RELATION BETWEEN RENTS AND INCOMES 



85 



Statistics in several states in 1901 and 1902, and is detailed in the 

 1903 annual report of that organization. It consisted chiefly of a 

 study of 11,156 so-called "normal" families, each including a husband 

 at work, a wife, not more than 5 children all under 14 years and no 

 lodgers or servants. The average income of these families was S651. 

 Original work on a smaller scale has been done by R. C. Chapin 

 (1908) and by the Philadelphia Bureau of Municipal Research (1918). 

 The Bureau of Labor Statistics collected a large amount of data in 

 1918 and 1919^ concerning the incomes and expenses of 12,837 families 

 in 92 towns having an average income of $1491. This investigation 

 included families of wage earners and low salaried men, but none of 

 the slum or recent immigrant classes. Families of the lowest type 

 are automatically excluded from such studies as this by their inability 

 to supply the desired information from accounts or from intelligent 

 estimates. 



Distribution of Family Expenses. Representative distributions of 

 family expenditures are given in Table I. The National Industrial 

 Conference Board has adopted for use in computing their cost of 

 living index and representative budgets a list of standard weights 

 made by combining the results of a number of studies made from 

 1901 to 1917. Most importance was assigned to the first Bureau of 

 Labor Statistics study, the results of which it closely resembles. 

 The standard weights used by the Bureau of Labor Statisics are the 

 result of surveys made in 22 cities from July 31 to November 30, 1918, 

 covering families whose average income was $1,434. 



TABLE I. 

 Distribution of Total Family Expenditure 



Averages Found in 



Bur. Lab. Stat. 



First 



Study 



1901-1902 



Bur. Lab. Stat, 



Second 



Study 



1918-1919 



Standard Weights Used by 



Bur. Lab. Stat. 



Weights in 



Cost of 



Living Index 



Nat'l Ind. Conf. 

 Board Budgets 

 and Index of 

 Cost of Living 



Food 



Rent 



Clothing 



Fuel and Light. 

 Sundries 



43.13% 

 18.12 

 12.95 

 5.69 



20.11 



38.5% 

 13.3 

 16.5 

 5.3 

 26.4 



38.2% 

 13.4 

 16.6 

 5.3 

 26.4 



43.13% 

 17.65 

 13 21 

 5.63 

 20.38 



From Table I it may be inferred that the per cent spent for rent 

 is reduced in a period of inflated prices, at least during the first part 

 ^ Monthly Labor Review, May-December, incl., 1919. 



