Research has shown that people are increasingly concerned with environmental, economic and social issues. They want a better livelihood, standard of living and more sustainable choices. Unfortunately, few of them translate this willingness into behaviour. Consumers have a crucial role to develop business models and products which make efficient use of resources. Central to all production is consumption because it drives much of the environmental stress, waste management and resource exhaustion directly and indirectly through the production of the goods and services demanded. Income inequality and sustainable consumption are two terms that are interconnected and significant in explaining the economic environment. It measures the extent to which individual households interact in the economic cycle of the use of goods and services. Different income can be shown through different consumption expenditure patterns whether they are basic goods, necessities or luxury items. This paper investigates how the total household consumption expenditures have developed and how they have allocated their consumption budgets based on different consumption categories. It also identifies how the low, middle and high-income groups allocate household consumption expenditure comprising nine basic components, namely food, clothing, shelter, transportation, communication, education, health and recreation. The data is collected from a questionnaire survey conducted with 635 different households in Terengganu, Malaysia. The findings indicate that food and transportation are expenditure priorities across all groups. The difference in the existing pattern of consumption will be the benchmark for the economic balance to achieve a prosperous quality of life and reduce the inequality gap between high and lowincome groups. Several recommendations are offered in terms of education policy, financial aid and assistance from government and non-government organisations (NGO) to upgrade the standard and quality of living among the poor and lower-income groups. Researchers and policymakers can also benefit from this study to assess the extent of the quality of life and standard of living.