Intro and Overview

The Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CEX) include data on expenditures, income, and demographic characteristics of US consumers and inform the Consumer Price Index. The Public-Use Microdata (PUMD) files include five quarters of data, four for the release year and one for the first quarter of the next year. Calendar year estimates are feasible.

There are two separate surveys in the CE program:

The Quarterly Interview Survey
The Diary Survey

The Quarterly Interview Survey is intended to collect information about large and recurring expenditures that consumers will likely recall for a period of 3 months or longer (e.g. rent). The Diary Survey collects information on smaller purchases, like food and clothing. The surveys are conducted using separate samples.

Tips for Getting Started

The BLS has several helpful resources for new researchers:

Key Advantages

Frequency of the survey allows for seasonal analysis.
Estimates are possible for some smaller geographies

Key Disadvantages

Cross-sectional.
The Quarterly Interview Survey and Diary Survey cannot be linked at the individual level because the respondents are not the same.
The sample is relatively small and predominately urban.
More considerations on the BLS page

Papers Using these Data

BLS has an extensive listing of Working Papers on their Poverty Research page.

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