Weekly Consumer Spending Change Since January 2020

Aggregated and anonymized purchase data from consumer credit and debit card spending, reported weekly. Spending is indexed to a January 2020 baseline and seasonally adjusted for holiday differences. Data is presented as a 7-day moving average for most of the series, with weekly points for the final two weeks.

Use Cases

• Analyze weekly percent change in consumer spending relative to the January 2020 index period to track economic recovery.
• Model seasonally adjusted spending trends by accounting for year-over-year differences and holiday date shifts.
• Compare spending patterns across ZIP codes of cardholder residence to identify regional economic disparities.
• Forecast near-term consumer expenditure using the 7-day moving average data structure.

Strengths

• Data is updated weekly, providing near-real-time insights into consumer behavior.
• Spending is seasonally adjusted with a specific methodology to align 2019 and 2020 holiday dates.
• The index period (January 4-31) provides a consistent pre-pandemic baseline for comparison.

Limitations

• Spending is aggregated and anonymized, preventing individual-level or merchant-specific analysis.
• Geographic coverage is limited to ZIP codes where cardholders live, not where transactions occurred.
• The data source (Affinity Solutions) may not represent the entire population, introducing potential sampling bias.

Provenance

Source

Affinity Solutions, compiled by Opportunity Insights.

Collection Method

Aggregated and anonymized purchase data from consumer credit and debit card transactions.

Time Range

From January 13, 2020, onward, with weekly updates.

Freshness

Weekly

Geography

United States, reported by the ZIP code of the cardholder's residence.