Conference Board Report Shows Americans Have Money to Spend

Despite reports earlier this month that retail spending is down due to general economic uncertainty and the unusually warm fall weather across the country, a new report by The Conference Board says that more Americans than ever have discretionary income at their disposal. Nearly 73 million U.S. households now have discretionary income, up from about 57 million in 2002. That’s nearly 64 percent of the U.S. population with discretionary income, a 12 percent increase over ’02. The report defines discretionary income as households whose spendable income exceeds that held by households with similar demographic features. Here are some more of the report’s findings.

* Total discretionary income in the U.S. topped $1.7 trillion in 2006, with the household average at $24,335;

* Nearly 78 percent of all discretionary income is held by households earning more than $100,000, with the average discretionary income for this segment at $66,451 — 2.7 times the national average;

* The New England states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, have the wealthiest concentration of households, with about 63 percent having discretionary income, with an average amount of $27,337;

* On the other end of the spectrum, the West North Central region, including Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, has the lowest household discretionary income average of $20,749;

* California is the state with the largest number of households with discretionary income — 8 million totaling $224.7 billion in discretionary income;

* Texas had the second highest number of households with discretionary income — more than 5 million totaling $136.8 billion, followed by Florida (4.7 million households totaling $126.1 billion) and New York (4.6 million households totaling $119.4 billion);

* Householders in management, business and financial occupations tend to have the most discretionary income, with almost 87 percent of households in this group having discretionary income averaging $41,922;

* Baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) have the highest average discretionary income ($29,754), followed by Generation X (born between 1965 and 1981) with an average of $22,562;

* Nearly 60 percent of all U.S. households have earnings of less than $50,000, but 29 percent of these households have discretionary income; they account for only 3 percent of aggregate discretionary income with an average discretionary income of $1,900; and

* Households with earnings in excess of $200,000 account for only 3 percent of the U.S. population and 5 percent of households with discretionary income; but the group has 38 percent of the aggregate discretionary income with an average of $173,613, which is more than seven times the national average.

For more information, go to www.conference-board.org .