Economics of Alcohol and Tobacco - How Much Do Individuals And Familiesspend On Alcohol?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in Consumer Expenditures in 2002 (published 2004) that the average American family spent $376 on alcoholic

TABLE 7.1
SOURCE: "Table 2-44. Tobacco: Area, Yield, Production, and Value, United States, 1994-2003," in Agricultural Statistics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2004, http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/agr04/04_ch2.pdf (accessed March 7, 2005)

Year	Area harvested	Yield per acre	Production*	Marketing year average price per pound received by farmers	Value of production
1994	671,065	2,359	1,582,896	1.758	2,779,056
1995	663,525	1,914	1,269,910	1.820	2,307,168
1996	733,060	2,072	1,518,704	1.882	2,853,739
1997	836,230	2,137	1,787,399	1.802	3,217,176
1998	717,620	2,062	1,479,891	1.828	2,700,795
1999	647,160	1,997	1,292,692	1.828	2,356,304
2000	469,420	2,244	1,053,264	1.910	2,001,775
2001	432,490	2,292	991,293	1.957	1,939,755
2002	428,310	2,043	875,052	1.938	1,702,861
2003	416,210	1,997	831,204	1.967	1,635,188
*Production figures are on farm-sales-weight basis.

beverages in 2002, up from $349 in 2001 and $372 in 2000. This figure represents 0.9% of the average annual expenditures for the American family. This percentage has remained relatively stable since 1993.

The amount spent on alcohol varied in 2002, depending on the characteristics of the household. On average, single parents with at least one child under age eighteen spent only $146 on alcoholic beverages in 2002, or about 0.5% of their average annual expenditures. Married couples with no children spent $479 (up from $388 in 1999), which was 1% of their average annual expenditures. The percentage other groups spent on alcohol varied within the 0.5 to 1% range, except for the "single person and other consumer units" group. This group spent the largest proportion of their average annual expenditures on alcohol: nearly 1.2%.