THE FAEMEE'S STANDARD OP LIVING 
33 
The similarity between the distribution figures for the New Eng- 
land families and Livingston County, N. Y., families is one of the 
most significant things brought out in Table 9. Another interesting 
point is the general similarity between the two sets of figures for 
families of the South. It is interesting that housing and fuel con- 
stitute somewhat lower percentages of all family living in localities 
of the Southern States than in localities of the other sections for 
which data are available. On the other hand food constitutes a 
higher percentage of the value of all goods used by the Southern 
families. 
Roughly speaking, in all localities represented in Table 9, food 
materials make about two-fifths of the total cost of living, clothing 
about one-seventh, rent a little more than one-tenth, and light and 
heat less than one-twelfth. The expenditures for all other purposes 
come to more than one-quarter of the total, 
FARM FAMILIES WITH WORKINGMEN'S FAMILIES 
The distribution of the total value of the principal groups of 
goods used by families of this study is compared with the proportions 
of the total cost of living attributed to similar groups of goods for 
workingmen's families studied by the United States Department of 
Labor, Table 10. One of the studies, made in 1902, included 11,156 
families in 33 industrial centers and the other, made in 1918, in- 
cluded 12,096 families in 92 industrial centers of the United States. 
Table 10. — Distribution of the average value of goods among the different 
groups of goods used per family during one year, 2,886 farm families of 
selected localities in 11 States, in comparison with workingmen's families 
studied by the Federal Bureau of Labor 
Goods used 
2,886 farm 
families of 
selected 
localities in 
11 States, 
1922-1924 
12,096 work- 
ingmen's 
families in 
92 industrial 
centers, 1918 1 
11,156 work- 
ingmen's 
families in 
33 industrial 
centers, 1902 ' 
Total value of all goods 
$1, 597. 50 
$1, 434. 40 
$617. 80 
Per cent of total 
Food, including groceries.. 
41.2 
14.7 
12.5 
5.3 
26.3 
38.2 
16.6 
13.4 
3 5. 3 
26.4 
43. 1 
Clothing 
13.0 
Rent... 
18 1 
Fuel and light 
5 7 
All others ... . __ . .. 
20.1 
1 Cost of Living in the United States, U. S. Dept. Labor Bureau Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor 
Review, vol. 9, No. 2. 
2 Cost of Living and Retail Prices of Food, Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 
1903. 
8 Not including 295 families for which rent was combined with fuel and light. 
A striking similarity in the proportion of the total value of all 
goods devoted to the food, clothing, rent, and fuel by the farm 
families and the workingmen's families studied in 1918, is evident. 
This proportion amounts to 73.7 per cent of the value of all goods 
used by the farm families and 73.5 per cent of the value of ah goods 
used by the workingmen's families. Thus the proportion of the 
total devoted to the less material goods amounts to 26.3 per cent and 
26.4 per cent respectively. Another striking similarity is in connec- 
tion with the percentage of the total value of goods devoted to fuel. 
