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Generation X outspent baby boomers in pet care services from 2018–21
July 16, 2024
According to the latest consumer expenditure data, spending on pet care services by baby boomers (people born from 1946 to 1964) was about the same in 2021 as it had been in 2017, increasing by 6.9 percent (about $4). More substantial shifts in spending came from Generation X (born from 1965 to 1980) and millennials (born from 1981 to 1996). From 2017 to 2021, Generation X’s spending on pet care services rose rapidly, by 67.6 percent. At $55, Generation X spending was below baby boomer spending in 2017 but rose above it to about $92 in 2021.
Like Generation X, millennials rapidly increased their spending on pet care services. Millennial spending was only $38 in 2017, but rose 75.1 percent to $67 in 2021.
Average annual spending on pet care services by generational cohort, in dollars, 2017–21
Year
Millennials
Generation X
Baby boomers
2017
38
55
66
2018
57
94
63
2019
54
86
65
2020
50
70
51
2021
67
92
70
Note: Data represent the average annual spending on pet services for each generational cohort, including those in the cohort who do not own a pet.
The recent trend of “pet humanization” seems to be changing American pet ownership. For the modern pet owner, caring for a pet means much more than simply buying a bag of kibble and a bone. In 2021, vet services and pet food accounted for 35 and 33 percent of total spending on pets, respectively. Other spending on pets was allotted to pet purchase, supplies, and medicine (23 percent) and pet care services (9 percent).
United States Department of Labor
