If you have ever tried to work out whether your monthly budget in Austria is “normal”, there is at least one useful anchor point. According to new figures from Statistics Austria's “Konsumerhebung 2024/2025”, the average Austrian household spent around €4,170 per month in 2024/2025 on fixed costs, shopping, and leisure.
But that headline number, an average, hides a lot of variation.
What your monthly outgoings are will depend on household size, whether you live in a city or a small town, and your available income.
The biggest monthly cost is housing and energy
The largest single cost block was “Wohnen und Energie” (housing and energy). Households spent around €1,100 per month on this, which is 26.4 percent of total spending.
After that came transport and mobility, at just under €570 per month – something that may seem very high for Vienna residents travelling with public transport, but is more common for people who own cars and commute to work.
Food and non-alcoholic drinks followed at around €480 per month, with leisure, sport and culture in a similar range. Spending on gastronomy came in at around €275 per month.
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Household size changes the maths
The €4,170 figure is a household average. On a per-person basis, the average was €2,760 in 2024/2025. But, of course, per-person spending falls as household size grows.
Single-person households spent around €2,700 per month. Households with four or more people spent around €5,850 per month. That is higher overall, but lower per head once you account for more people sharing costs and consumption.
Among single-person households, the clearest differences in spending patterns appeared when comparing employed people with those who are not.
Employed people living alone spent around €3,080 per month on average. Non-employed people living alone spent around €2,430. That is a gap of around 27 percent.
Income changes what a budget ‘looks like’
Statistics Austria also showed how spending shares shift with the level of the monthly budget available.
In the lowest spending decile (the 10% that spend less), housing and energy made up 46.7 percent of spending. In the highest decile, it was 22.5 percent. The contrast is even sharper in leisure, sport and culture. In the lowest decile, that category was 3.2 percent. In the highest decile, it was 14.3 percent.
That shows that rising income does not just increase spending, but changes proportions: only basic spendings for poorer households, but more leisure for the richer families.
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Women and men spend similarly overall
In total monthly spending, the differences between women and men were not large. Men spent around 3 percent more per month than women, according to the data.
Where the split showed up was in what the money went on, particularly among single-person households.
Men in single-person households spent almost 90 percent more than women on cars, tools and garden equipment. They also spent almost 80 percent more on alcohol and tobacco, and 60 percent more on gastronomy.
Women, on the other hand, spent far more on certain categories. Spending on personal care was around 167 percent higher than for men. Women also spent around 85 percent more than men on education, health and pets.
City versus countryside
Where you live also changes spending patterns. Households in rural areas were generally larger and spent more overall: €4,460 per month, which was 16 percent above the average in Vienna.
Housing and food spending did not differ dramatically between the city and the countryside in the figures – the big divide was mobility.
In rural areas, monthly mobility spending averaged €761. A large share went to servicing, repairs and insurance, and the costs linked to vehicles were more than double those of households in Vienna. Statistics Austria’s researchers pointed to commuting as a likely main reason.
In Vienna, households spent about €100 per month on public transport, about four times as much as in rural areas. Car ownership also diverged sharply. More than 90 percent of rural households had a vehicle, while in Vienna, it was just under half.
Leisure and holiday spending also differed. Per person, Viennese households spent €361 per month on leisure and holidays, 35 percent more than households in rural municipalities (€267).
Spending is up sharply since 2019/2020
Compared with 2019/2020, household spending in 2024/25 rose by around 28 percent. Over the same period, prices rose by 26.9 percent and collectively agreed minimum wages rose by 26.2 percent.
On average, households spent around €920 more per month than five years earlier. Housing and energy spending rose by €309, transport by €112, and food by €92.
The biggest percentage increases were in gastronomy (up 43.8 percent), followed by health (42.2 percent) and housing and energy (39 percent).
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Key vocabulary
Konsumerhebung – consumer spending survey (household expenditure survey)
Wohnen und Energie – housing and energy costs
Verkehr und Mobilität – transport and mobility spending
Gastronomie – eating out and hospitality spending
Dezil – decile (one tenth of a ranked distribution)
Kfz – motor vehicle (car ownership shorthand)
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