Pets makes us happy. Pure and simple. That’s why so many people keep pets – whether it is dogs, cats, fish, horses or a bunny. They have done it since time immemorial and they continue to do so on large numbers today. It is challenging, there are expenses involved but people keep pets because of their companionship, utility, a sense of prestige or just the joy it brings. Pets can make us feel happy and relaxed, helps us feel more secure or be our exercise partner, among so many other things.

It is fascinating to look at some numbers to show our love affair with pets. We collected some data from the Insurance Information Institute (iii.org), the American Kennel Club (akc.org), the American Pet Products Association (americanpetproducts.org) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA.org) to give us some insight into the pet industry in America.

The number of households with pets

If we ignore the fact that the same household could have multiple pets, roughly about 130 million households in America owned a pet in 2017-18. There were about 127 million households in the US in 2018, so it is safe to say the majority of households in the US have a pet. There are more households which have a dog as a pet and the trend remains firm since 2011-12. As per About 14 million additional households have added a dog as a pet since 2011-12, almost a 23% increase.

Dogs are the most popular pet in most US households

The number of pets Americans keep

Although there are more households with dogs as pets, the total number of cats as pets outnumber dogs by a slight margin. There tends to be multiple cats in a household whereas there are less number of dogs per household. There was a drop in the number of pets in 2015-16 but numbers picked up again in 2017-18. As is to be expected, there are more fish as pets as compared to other animals. There are also a small number of birds, reptiles, horses and small animals like bunnies, hamsters etc.

Fish is the most numerous pet in US households

Expenses on pets

The amount spent on pets continues to increase every year. The chart below shows that Americans spent $69.4 billion in 2017, compared to $29.5 billion in 2002.

Inflation plays a part but the expense on pets keeps increasing

The most popular dog breeds as pets

The American Kennel Club has been compiling data on the most popular dog breeds in the US based on registration statistics for that year. The Labrador Retriever reigns number one and has since 1991. German Shepherd Dogs and Golden Retrievers have been second and third for the last 5 years. French Bulldogs has gone down in the top 10 ranking whereas Rottweilers and Pointers (German Shorthaired) have made a comeback. Bulldogs, Beagles and Poodles have held steady in the middle.

Labrador Retrievers have been the most popular for many years