Contents
- Canadian consumer expenditure statistics: national household spending totals and shares
- Canadian consumer expenditure statistics by category: 2019, 2021 and 2023 averages
- Canadian consumer expenditure statistics for groceries: store-bought food categories
- Canadian consumer expenditure statistics across provinces: 2023 household averages
- Canadian consumer expenditure: Canadian household consumer expenditure: travel, restaurants and post-pandemic spending
- Canadian consumer expenditure in 2025: real household spending and saving
- Sources
Canadian consumer expenditure statistics: national household spending totals and shares
Average Canadian household spending on goods and services totalled $76,750 in 2023. That was 14.3% higher than in 2021 and 11.3% higher than in 2019. These are average annual expenditures in current dollars, covering households in the 10 provinces; they are not a measure of spending by every household or of spending in the territories. The 2023 Survey of Household Spending results were reweighted in a September 2026 update using demographic projections based on the 2021 Census. Statistics Canada, How Canadian households spent their money in 2023; updated Survey of Household Spending release
Shelter was the largest named component in the 2023 distribution, accounting for 32.1% of household consumption of goods and services. Transportation represented 15.8%, and food represented 15.7%. The shares describe each category’s portion of total consumption; they should be read separately from the average dollar totals in the category table below. The release reports the three largest categories by share, rather than a complete percentage breakdown here. Statistics Canada, Survey of Household Spending, 2023
The figures are useful for understanding the scale and composition of household budgets at the national level. A national mean can conceal differences among households and regions, while a percentage share describes composition rather than the cash amount available to any particular household. The source’s 2023 estimates cover the provinces only. Statistics Canada, How Canadian households spent their money in 2023
Canadian consumer expenditure statistics by category: 2019, 2021 and 2023 averages
The table gives selected annual average household amounts for 2023. These category values are in dollars per household, from Statistics Canada’s table of average spending by category. The grouping makes clear that shelter was the largest of the listed expenses, while food and transportation had similar averages. Statistics Canada, How Canadian households spent their money in 2023, Table 01
| Spending category | Average per household in 2023 |
|---|---|
| Shelter | $24,671 |
| Transportation | $12,090 |
| Food | $12,046 |
| Household operations, furnishings and equipment | $9,404 |
| Other | $8,361 |
| Recreation | $5,231 |
| Health care and personal care | $4,947 |
These category averages sum conceptually to a broad picture of household outlays, but the table is a selection of categories, not a complete accounting. “Other” is the source’s category label; its value is not a separately specified type of purchase in the checked figures. Recreation’s $5,231 average is also reported in the source’s discussion of year-over-year change, where it was up 23.9% from 2021. Changes in expenditure averages between reference years may not be statistically significant, so the reported percentages should be treated as descriptive survey comparisons. Statistics Canada, How Canadian households spent their money in 2023; May 2025 Survey of Household Spending release
The 2019 and 2021 amounts are not reproduced here because the checked category values are for 2023; the national total provides the stated comparisons with those earlier years. The 2023 amounts come from the publication accompanying the survey, while some figures elsewhere in the release set are from a May 2025 vintage. Statistics Canada later reweighted the 2023 survey in September 2026. The earlier release’s values are identified as such where used below, rather than treated as the latest reweighted figures. Statistics Canada, updated 2023 Survey of Household Spending release
Canadian consumer expenditure statistics for groceries: store-bought food categories
Average household expenditure on food purchased from stores was $8,659 in 2023, up 7.4% from 2021. The grocery breakdown reports annual household averages for categories and subcategories of store-bought food, with changes comparing 2023 against 2021. These are category expenditures, not prices per item or totals for all Canadian grocery sales. Statistics Canada, A breakdown of the average Canadian grocery bill—Part 1; Part 2
| Store-bought food category | Average per household in 2023 | Change from 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Non-alcoholic beverages and other food products | $2,153 | +11.9% |
| Meat | $1,544 | +1.8% |
| Dairy products and eggs | $1,203 | +3.6% |
| Vegetables and vegetable preparations | $1,031 | +6.6% |
| Bakery products | $861 | +23.4% |
| Fresh fruit | $719 | +6.0% |
| Cereal grains and other cereal products | $523 | +12.7% |
| Fish and seafood | $270 | −11.5% |
The broad categories mask distinct subcategory movements. Within meat, average household expenditure on chicken was $346, up 24.0% from 2021; beef was $391, down 1.8%; pork was $140, down 16.2%; and processed meat was $612, up 5.0%. The source describes chicken as the main driver of the increase in meat expenditure. These are average household amounts, not per-person or per-meal costs. Statistics Canada, grocery expenditure breakdown, Part 1
For dairy products and eggs, eggs accounted for an average $131 per household, up 0.8%, while cheese was $359, down 5.2%. Fresh-fruit averages included apples at $82, up 15.5%; strawberries at $72, up 28.6%; and citrus fruit at $145, up 51.0%. The overall fresh-fruit category averaged $719, up 6.0%. The category total and individual entries use the source’s classifications and should not be added as if they were a list of all fruit types. Statistics Canada, grocery expenditure breakdown, Part 1
More examples show the range within store-bought food: non-alcoholic beverages and beverage mixes averaged $599, up 7.7%; condiments, spices and vinegars averaged $377, up 5.6%; sugar and confectionery averaged $343, up 10.6%; and frozen and prepared foods, including snack foods, averaged $158, up 6.0%. Fresh vegetables averaged $779, up 3.0%, and tomatoes averaged $93, up 2.2%. These entries are selected subcategories, not an exhaustive grocery list. Statistics Canada, grocery expenditure breakdown, Part 1; Part 2
Canadian consumer expenditure statistics across provinces: 2023 household averages
Provincial averages show that household spending on goods and services varied in the May 2025 release’s 2023 table. The table below includes the complete selected series of total spending values supplied for 5 provinces, and the available shelter and food shares for British Columbia. Total spending is annual dollars per household; the percentages are shares of spending on goods and services. The provincial table uses the then-current release vintage for the 2023 survey. Statistics Canada, Average spending on goods and services and shares of spending of major categories by province, 2023, Table 1
| Province | Average spending on goods and services | Shelter share in British Columbia table | Food share in British Columbia table |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | $88,186 | — | — |
| British Columbia | $82,657 | 34.8% | 14.7% |
| Ontario | $81,975 | — | — |
| Quebec | $65,344 | — | — |
| New Brunswick | $64,227 | — | — |
The British Columbia shares indicate that shelter represented 34.8% and food 14.7% of that province’s household spending on goods and services in the table. The selected table does not provide a complete set of category shares for all provinces, so no cross-province share comparison is implied. Nor should the total spending averages be interpreted as a ranking of household income or purchasing power: they measure average expenditures in dollars. The May 2025 table values are retained as an earlier release vintage, not the latest reweighted 2023 estimates. Statistics Canada, provincial spending table, 2023; updated 2023 Survey of Household Spending release
Canadian consumer expenditure: Canadian household consumer expenditure: travel, restaurants and post-pandemic spending
The 2023 category data include expenses connected with eating out, travel and recreation. Average household spending on food purchased from restaurants was $3,351. Air travel averaged $1,158, package trips $1,102, and recreational services $2,578. These figures are annual averages per household in the provinces, as reported in the 2023 spending-category table. They provide distinct category measures; restaurant food, travel and recreational services should not be conflated with the broader food, transportation or recreation totals. Statistics Canada, How Canadian households spent their money in 2023, Table 02
Accommodation away from home averaged $910 per household in 2023, an increase of 129.2% from 2021. The same release reported recreation spending averaging $5,231, up 23.9% from 2021. The accommodation figure refers specifically to accommodation away from home, while the recreation amount is the broader recreation category. The survey provides the observed comparison; it does not establish why either average changed. Statistics Canada, Survey of Household Spending, 2023
Together, the data show that 2023 household averages included substantial amounts for restaurant meals, travel and leisure, alongside the larger shelter, transportation and food categories. The values are not a direct measure of how many households travelled or ate at restaurants, and they do not identify individual household behaviour. They are average expenditures across households, which can include both households with no spending in a category and those with higher outlays. Statistics Canada, How Canadian households spent their money in 2023
Canadian consumer expenditure in 2025: real household spending and saving
The 2025 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts report that household spending rose 2.0% nationally in 2025. This is a price-adjusted volume change calculated using a chained Fisher index. It measures the change in the volume of spending, rather than the current-dollar annual average per household reported by the Survey of Household Spending for 2023. The two data sources therefore describe different measures and periods. Statistics Canada, Provincial and territorial economic accounts, 2025
At the provincial and territorial level, real household spending increased 3.5% in Prince Edward Island, the fastest pace among provinces, and 3.3% in Newfoundland and Labrador. In the Northwest Territories, it fell 0.6%. These are annual 2025 volume changes in the economic accounts. They do not state average household spending in dollars, and the Northwest Territories result is territorial rather than provincial. Statistics Canada, Provincial and territorial economic accounts, 2025
The household consumption expenditure deflator increased 2.5% in 2025, following increases of 2.6% in 2024 and 3.7% in 2023. The deflator tracks price changes associated with household consumption expenditure, while the spending growth rates above are price-adjusted volume changes. Keeping those measures distinct helps explain why a nominal dollar total and a real growth rate are not interchangeable. Statistics Canada, Provincial and territorial economic accounts, 2025
Canada’s household saving rate reached 4.4% in 2025, up from 3.7% in 2024. Among the provinces, Quebec had the highest household saving rate at 8.6%, followed by Alberta at 8.0%. These are saving rates, not spending shares or expenditure amounts. The account release places the rates in its regional household saving discussion; they complement the spending measures but describe a different part of household finances. Statistics Canada, Provincial and territorial economic accounts, 2025
Sources
- The Daily — Survey of Household Spending, 2023 (updated release, September 18, 2026)
- The Daily — Survey of Household Spending, 2023 (May 21, 2025 release)
- How Canadian households spent their money in 2023
- A breakdown of the average Canadian grocery bill—And what might be in the cart (Part 1)
- A breakdown of the average Canadian grocery bill—And what might be in the cart (Part 2)
- Average spending on goods and services and shares of spending of major categories by province, 2023 (Table 1)
- The Daily — Provincial and territorial economic accounts, 2025