Here's how much Americans are spending on housing, food and alcohol every year

Published Wed, May 31 201712:53 PM EDT

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Americans spend a lot of money. So much so that outstanding credit card debt topped $1 trillion in 2016.

Where exactly are consumers blowing their paychecks?

As expected, housing is the largest expense — and a category that is only becoming more expensive — but Americans are also shelling out thousands of dollars per year on clothing and entertainment. In fact, consumers are spending more on clothing than they are on education.

That's according to cost information site Howmuch.net, which used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to analyze spending trends in America from 1941 to 2014 across 12 categories: Reading, alcohol, tobacco, education, personal care, miscellaneous, recreation and entertainment, health care, clothing, food, transportation and housing.

"Between 1941 and 2014 Americans spent money on most of the same things, with a few changes," Howmuch.net reports. "Housing has persisted as a large area of spending for Americans, as has the food category. However, spending on food and clothing has fallen when adjusting for inflation while spending on education and health care has risen quickly."

Below, CNBC highlights how much Americans spent in each of these 12 categories in 2004 and 2014. Categories are listed in ascending order of money spent.