Households spent an average of $528 on pets in 2015

In 2015, households spent an average of $528 on pets, or about 1 percent of average household spending. Pet expenditures include pet food; pet purchases, supplies, and medicine; pet services; and veterinary services. Average household spending on pet food jumped from $190 in 2014 to $230 in 2015, or from 37 percent of average household spending on pets to 44 percent. 

Average household spending on veterinary services, which reached over $200 in 2008, was $133 in 2015, or about 25 percent of average household expenditures on pets. Average household spending on pet purchases, supplies, and medicine, which represented 34 percent of average household spending on pets in 2010, measured only 22 percent of pet expenditures in 2015, falling from $163 to $116 over that period. 

On average, households with one consumer spent the least on pet expenditures in 2015 ($360), while households with two consumers spent the most ($672). Average household spending on pets by households with two consumers increased by about $100 from 2014 to 2015, while average household spending on pets in households with 5 or more consumers decreased by about $150 over the same period.  

These data are from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. A consumer unit comprises either: (1) all members of a particular household who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or other legal arrangements; (2) a person living alone or sharing a household with others or living as a roomer in a private home or lodging house or in permanent living quarters in a hotel or motel, but who is financially independent; or (3) two or more persons living together who use their income to make joint expenditure decisions.