The numbers from Empower Personal Dashboard from January 2020 through March 2025 suggest a pattern of lifestyle recalibration, with consumers allocating dollars toward convenience, wellness, and personal enrichment, even as they experience pressure in cost-of-living expenses. All spending data and analysis below are sourced from Empower Personal Dashboard.

1. Living costs surge: Essentials take a bigger bite out of budgets

Rent:

Up from $336 (January 2020) to $844 (March 2025), a 151% increase.

This spike reflects surging housing costs, driven by inflation, demand-supply imbalances, and higher interest rates impacting rental markets.¹

Mortgages:

Jumped from $882 to $1,449, a 64% increase in average monthly spending.

Higher interest rates, elevated home prices, and increased property taxes are likely to contribute to this sharp rise in mortgage costs.²

Utilities:

Increased from $214 to $302, up 41% over five years.

This increase is driven by higher energy costs and increased home utility usage due to hybrid work and extreme weather conditions.³

Insurance:

Up from $397 in January 2020 to $547 in March 2025, a 38% increase.

Reflects rising premiums in health, auto, and home insurance, driven by inflation and more comprehensive coverage needs.⁴

Figure 1 highlights categories that reflect where Americans are most significantly reallocating their budgets toward lifestyle upgrades and unavoidable cost pressures like mortgages, rent, and insurance.

Figure 1: Top spending increases – 2020 vs. 2025

Source: Empower Personal Dashboard.

2. Spending smarter: Digital transformation is disrupting traditional categories

Printing:

The average monthly printing expense declined 62% from $178 in Jan 2020 to $67 in March 2025.

Digital transformation and remote work have drastically reduced the need for physical documents.⁵ Moreover, cost-conscious households may be minimizing paper use to save money and reduce waste.

Cable/satellite:

Average monthly spend decreased 23% from $154 in Jan 2020 to $118 in March 2025.

Consumers are increasingly abandoning traditional television for streaming services that offer on-demand, ad-free content.⁶

Subscriptions:

Average monthly spend dropped 21% from $130 in January 2020 to $102 in March 2025.

This decline is possibly due to consumers consolidating or canceling unused subscriptions in response to rising overall living costs.

Telephone:

Average monthly spend decreased 7% from $160 in 2020 to $149 in 2025.

Spending has steadily declined since 2020, likely due to the rise of Internet-based communication apps and bundled digital plans reducing standalone phone costs.

Figure 2 highlights areas where spending has dropped—often traditional categories reflecting digital disruption.

Figure 2: Top spending decreases – 2020 vs. 2025

Source: Empower Personal Dashboard

3. Experience over excess: What rising costs may not change about American priorities

Online services:

84% rise in average spend from January 2020 through March 2025, from $219 to $403.

This may indicate a shift to digital-first lifestyles—use of AI, streaming, subscriptions, virtual coaching, etc.

According to Empower Personal Dashboard data, since OpenAI’s ChatGPT was publicly released in November 2022, the average monthly online services spend increased 19%.

Entertainment:

Consumers increased average monthly spending on entertainment 28% from $221 in January 2020 to $284 in March 2025.

This could indicate that even under increasing costs, Americans continue to prioritize leisure and recreation.

Travel:

12% increase in average spending since pre-pandemic (January 2020)—from $1,092 to $1,226 in March 2025.

The average monthly travel spend increased 1.6% YoY in 2025, indicating Americans may be prioritizing experiences over possessions, even in an uncertain economy.

Clothing/shoes:

Climbed from $381 in January 2020 to $561 in March 2025, a 47% increase.

Potentially reflects post-pandemic lifestyle changes, return to office wardrobes, and inflation in apparel pricing.

Personal care:

Average monthly spend climbed from $214 in January 2020 to $245 in March 2025 (+14%).

This includes grooming, beauty, wellness—potentially indicating the small luxuries people are unwilling to give up.