• Total spending on transportation fell in 2008 after the onset of the 2007–2009 economic recession and returned to the pre-recession level in 2014.
• In total, the public and private sectors spent $125.7 billion on transportation construction in 2014.
• The transportation revenues of federal, state, and local governments totaled $180.2 billion in 2012, while government transportation expenditures totaled $319.8 billion—a deficit of $139.6 billion, down from $152.3 billion in 2009.
• Personal, business, and government purchases of transportation goods and services accounted for 8.9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product in 2014.
• All freight traffic and passenger travel, as measured by the Transportation Services Index (TSI), declined during the 2007–2009 economic recession, but rebounded in 2014. The passenger TSI lagged the freight TSI in recovery.
• Transportation and related sectors employed over 12.3 million workers in 2014, representing 8.8 percent of the Nation’s labor force.
• The highest wage transportation-related occupations employ relatively few workers while the lower wage occupations employ millions. Air traffic controllers, airline pilots, and aerospace engineers had an annual median wage of more than $100,000 in 2014 and employed 167,000; while the largest transportation-related occupation, heavy truck and tractor-trailer truck drivers, had an annual median wage of $39,520 and employed over 1.6 million.
• American households spent, on average, about $9,000 per year on transportation in 2014, representing 17.0 percent of household expenditures. Transportation expenditure is the second largest household spending category, next to housing.
• Annual household expenditures on transportation differ in dollar amount by income quintile, with the highest income quintile spending on average 4.7 times as much ($16,788) as the lowest income quintile ($3,555). However, as a percent of average annual total household expenditures, transportation spending was similar across income quintiles.

FIGURE 5a Household Expenditures by Category: 2014

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^a Includes alcoholic beverages, cash contributions, education, entertainment, personal care products and services, reading, tobacco products and smoking supplies, and other items.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, available at www.bls.gov/cex as of September 2015.

FIGURE 5b Transportation Services Index: Jan. 2000 to July 2015

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NOTE: The Transportation Services Index measures the movement of freight and passengers.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, available at www.bts.gov as of September 2015.