Combined Energy Burdens: Estimating Total Home and Transportation Energy Burdens

Key findings 

• Combined energy burdens include both home energy and transportation fuel costs as a share of income in order to provide a holistic picture of household energy expenditure.  
   
• In 2022, U.S. households spent on average 5.6% of their income on energy, with transportation fuel making up over half of this spending.
   
• Low-income households spent on average 17.8% of their income on energy alone, almost four times the national average.  
   
• Roughly one in four households experienced high combined energy burdens (spent more than 12% of their income just on energy) and a staggering three in four low-income households experienced high combined burdens.  
• Rural households had an average combined burden nearly 50% higher than urban households. 
• Black households spent on average 6% of their income on energy, roughly 10% above the national average. 
• Hispanic households spent on average 7.9% of their income on energy, roughly 42% above the national average. 
• The increasing adoption of electric vehicles will cause home electric energy burdens to increase while decreasing transportation fuel burdens, making the tracking of combined energy burdens more important.