567 |
| Entertainment | $1,522 |
| Cash contributions | $1,446 |
| Other vehicle | $1,418 |
| Gasoline /motor oil | $1,399 |
| Car purchases | $1,235 |
| Health insurance | $1,232 |
| Apparel and services | $1,021 |
| Out of pocket medical | $880 |
| Household furnishings | $859 |
| Education | $782 |
| Household operation | $692 |
| Misc | $577 |
| Personal care products | $388 |
| Alcohol | $370 |
| Housekeeping supplies | $348 |
| Public transport | $316 |
| Tobacco | $255 |
| Reading | $90 |
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