--- title: If You're Average, You'll Spend $98 Today description: Daily consumer spending averaged $98 in May, the highest it has been in six years -- an indication that the economy is heading in the right direction. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2014-06-04T09:45:44.000Z' modified: '2024-04-14T09:09:29.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - big business - Birth Rate - consumer spending - Economic Indicators - Economy - Gallup - Great Recession - Recession - Shopping - small businesses - Summer word_count: 246 canonical: https://money.com/consumer-spending-average-economy/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** Money may earn a commission when you click on the products and services below. Opinions are our own, but compensation and in-depth research determine where and how they appear. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/) about how we make money. ![If You're Average, You'll Spend $98 Today](https://money.com/content.money.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/140601_money_gen_13.jpg?crop=0px%2C733px%2C4780px%2C2689px&resize=1012%2C569&quality=85&strip&ssl=1) If you're like most consumers, according to a [recent Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/170816/consumer-spending-hits-six-year-high.aspx), you reported spending an average of $98 in May. That's $10 higher than April, and the highest monthly average seen since early 2008. Historically, consumer spending in May tends to be higher than in most other months, as people pile up expenses related to the start of summer—yard work, spring cleaning, barbecues, etc. December is usually a close second, what with holiday parties and gift shopping. Sure enough, the most recent three-day average high for spending was measured over Memorial Day weekend (daily spending: $134), followed by a trio of days right before Christmas 2013 (daily spending: $129). Since 2009, when consumer spending in May was measured at just $63, there's been a consistent increase, rising to $90 in May 2013 before hitting $98 this year. In the big picture, the trend may be viewed as an indication of an economy on the upswing—especially when other data, including [improving confidence among small and big businesses](https://money.com/5-reasons-the-economy-is-not-headed-for-recession/) alike, are factored in. Another interesting indicator is that the national birth rate, which has fallen over the course of five years and has been viewed as a sign of larger economic strife and uncertainty, [appears to have hit bottom](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-birth-rate-bottoming-out-after-long-decline-2014-06-03?dist=beforebell). [Births were up slightly](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr63/nvsr63_02.pdf) in 2013 compared to the year before, an indicator that people have been feeling (slightly) better about bringing a baby into the world lately, even with all of the [costs and responsibilities of being a parent](https://money.com/child-care-costs-rent-why-family-move-sweden/). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/consumer-spending-average-economy/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Economy", "item": "https://money.com/economy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If You're Average, You'll Spend $98 Today" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/consumer-spending-average-economy/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/consumer-spending-average-economy/", "name": "If You're Average, You'll Spend $98 Today", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2014-06-04T09:45:44.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/consumer-spending-average-economy/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/consumer-spending-average-economy/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-14T09:09:29.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "If You're Average, You'll Spend $98 Today", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2014/06/140601_money_gen_13.jpg?quality=85", "width": 4780, "height": 3540 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2014-06-04T09:45:44.000Z", "description": "Daily consumer spending averaged $98 in May, the highest it has been in six years -- an indication that the economy is heading in the right direction. 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