Portfolio (Attachment N(a))

Tracking
Tracking How
How
Americans
Americans
Spend
Spend Their
Their
Money
Money
Food
Housing
Apparel
Transportation
Health Care
Entertainment

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

CE
Consumer
Expenditure
Surveys
Internet Sites
Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov

Field representative name

Bureau of Labor Statistics, CE Survey
http://www.bls.gov/cex/

Phone number

U.S. Department of Commerce
Economics and Statistics Administration
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

CE-100 8/2006

About
the U.S.
Census
Bureau

Our Nation is constantly changing, and Americans change with it. We grow in number,
we move, and we develop new patterns of living and working. The Census Bureau
measures these changes. Policy makers use this information to make decisions which
affect our future.

Our data includes:
Population
Transportation

About
this
Survey

Industry
Income

Housing
Health

Construction
Agriculture

We are conducting this survey to get a picture of how Americans spend their money
and how the percentage devoted to different spending categories changes over time.
Using Consumer Expenditure (CE) data, users can:
Track changes in housing costs as a percentage of the average American
household’s income.
Compare transportation costs for young, middle-aged, and older households.
Track changes in health insurance costs for the average American household.
The CE data are also used to update the market basket of goods and services for the
Consumer Price Index (CPI).