The bar chart illustrates the average percentage breakdown of how families belonging to three income classes, namely low, medium, and high, allocated their expenditure across ten categories.
Overall, housing costs took the maximum proportion, followed by transport, utility bills, food, and retirement savings, whereas the remaining categories took considerably lower sums.
To begin with, housing expenses accounted for almost one-third of the income from each demographic. Additionally, low and middle-income earners allocated approximately 19% of their budget to transportation, while their respective affluent counterparts allocated only 15%. On the contrary, high earners were able to set aside over 17% of their income for retirement planning, while the figures for this same purpose of the other two income groups differ by 7% and 3%, respectively. Moreover, all income groups exhibit the same spending behaviour when it comes to consuming food at home and paying for utilities.
In the case of leisure activities such as eating out, entertainment, and clothing, all groups’ expenditure stood at the same level, hovering around 5%. Meanwhile, the most economically disadvantaged pay more for health care (9%) compared to middle- and high-wage holders, with expenditures being represented equally at 6%. Lastly, an opposite trend can be observed for educational purposes, with high-earning families spending around 5% and underpaid ones allocating only a fraction of 3%.