A couple’s monthly budget: how much do couples spend, and what is left over?

In the US, the reference is the Consumer Expenditure Survey. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average consumer unit (roughly, a household) spent $78,535 in 2024, or about $6,545 a month. The BLS report does not break this figure down for couples specifically.

In France, Insee’s Household Budget survey is the reference. Its latest published edition covers 2017: according to Insee, households spent about €34,000 a year on average. Couples without children spent about 12% more than all households, and couples with children about 42% more.

A couple renting in a big city and a couple who own a home in the countryside with two cars do not have the same budget, even on the same income. National averages help you see where you stand, not set a target. What really tells you something is your own numbers:

• Your take-home pay, what actually lands in your accounts each month.
• Your fixed costs, the ones that come no matter what: rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, internet, phone, transportation, loan payments, childcare.
• Your variable spending, the part you control: groceries, eating out, clothes, gifts, trips.

The easiest way to get them is to go through three months of statements and sort them. Tedious once, then much easier when you log spending as the month goes.

Enter both take-home pays and your total fixed costs for the month. The calculator gives the household’s money left over, what that means per person, the share of income taken by fixed costs, and what each partner keeps if fixed costs are split by income. The number of children only changes the per-person figure.

The math runs in your browser: nothing is sent or stored. The result is not an official threshold: lenders, landlords and agencies each have their own definition of disposable income and their own criteria.

Leah takes home $1,800 a month and Sam $2,200. They have one child. Their fixed costs add up to $1,600: $950 rent, $120 utilities, $40 internet and phone, $90 insurance, $250 childcare and school lunches, $150 transportation.

1. Household income: 1,800 + 2,200 = $4,000.
2. Money left over: 4,000 − 1,600 = $2,400 a month, or $800 per person for three.
3. Fixed costs take 40% of income.
4. Split by income (45% and 55%), Leah pays $720 of fixed costs and keeps $1,080; Sam pays $880 and keeps $1,320.

Those $2,400 still have to cover groceries, gas, outings, clothes and savings. That is where a monthly budget earns its keep: deciding in advance how much goes where, instead of finding out at the end.

• Start with the big fixed costs. Renegotiating insurance or switching phone or energy plans pays off every month, with no effort afterwards.
• Hunt down forgotten subscriptions: duplicate streaming, an unused gym, phone add-ons.
• Set a budget for variable spending and follow it during the month, not just at the end.
• Set money aside for yearly costs (car insurance, back to school, holidays) by dividing them by 12.
• Pick a split that reflects your incomes if the gap is wide: with 50/50, the lower earner’s leftover shrinks much faster. See how couples split expenses.

Once you know what is left over, the question becomes: do we stick to it? Two options. A free budget template, if you are comfortable with a shared spreadsheet. Or a budgeting app for two.

In SAVY, you set an overall monthly budget and get alerts at 80, 90 and 100%. Each partner adds expenses, and the app shows what is left and who owes whom. Stats for the current and previous month are free; SAVY Plus adds budgets per category, the comparison with last month and 6 months of history. No bank connection, no ads.