The @BLS_gov Consumer Expenditure Report has tracked household budgets since 1984. How is the median household doing today vs then? In short: incomes are $16k higher, and food and clothing are cheaper. But the avg household is spending $5k more on #housing . (1/10)

@AzizSunderji @bencasselman @BLS_gov Does it account for home size? People may be spending more, but they're also getting more house

@AzizSunderji @bencasselman @BLS_gov Wait, I'm confused, but it's because I'm dumb. So square footage has increased since the 60's, but that's misleading, because []? (I understand the highlighted box to be saying that there are more people, but fewer people/house, so more units overall (but smaller) . . . but that…

@MosesSternstein @bencasselman @BLS_gov Yeah, the authors argue that overall square footage up by 10x. But population up by 5x, and homes per person by 2x. 10x / 10x = 1. But! You may have something there re census data. My understanding is that census measures size only of new, not existing, homes. Is that wrong?