Visualizing American Pet Ownership in 2024

Dorothy Neufeld
2025-02-22 08:21:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Visualizing American Pet Ownership in 2024

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Today, nearly half of U.S. households own dogs, with the most popular breeds being french bulldogs, lab retrievers, and golden retrievers.

Meanwhile, about one in three households own cats. The lifetime cost of owning both a dog and a cat is tallied at $36,626, with average vet costs for dogs standing at $580 annually and $433 for cats in 2024.

This graphic shows U.S. pet ownership in 2024, based on data from the American Veterinary Medical Association.

America’s Most Popular Pets

Below, we show U.S. ownership rates of various pets, based on a survey of 7,539 U.S. residents conducted in early spring of 2024:

Pet	Share of U.S. Households With Pet	Number of U.S. Households With Pet
Dogs	45.5%	59.8M
Cats	32.1%	42.2M
Fish	2.9%	3.9M
Reptiles	1.8%	2.3M
Birds	1.6%	2.1M
Small mammals (gerbils, hamsters, etc.)	1.0%	1.3M
Rabbits	0.7%	900K
Horses	0.5%	700K
Poultry	0.5%	700K

With one of the highest ownership rates worldwide, 59.8 million U.S. households own dogs.

As the pandemic fueled a rise in pet ownership, spending also rose at a substantial rate. In 2023, Americans spent $186 billion on pets, rising 11% annually on average since 2019. By 2030, this figure is projected to rise to $260 billion.

Given the growth in pet ownership, a number of products—from cologne to raw food diets—have multiplied across the market.

Following next in line are cats, with 42.2 million American households having these feline friends. Overall, Americans spent the least on these animals likely given their low-maintenance, independent characteristics. In 2024, spending on cats was $1,311 compared to the average for all pets of $1,516.

Given the growth in pet ownership, 13% of U.S. employers offer pet insurance, including United Airlines and Verizon. Going further, other companies are introducing pet-bereavement policies and “pawternity leave”, for pet owners to take care of new or sick pets.

In fact, the New York City council is considering a bill that would allow workers to take paid sick leave to look after their pets to provide greater flexibility for animal care.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic from a dog-based perspective, check out this graphic on the least popular dog breeds in America.

The post Visualizing American Pet Ownership in 2024 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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