Show HN: The bottom 50% of U.S. households are short after essentials (BLS data)
12 hours ago
- Real data from BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2000-2024) provides income, spending, and benefits for five quintiles exactly.
- What-if scenarios allow finer splits (deciles, top 1%) and user-controlled variables like childcare, taxes, and investing.
- Data breaks: before 2004 income only for fully reporting households; from 2004 missing income filled; from 2013 BLS uses a tax model causing a dip, but the site uses CBO rates to avoid it.
- Projections for 2025-2026 grow 2024 data with CPI-U inflation, shown as shaded and dashed.
- Known limitations include under-reporting, low-income overspending, group averages, and demographic mixing.
- An outside check from the Federal Reserve shows 63% of adults could cover a $400 emergency, consistent with low-income groups having little after essentials.