Where to find the underlying details tables

This version: Nov 20, 2020

An undergrad in one of my classes was having trouble finding sectoral consumption data. I know the BEA makes the data available, because I used it in my 2011 JMCB paper. After a bit of digging, I found it, and decided to make a note for myself. Maybe it will help someone else.

The BEA Consumer Spending page is here:
https://www.bea.gov/data/consumer-spending/main

You then want to click on “Interactive Data” followed by “Underlying Detail Tables”:
https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=19&step=2#reqid=19&step=2&isuri=1&1921=underlying

There’s a ton of useful data on that page. If you click on, say, Table 2.4.4U, you will find data only for the last three years. That makes sense, since that’s the data most of us are after. The key to getting a long time series is to click “Modify” and set the beginning date to an earlier year - as early as 1959.