George Kamel - Average Monthly Expenses 2026 Edition (New Data)

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

💻 Check out Ramsey’s Coverage Checkup!   Ever checked your bank account at the end of the month and wondered, “Is everyone spending as much as me?” Today, we’re breaking down how much the average American spends every month across seven major categories so you can see how you measure up.   Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video How Much You Should Have in Your 401(k) in 2026! • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors: • Go to Boost Mobile to switch today! • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! • Sign up with Privacy today and receive a $5 credit just for being a George Kamel fan.   Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever check your bank account at the end of the month and wonder, am I the only one spending this much? I'm going to answer that. Today we're going to break down how much the average American spends every month across seven major categories so you see how you measure up. And with a shout out to our very above average channel sponsor, delete me. Let's dive in, shall we? Now remember, we're looking at the average expenses.

That includes everybody. Single people, married couples without kids, families with more kids than even TLC would know what to do with, everything. It's a big spectrum. So your numbers might look different and probably will be different. So let's start with the biggest mamma jama of them all, housing. Now, I don't know if you're aware, but the cost of housing is, shall we say, a contentious topic. And it tracks since the average American is spending $2,188 per month on housing. That shakes out to a third of Americans' overall expenses.

And ideally, I recommend your housing expenses be no more than 25% of your after-tax monthly income. And that includes taxes, insurance, and HOA fees if applicable. And here's why. If your housing is costing you 30, 40, 50% or more of your take-home pay, you've got no margin left to enjoy your life or save for the future. It turns the roof over your head into a huge weight on your shoulders. And that's what us folks in the biz call being house poor. You don't want that.

So if your housing is a little high, here are some things you can do to help. Reshop your home insurance or utilities like your internet service. They're always jacking up your price. and I see you AT&T. I know my bill's $80.35. So don't even try me with that $85.35 because I will call your customer service. What is your deal? Huh?

Now, this might be controversial, but you might need to take on some extra roommates, depending on your situation. And I know, I know you want to live alone. You don't want anyone judging you watching Love Island for the third time while falling asleep with a sleeve of Oreos on you. But this can cut your housing expenses in half or even a third if you've got the space. And even if you have a family, sometimes renting out a room can help create some. some margin temporarily. And I've done this myself. We had my sister-in-law live with us for a year, and she paid a measly amount, which helped us pay our mortgage off faster and helped her living situation for 12 whole months. And worst case, you just might have to find something more

affordable. Now, that could mean a different apartment, moving a little further out, or even downsizing in-home. There are things you can do, but I understand it's a real burden for a lot of people. All right, our next category is also a big one, and it's food. Coming in at $847 a month, on average. And here's how that breaks down. 518 bucks a month for groceries, $329 for eating out. And again, this includes families of every possible size and age. And if you have a toddler like me, you're probably spending that much on organic raspberries alone. But it's adorable because she puts them on each of her fingers and then she goes and then she restarts the process. That's worth nine bucks. That's free entertainment for me. So how much you spend on food

very much depends on your season of life. And regardless, this tends to be a budget buster for the vast majority of people. And I know, I know, no one wants another lecture on eating at home, so I'm not going to say it. I didn't say it. They call it groceries. People say, groceries.

You can get it in a bag. Beautiful but simple word groceries. Other than that, there are plenty of things you can do to save on food. Start by actually researching grocery stores to find the best prices around you. You might even go to different stores for different items. Maybe you do the bulk of your shopping for the big stuff at Costco.

And then you pop over to Aldi for some smaller things. Maybe you jump over to Publix, Kroger, Trader Joe's. Go all over town. Have a ball. Make it an adventure. Remember, your Salmonella, that's coming from Pigley Wiggly. I'm sorry for the shade, Pigley Wigglywiggly. But I know you're not watching.

You got better things to do than watch a fledgling YouTuber. You got Salmonella to give away. They're not a sponsor, are they? No. Not anymore, they're not. As far as eating at home, this is a big one. You've got to be meal planning and meal prepping. You don't just wander around the store willy-nilly getting processed foods and then going,

I only have snacks at home for a... You only bought snacks. And I'm talking to myself here. I only buy snacks. I like a snack. Boy dinner. But the truth is, now with AI and chat GPT, you can throw together a meal plan to your dietary needs and budget. Lickety split, four seconds, with the grocery store that you want to go to.

And even if you do, you know, Walmart grocery delivery, it's still so much cheaper than eating out. And with a couple of hours of meal prepping on a Sunday, you won't be tempted to eat out nearly as much. You'll just have food ready to go. And may I remind you, crockpots exist. The instapot is magical. Use these appliances to your advantage so that you're not sitting there for four hours trying to piece together a meal. Now, I'm going to do you one better. I've got a challenge for you, a little throwing of the gauntlet, if you will.

Commit to 30 days of meal prepping and meal planning. And then come back and tell me how much you save. Let me know in the comments, on Instagram, by Carrier Pigeon, whatever you do. Anywhere but Facebook. For the last time, I'm not coming to your Pampered Chef virtual party, Brenda. It's not a virtual part. What is a virtual? Why? Why? What are we on a Zoom call watching you pitch Pamper Chef to us?

At least let me play Mahjong with the girls in person. Moving on to the next category, personal insurance and retirement. At an average of $816 per month. Now, what the heck is personal insurance? that's a personal question, but I will answer. It's just another word for life insurance. And the average American pays about $48 a month for that. And by the way, if you don't have life insurance, you need to get it today.

Now, most of this category goes to retirement, $557 from the Social Security tax that comes out of your paycheck and another $166 a month into retirement plans, which is the one number on this entire list that I wish was higher. I would love for you to get to the place where you can at least invest 15% of your income. And one way to free up some money to invest, invest is by reevaluating your insurance. You might be overpaying for that life insurance policy or home insurance or car insurance policy, all of it. So I'm going to drop a link to our coverage

checkup tool where you can find out in about five minutes. And I've heard some amazing stories of people saving hundreds of dollars a month just by reshopping insurance. It's worth it. Quick question. How do you care for your health? Trick question, health care. The average monthly total for health care, $516 a month. This includes your health insurance, doctor's visits, medical supplies, and drugs. Now, don't worry, homeschoolers. We're not talking recreational, only doctor prescribed. Although I got a hot take for you.

I think aphrine is legal cocaine for boomers. Prove me wrong. RFK, get on it, man. Who cares about the red dyes? The boomers are affroning themselves to death. Now, I realize if you get health insurance through your employer, you are limited to the plans that they offer. But you want to avoid overpaying for the care and coverage you need.

So depending on your family's health situation, a high deductible health plan or an HDHP could be a great money saving move. Because you're taking on a higher deductible, the insurance company rewards you with lower premiums. Another great thing, if you have an HDHP, you get to open an HSA, which is a health savings account. That has triple tax benefits and an investment account attached to it. I've done a video all about the HSA. I'll drop a link in the description if you want to watch that next. So check to see if your employer offers a high deductible health plan.

Or if you want to search this on your own, you can check out Health Trust Financial, Not a sponsor of this show, but it's who I would recommend to my own mom. And mom, if you're watching, I miss you. Every time it's a butt dial from her. I thought, oh, mom finally called me. Sorry, George, by mistake, I call you. It's racist. It's not racist.

You're racist for thinking that's how she talks. Now, one expense that isn't on this list, but absolutely should be, is your phone bill. It boggles my mind that people are paying 50, 80, even 100 bucks or more per month for their phone bill. especially when they could be paying just 25 bucks a month with Boost Mobile, one of today's sponsors. Seriously, just $25 a month forever, and that's for their unlimited plan. And you don't have to sign any contracts, you don't have to change your phone or your number. It might be the simplest money-saving hack you're going to hear from me today. So stop overpaying for your phone bill, start saving by going to boostmobile.com slash Ramsey

or use the link in the description. $25 forever requires customers to remain active on BoostMobile Unlimited Plan. And before we talk more monthly spending, did you know the average American spends about 300 hours online every month. I didn't know those that many hours in a month. That's a lot of doom scrolling and ASMR videos and a lot of opportunities for data brokers to pilfer your personal info,

which they are, unless you use DeleteMe, another sponsor. They wipe your info from hundreds of data broker sites cutting down your risk of spam calls, texts, emails, and outright fraud. It would be a nightmare to remove all of that yourself, but Delete Me handles it for you all year long behind the scenes with real data privacy experts, and you can rest easy knowing that every move you make, they'll be watching you.

But not on a creepy sting way, just a normal, friendly, helpful way. And right now you can get 20% off their annual plans by going to join deleteme.com slash George or use the link in the description. Okay, back to our average monthly expenses. Next up, we've got entertainment, coming in at an average of $300 per month.

Now, next to housing, food, and health care, entertainment definitely falls into the want category, not need. Want, want, want, want. That was, I thought that was clever. That was improv. That was not in the script. You're supposed to stick to the script. So if money feels a little tight, this is the first place I would recommend cutting back.

Like subscriptions. Do you really need Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV, and Peacock, when you know you're just going to end up watching the Outdoor Boys on YouTube for free? I mean, you're watching my channel here for free. What does that say about you? This is free. Why are you paying $217 a month for your subscriptions? And subscriptions aside, maybe it's time to cool it

and all the concerts and sports betting and Kalshi and Polly Market and even the Pokemon collection. Because listen, Brian, you're an adult. You're not going to find the bubble mew by ripping packs from Walmart. It's not happening. Let the dream die. Go kiss a girl. So much better.

I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. Plus, what happened to the whole, the best things in life are free? For the low, low price of nothing, you could like and subscribe to this channel for all the edutainment, zero dollars can buy. Now, when I was getting out of debt, taking control of my money, building wealth,

the biggest game-changing habit was figuring out where all my money was going in the first place. Because it doesn't matter how much you make if it's all disappearing through money leaks. And the way I do that is through a budget. I use an app called Every Dollar to make it easy. I'll drop a link in the description so you can check that out for free. Okay, our next category is clothes, which costs the average American about $167 a month. Now, I feel for the parents out there with kids who constantly need to get new clothes

because the kids' limbs just keep on growing. What's going on? Just cap it in the fourth grade like I did. I just save my parents so much money. Short Kings rise up. Kevin Hart, Bruno Mars, Prince, the Minions. But other than spending on your kids, there's not a huge reason to spend a whole lot of money on clothes. I personally invest in a few high-quality pieces I can wear all year long, big fan of the capsule wardrobe.

Just wear black teas every day and pretend you're Steve Jobs. It's way easier. But if you're a little overspending on the clothes, try shopping at a second-hand store like Plato's Closet or Deepop, poshmark, all of these places you can get high quality, use clothing at a fraction of the price. Another good thing to do, remove your debit card info from online retailers and apps and unsubscribe from all the emails and text alerts. That way you're not going to be tempted by every 30% off flash sale. And remember this, it's always 100% off if you don't buy it. That's the ultimate girl math. Okay, it's the moment we've all been waiting for. Our final category, transportation.

where the average American spends a massive $1,110 a month. That's more than health care, more than food, $1,100 just to get from point A to point B. And don't even think about point C. Ain't nobody can afford to get there. So how does this break down? Well, gas comes out to about $200 a month. Auto insurance is $166 a month. And public transportation is about $94 a month if you're lucky enough to have it in your city.

But that's only $460 total. So where's the rest of that money going? And the answer is almost certainly. car payments. This is the elephant in the room, or more accurately, in your driveway. The average car payment for a used car is now $531 a month, and a new car is way worse at $770 a month. That is a huge part of your paycheck, money that you've worked really hard for all month long that gets thrown out the window as soon as you drive down the highway. And yes, I'm aware people need cars to get from A to B, but they don't need a $48,000 car for reliability and safety. We've been

conditioned to believe that we just need a car payment to go along with that car, and it's become completely normal. We're now over $1.6 trillion in car debt in America, but there's other options out there. So if you're one of those people who has a car loan currently, I am begging you to pay it off as fast as possible. And then don't ever get a car loan again. That's the key. Stay out of that cycle and just save up and pay cash for those cars in the future. And whether you have a car loan or not, if this car is a big part of your financial world, like the value of your cars is over half your annual income, you definitely need to sell that car and downsize in cash. Because think about what you could do if you had that $5, $600 back in your pocket every month. You wouldn't be nervously

checking your bank account in the checkout line. You'd have extra money to save for that down payment on a house or for retirement. I firmly believe that car payments are the number one wealth killer in America, keeping people from building wealth from actually enjoying their life while driving. away in a depreciating asset. So there's our categories. I want to know. How did you do? Which category are you overspending in compared to the average American?

Let me know in the comments and let me know why. And if you've got an entertaining justification, even better. And while we're on the healthy comparison train, check out this next video where you'll see how your 401k stacks up to the average American. Best case, you'll feel great. Worst case, hopefully you'll invest more. It's a win-win. So click here to watch it or use the link in the description.

That's it for today. Thank you for watching.