Generation X has surpassed baby boomers as the top spenders on pets, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
From 2017 to 2021, baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) increased spending on pets by 6.9% from $66 to $70 per year, according to the latest Consumer Expenditure Survey. But Generation X (born from 1965 to 1980) and millennials (born from 1981 to 1996) both increased spending more substantially. From 2017 to 2021, Gen X’s spending on pet care services surged 67.6%. In 2017, Gen X spending was $55, below boomer spending, but rose above it to about $92 in 2021. Millennials also rapidly increased their spending on pet care services, from $38 in 2017 to $67 in 2021, a 75.1% increase.
The recent trend of “pet humanization” seems to be changing American pet ownership, according to the bureau. “For the modern pet owner, caring for a pet means much more than simply buying a bag of kibble and a bone,” Bureau of Labor Statistics officials said in a statement
In 2021, vet services and pet food accounted for 35% and 33% of total spending on pets, respectively. Other spending on pets was allotted to pet purchase, supplies and medicine (23%) and pet care services (9%).
