The pie charts illustrate the proportion of American spending pattern in 1966 and 1996.
Overall, food and cars were the two major expenses in both years. There were significant increases for cars, restaurants and computers, whilst all other spendings decline.
The three biggest expenditures in 1966 were food, cars and furniture, with just below a half, nearly a quarter and one-tenth, respectively. Food dominated in 1966, before a dramatic drop to 14% in 1996, causing cars to escalate dramatically to 45% and become the most prominent spending of residents in that year. Furniture receded to 8% in 1996, dropping from the third highest expenses to the fifth.
In 1966, three of the necessities, which are petrol, restaurants and books, contributed a minority of the total money spent, with 9%, 7% and 6% respectively, while computers only had a minimal share of 1%. A massive jump of computers to 10% in 1996, ranked it 4th highest expenditure, whilst books reduced substantially to 1%, which had the smallest share. Both petrol and restaurant had a moderate change, with petrol dropped by 1% and restaurant doubled in 1996.