Friday, April 06, 2012

compared to the average american

Sorry my chart doesn't follow the same format. I made mine first.

(source: NPR)

Given that the typical American saves next to nothing, that isn't really a fair comparison. All my figures "should" be doubled - "should" being in quotes because they really shouldn't be doubled except for comparison purposes.

Proportionally, I spend about the same as the typical American on housing and food - the two biggest items.

The biggest differences:
  • Education (+29pt): I spend about 10x on education (32%, although averaged out throughout my life, it's probably not so bad.
  • Travel (+10pt): I spent 10% on travel. It looks like typical people don't travel at all?
  • Entertainment (+2pt): The big difference is that my main entertainment cost is skiing, whereas most people enjoy movies, TV, etc.
  • Transportation (-8pt): The typical American spent 14% on transport. I spent 6%. Breaking that down further, my car expenses were 4%, compared to 12.6% for the typical American. That's a pretty huge difference.
  • Healthcare (-6pt): I had a "Cadillac" health insurance plan so I basically spent zero instead of 6%.
  • Housing (-2pt): Surprisingly, despite living in a city that's believed to have a higher cost of living, my housing costs aren't too crazy.
  • Utilities (-1pt): Yay for low electricity rates in Seattle!~
  • Other (-16pt): For some reason this data only sums up to 84%. Where the other 16% goes? I have no idea.


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