Applied
Geographic Solution’s Consumer Expenditure Database
Consumer Expenditures – Variable Groups
The Consumer Expenditure database covers most major household expenditures
in a multi-level hierarchical classification. Expenditures can be expressed
either as aggregate expenditure or per household expenditure for any
geographic level from the block group to national. The major categories
represented are:
• Total Expenditure
•
Food and Beverages
•
Shelter
•
Utilities
•
Household Operations
•
Household Furnishings/Equipment
•
Apparel
•
Transportation
•
Health Care
•
Entertainment
•
Personal Care
•
Reading
•
Education
•
Tobacco Products
•
Miscellaneous Expenses
•
Cash Contributions
•
Personal Insurance
•
Gifts
Most of these categories include two or three levels of sub-category
detail. For example, a typical classification for an item in the food
group is:
TOTAL Total Expenditure
» FB Food and Beverage
»» FB1 Food At Home
»»» FB102 Dairy Products
»»»» FB10201 Cheese
This structure permits ready analysis of expenditures at any level
of detail and between levels of detail. It is possible to analyze any
individual category within the context of its parent category (e.g.
cheese expenditures as a share of total dairy product expenditures
or total food at home expenditures).
Consumer Expenditure – Data Sources and Methodology
The total sample was utilized to obtain an average expenditure for
each item. For each expenditure item, a series of adjustment factors
were derived for each unique demographic attribute. These adjustment
factors were then applied to the block group level using the same
demographic variables in order to create estimates at the local level,
which are consistent with local characteristics. Consistency checks
were undertaken in order to ensure that the results at the block
group level were consistent in the aggregate with overall income
levels and published expenditures. Finally, the 1998 estimates were
inflated using detailed consumer price indexes to 2002 levels.
The database consists of a total of 493 base variables, which are
aggregated in up to four levels of detail. A hierarchical structure
is utilized throughout, so that it is possible to aggregate or disaggregate
categories as required for analysis.
The survey includes a wide range of demographic attributes related
to “consuming units” (generally households), which have
been modeled separately for each discrete expenditure category. The
older surveys were first inflated to the 1997 price levels using the
detailed consumer price index series. For each individual expenditure
category in the survey, summary statistics were calculated for each
separate element in the list below. In several cases, it was possible
to utilize cross tabulation data (e.g. income by age of head of household).
These variables are listed below:
• Geographic region (Northeast, South, Midwest, West)
•
Metropolitan status (metropolitan, non-metropolitan) and size (e.g. > 4
million)
•
Housing tenure (owner or renter)
•
Age of head of household (<25 years, 25-34 years, 35-44 years, 45-54
years, 55-64 years, 65-74 years, and 75+ years)
•
Size of household (1 person, 2 persons, 3 persons, 4 persons, 5 persons,
6+ persons)
•
Household income (<5000, 5-10000, 10-15000, 15-20000, 20-30000,
30-40000, 40-50000, 50-70000, 70000+)
•
Race (White, Black, American Indian, Asian)
•
Number of vehicles (none, 1, 2+ vehicles per household)
In total, there are 393 detail categories that can be aggregated using
the field name. The field name will in all cases begin with the four-character
sequence X00 in order to distinguish these variables from those of
other databases and from other years. The next two characters are the
major group (e.g. AP for apparel). The primary detail level is a one-digit
number (e.g. AP1 is men’s apparel). Two sequences of two digits
then follow to indicate the remaining two levels of potential detail.
The entire variable list is included in the file layout section.
In addition to providing average household expenditures, AGS also
provides total market estimates for use in market share and demand
analysis.
Related Information
On-line access
Sample reports
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