Consumer spending can be held up by the wealthy.

The gulf between the rich and everyone else is laid out in a stark analysis done by Bank of America's economists on household spending.

Economists led by Shruti Mishra divided out consumption by household income, but importantly, stripped out the essentials of housing, utilities and healthcare.

Share of average annual expenditure by pre-tax income decile

The remainder can be thought of as discretionary spending. And the top 10% account for as much spending on discretionary items as the bottom 70% combined.

The number is less stark for total consumption, as the top 10% account for 23% of total consumption, the economists say.

A different way of crunching the numbers: 63% of spending by the bottom 10% is for energy goods (including gas), groceries, housing and healthcare, versus 31% for the top 10%.

"This asymmetry helps explain why aggregate consumption can remain resilient even as lower-income households face pressures from higher rents, elevated debt-servicing costs, weaker labor market outcomes, and greater exposure to energy price shocks," they say. "As long as higher-income consumers who are more insulated from these pressures and more exposed to equity wealth, tax relief, and higher-income continue to spend, headline consumption growth can mask underlying stress elsewhere in the economy."

The S&P 500 SPX sits just 1% below a record high and has gained 20% over the last 52 weeks.

The State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT is up 10% over the last 52 weeks.

-Steve Goldstein

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July 07, 2026 06:19 ET (10:19 GMT)

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