American Households Spend $4155 A Year on Gas

[jeffrey]

When holiday travel is over, the typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record. That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981...

Gas takes its biggest bite out of family budget in 30 years - chicagotribune.com

[disneysteve]

[i]When holiday travel is over, the typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record. That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in

As always, there is some statistical manipulation going on there. Just because the median family spends $4,155 and the median household earns $50,000 does not mean, statistically speaking, that the median household spends the median amount.

I'm sure if you break it down, it doesn't match up that way. Higher earners are more likely to drive gas guzzlers like SUVs, Hummers, etc. Higher earners are more likely to do more leisure driving, burning gas just for the heck of it. My family drives to Florida every year, for example, about 2,500-3,000 miles roundtrip. But we earn a lot more than the median income so the percentage going to gas is smaller than what that article would suggest.

Fortunately, gas prices have fallen a lot in recent weeks so at least that helps. Gas is back under $3/gallon around here for the first time in quite a while.

[riverwed070707]

We're a 2 car household. My work commute is short, but I do travel quite a bit throughout the year (1-2 times a month I'm driving 400+ miles). DH has a longer commute and takes our DD to school, etc. We also took several (5-6) long-ish driving trips this year. According to Mint, we spent $3,363 on gas this year including the miles I was reimbursed for through work. I think our driving is probably a bit above average but we have maybe slightly below average gas consuming vehicles.