Home Furnishings | Follow the Money
January 5,
2018 by Jane Chero in General 
The top 20 percent of all households make over half (52.8 percent) of all income and pay 78.5 percent of all taxes. This still leaves these households who make over $105,600 per year with 48.6 percent of all disposable income. This is the final factoid in a series of four factoids that details the annual mid-year Consumer Expenditure Survey report (mid 2015 to mid 2016) by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report divides the 129 million households in the U.S. into 20 percent quintiles of around 25.8 million consumer units each from the lowest to highest earners.
Lower income families spend a higher percentage of their income on food, shelter, utilities, gasoline, and healthcare, leaving less disposable income for non essentials. However, surprisingly, when it comes to home furnishings and equipment, the disparity in percent of income spent between the ranges does not vary significantly.
Despite the similarity in percent of expenditures spent on home furnishings and equipment among income segments, the vast differences in disposable income put much of the purchases within the top 20 percent of households. 65.6 percent of total furniture expenditures come from the top two income brackets with 44.1 percent from the highest 20 percent. Major appliances and Home textiles are somewhat less concentrated in the highest 20 percent of households with the bottom three income levels accounting for 40 percent of their total expenditures. At 48.1 percent of total expenditures coming from the highest earning households, Floor Coverings are primarily being bought by households making more than $105,600.
Middle income families at one time were the bread and butter of the home furnishings industry. Median household income now stands at $55,775. This places the third quintile or 20 percent of consumer units earning between $38,000 and $63,800 purchasing only 17 percent of all furniture. Most of the home furnishings industry, 65.6 percent of furniture purchases belong to 40 percent of households earning over $63,800 annually.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Mid-year Report 2015 to 2016