

Food and clothes consumed 60% of consumer spending in 1900, but as we found more efficient ways to make burgers and socks, that number fell all the way to 17% in 2003. As a result, in most major cities, we spend the majority of our income on planes, trains, automobiles, and dwellings.


Here's a graph compiled by the Center for Housing Policy and the Center for Neighborhood Technology of H&T costs as a share of income for families earning between 50% and 100% of the median income in their city. Florida and California lead the pack...

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It's Worse for the Poor: For homeowners earning between 50% and 100% of the median income in each city, H&T costs for homeowners who still owe a mortgage average -- average! -- a whopping 72%. Stated differently: Homeowners whose earnings put them in the second quartile of households pay three in every four dollars in mortgage and transportation.


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