Retirement spending has changed sharply for America's oldest households. Americans aged 75 and over recorded a 50% rise in inflation-adjusted household spending between 1990 and 2024, while their housing spending increased by about 68%. The figures show how the cost of maintaining a household has changed over three decades.
Housing has become a particularly large part of spending, even as expenditure on some other categories has fallen. The 50% figure covers overall household spending. It does not mean housing alone rose by 50%. Transportation, healthcare, and other categories also contributed to the wider increase.
