Where do Americans spend the most money? According to a new study, Americans actually spend more on average in places like Austin, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina than they do in classic centers of glamor like New York City or Los Angeles.
The average American household spent $37,782 in 2009, but spending varied tremendously across geographical regions, according to a ranking of the highest-spending cities published today by Bundle.com, a new social media company.
Bundle's tracks non-mortgage or rent spending in the 100 largest cities and across a number of categories, including food & drink, shopping, travel & leisure, transportation, and health spending. The data was also sorted by age group. Seniors, for example, spent up to 61 percent more on travel than households in the 18-25 range, while 18-25-year-olds spent up to 49 percent more eating out.
But perhaps more striking was the geographic distribution of spending patterns. Surprisingly, New York City ranked 53th on the list, with an average of $37,435 spent last year -- nearly one percent less than the national average. (The report's authors note, however, that if Manhattan, where spending was $59,602, counted as a city, it would place third in the ranking.)
And perhaps not unexpectedly, Detroit ranked as the lowest-spending city in the country, with residents spending an average of just $16,446 on their food and drink, shopping, gas, travel and entertainment purchases.
But the cities on the other end of the spectrum were perhaps less predictable. Check out Bundle's list of the top ten highest-spending cities: