20+ Latest Teen Spending Statistics (2024)

Teen spending habits have changed quite a bit in recent years. Teenagers spent the most in 2006, when the average for a US teen was $3,023. And then it dropped to the lowest in the last 20 years during the pandemic, to $2,150 per year.

Today, the numbers are slowly recovering as the average teen spends $2,331, according to Fall 2022 data. We go into more detail below.

Here are the latest teen spending statistics for 2024.

Teen Spending Habits (Top Picks)

• An average American teen spends $2,331 per year.
• Teens spend most money on clothing (20%) and food (19%).
• On average, a US teen spends $44.8 per week ($26.9 from parents and $17.9 from part-time work).
• A teen with a part-time job and allowance spends $3,826.3 per year. Much more than those without a job.
• 83% of teens are saving money.
• Teens savings: 23% have less than $250, 20% have $250 – $500, 25% have $500 – $999, and 31% more than $1000.
• A teenager costs $1,438 per month in a middle-income family.

How Much Does an Average Teenager Spend per Year?

• An average US teen spends $2,331 per year, according to Piper Sandler’s Fall 2022 survey.

This is an increase of 3.3% Y/Y when the average teen spending was $2,274 per year. And 2% down from Spring 2022, when it was $2367 per year.

Here’s a table of average teen spending per year:

• Altogether teenagers spend $64.5 billion, assuming there are 27.7 million teens in the US (13-19 years old).

When was the highest and lowest teen spending?

• $3,023 per year in Spring 2006 was the highest self-reported teenager spending in the last 20 years.
• In contrast, $2,150 per year in the Fall of 2020 was the lowest self-reported teen spending in all of the surveyed years.

2006 was a great year for everyone, including teens. The global financial crisis lowered the spending habits of teens since the spending hasn’t reached more than $3000 since.

The Fall 2020 survey was done in the midst of the pandemic and lockdowns, which considerably slowed teen spending. The periods after have seen a slow rebound, but we haven’t seen the numbers over $2,500 yet.

About surveys:

Piper Sandler semi-annual surveys are done in Spring and Fall every year. Piper Sandler has accumulated over 20 years of data. The Fall 2022 survey had 14,500 US teenager respondents; Spring 2022 had 7,100 respondents. Gender is divided like this: 54% male, 44% female, and 2% non-binary. The average age of a respondent is 16.2 years.

What Do Teens Spend Money On?

• Teens spend the most money on clothing (20%) and food (19%), according to Piper Sandler’s 2022 survey.

What do teenagers buy apart from clothes and food?

Popular spending categories are video games/systems, electronics, gadgets, personal care, shoes, and cars (for those over 16 years of age).

Here’s a breakdown of what teens spend money on:

Assuming the average teen spends $2,331 per year, here’s how much that is in dollars:

Read more:

• Consumer Electronics Industry, Market Size, Trends

How many teens play games?

• 68% of teens consider themselves gamers, teenage boys more than teen girls.
• 46% expect to buy a new console in the next 2 years
• 26% play games on both PC and consoles

Teens are big fans of Apple

• Almost 90% of teens have an iPhone. Specifically, 87% of teens own an iPhone and plan to buy it again to replace the old one.
• 37% of teens own an Apple Watch. Considering so many use an iPhone, an Apple Watch is the perfect accessory to go with it.

How much teens spend on music?

• Teenagers spend 2% of their annual budget on music, which is true for all income levels and genders.

2% of the budget equals $46.6 per year or $3.88 per month for average-income teens.

Teen spending differences between males and females

Teenage girls spend more on clothes and personal care while a lot less on video games.

Here’s a comparison of what teenagers buy between genders:

How Much Does an Average Teenager Make a Week?

• A US teen makes $44.8 per week on average, $26.9 comes from parents, and $17.9 from part-time work.

The average numbers aren’t the best representative. Most teens (61%) don’t have a job, but the average job income is also divided among them. Therefore, it skews the average up. We make a breakdown below.

But first here’s a breakdown of average weekly and yearly teen earnings:

How much can teens with a part-time job spend per week?

• On average, a part-time employed teen can spend $46.7 per week from holding a job.

39% of teens have a part-time job, and their spending income is higher.

Here’s a breakdown of how much teens with a part-time job make yearly and weekly:

How much does an average teenager make a year?

• An average teen with a part-time job and allowance makes $3,826.3 per year.

Here’s the breakdown of yearly spending from holding a job and parent’s allowance:

• An average US teen spends $2,427.7 per year from holding a part-time job.
• The average allowance for a US teen is $1,398.6 per year.

Here’s an overview of annual teen spending from part-time work and allowance:

Teens with a job have more disposable income

It pays to have a job, even if it’s part-time or a summer job.

How much more can teens with a part-time job spend?

• A teen with a part-time job can spend $2,427.7 more per year than a teen without a job who only relies on allowance.

Teenagers who also hold a part-time job can spend $46.7 more per week which can buy many movie nights or restaurant visits by the end of the month.

Here’s how much more disposable income teens with a part-time job have compared to those that don’t work:

The percentage of teens who are part-time working is moving between 33% and 40%:

Having a job is related to being older. 16-year-olds and older are more common to have income from part-time and summer jobs. Teens under 15 are far more likely to only rely on allowance for spending.

What Percent of Teens Have Started Saving?

• 83% of teens are saving money, according to Ipsos survey.

The data also shows 52% of teenagers are saving money to buy something specific, 35% are saying they are saving without a specific purpose.

More teen girls are not saving money; 21% compared to 14% of teenage boys.

Note: The Ipsos survey includes data from 13-17-year-olds and not all teen age groups.

• 61% of teens making money save it in a bank account, while the percentage drops to 54% for all teenagers (including those without a job).
• 41% visit the bank to withdraw money.
• 39% use ATMs or ask parents to do it for them.
• 27% use phone apps to make payments.

Source: Ipsos, JuniorAchievement Finance

Most teenagers who make money also save it, but this isn’t the same as saving for retirement.

How many teens are saving for retirement?

There is no specific data for this question, but a BlackRock study compared the saving habits of Generation Z employees (18-25 years old) to other generations.

• They’ve found Gen Z saves, on average, 14% of income for retirement, 2% more than older generations.

Here’s how much income Americans save for retirement by generation:

How Much Money Does an Average Teenager Have in Savings?

• An Ipsos survey found that among teens with a savings account, 23% have less than $250, 20% have $250 – $500, 25% have $500 – $999, and 31% have more than $1000 in savings.

Here’s a table showing how much money teens have in savings:

An average 18-year-old is more likely to have over $1000 saved since they had more time to save and access to better-paying jobs.

How Much Does a Teenager Cost per Month?

• According to USDA data, a teenager costs $1,438 per month on average in a middle-income family.

Here’s a breakdown of how much a child costs:

The biggest share of the cost is housing, representing over 30%. And since housing costs vary greatly across the country, this number can differ from state to state.

Food is another great expense presenting a quarter, 25%, of the whole. It largely depends on what kind of food you eat, how often you eat out, and where you shop.

How we got the number?

We took the numbers from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) adjusted for inflation. USDA estimates the average cost of raising a child to adulthood is $284,594. This figure doesn’t include the costs of college or further support of a child until they start living on their own.

The estimate changes to $310,605 per child when adjusting for higher inflation in recent years (Brookings). Now, all we did is divided the number to get to the cost per month.

Read more:

• Christmas Spending Data: How Much Do Americans Spend on Christmas?
• Millennial Spending Power
• Teen & Kids Screen Time Statistics

Conclusion: Teen Spending Stats 2024

These were the latest teen spending stats as of Fall 2022. Teenager spending has decreased during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic and is slowly showing signs of recovery.

We will update this article with new studies and data as they come out.

How do you think teen spending habits will change? Let us know in the comments below.

Sources:

• Piper Sandler
• Piper Sandler Spring 2022
• JuniorAchievement Finance
• BlackRock
• Ipsos
• Brookings

Matija Ferjan

Matija Ferjan is a seasoned audio enthusiast reviewing headphones since 2015. He has personally tested hundreds of headphones and earbuds. He’s an active member of the Headphone Audio community and a true nitpicker, always looking for the “best-value-for-money” headphones.