With respect to transportation and the U.S. economy:

• Personal, business, and government purchases of transportation goods and services accounted for nearly 8.6 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2012.
• Transportation and related sectors employed over 11.7 million workers in 2012, representing 8.8 percent of the Nation’s labor force.
• American households spent, on average, nearly $9,000 on transportation in 2012, representing 17.5 percent of household expenditures. Transportation expenditure is the second largest household spending category, next to housing.
• In total, the public and private sectors spent $119 billion on transportation construction in 2012, two-thirds of which was on highway infrastructure.
• The transportation revenues of federal, state, and local governments totaled $156 billion in 2009, while government transportation expenditures totaled $243 billion—a deficit of $87 billion, up from $50 billion in 1995.

FIGURE 6 Average Household (HH) Expenditures by Major Spending Category: 2012

Table Version | Excel

NOTE: Percents may not add to 100 due to rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, available at www.bls.gov/cex as of August 2014.