How Much Does the Average Senior Spend on Health Care?

Many major expenses only shrink once you retire, but health care is hardly one of them.

U.S. households led by someone who is 65 or older spend an average of $6,833 a year on health care, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest data on consumer spending, which is for 2019.

That translates to 13.6% of all spending by senior households and makes health care the third-biggest spending category among those households. Only housing and transportation account for bigger shares of seniors’ spending, as we detail in “Here’s How Much Retiree Households Spend in a Year.”

By comparison, all U.S. households spend an average of $5,193 a year on health care, which translates to 8.2% of spending across all households.

Following is a detailed look at how senior households’ medical spending breaks down.