How many dogs are there in the US? According to a pet owners survey, there were approximately 89.7 million dogs owned in the United States in 2017. This is an increase of over 20 million since the beginning of the survey period in 2000, when around 68 million dogs were owned in the United States.

Why has this figure increased?

The resident population of the United States has also increased significantly within this time period. It is, therefore, no surprise that the number of dogs owned in U.S. households has also increased, especially when considering that the household penetration rate for dog-ownership reached almost 50 percent in recent years.

The dog food market in the United States

The large number of dogs owned by Americans creates a lucrative market for pet food brands and retailers. Pedigree, the leading dry dog food name brand in the U.S., had sales amounting to around 550 million U.S. dollars in 2017. Pedigree also led the pack in the wet dog food category , with sales of around 240 million U.S. dollars in the same year.

Idaho had the highest dog ownership rate in the United States (U.S.), with 58 percent of households owning a dog in 2024. In Tennessee, around 47 percent of households were dog owners in that year. Dog food industry in the U.S. The sales value of dog food in the U.S. amounts to a total of approximately 10.5 billion U.S. dollars annually, excluding treats. Among the various dog food categories, dry dog food makes up the largest share of sales, with just under seven billion U.S. dollars. The leading dog biscuit, treat, and beverage vendor in the U.S. in terms of sales is Big Heart Pet Brands, which generates sales of over a billion U.S. dollars annually. The sales of Big Heart Pet Brands are more than twice as much as those of its biggest competitor, Nestlé Purina PetCare. The leading frozen and refrigerated dog food vendors in the U.S. is Freshpet. The company dominates the market by a considerable margin. Dog ownership in the U.S. Nationwide, approximately 65 million U.S. households own at least one dog. Dogs are the most widely owned type of pets among American households. Within the last 12 years, the number of dog-owning households grew by more than 40 percent. In general, there has been an increase in the household penetration rate of pet ownership in the U.S. during the last 35 years. In 2023, about two-thirds of households owned at least one pet. Since the state of Idaho has the highest percentage share of dog owners among U.S. states, it is unsurprising that its state capitol, the city of Boise, has the largest number of dog parks per 100,000 residents in the country. There are 7.5 off-leash dog parks per 100,000 residents in Boise, Idaho.

An estimated 65.1 million households in the United States owned at least one dog according to a 2023/24 pet owners survey, making them the most widely owned type of pet across the U.S. at this time. Cats and freshwater fish ranked in second and third places, with around 46.5 million and 11.1 million households owning such pets, respectively.

Freshwater vs. salt water fish

Freshwater fish spend most or all their lives in fresh water. Fresh water’s main difference to salt water is the level of salinity. Freshwater fish have a range of physiological adaptations to enable them to live in such conditions. As the statistic makes clear, Americans keep a large number of freshwater aquatic species at home as pets.

American pet owners

In 2023, around 66 percent of all households in the United States owned a pet. This is a decrease from 2020, but still around a 10 percent increase from 1988. It is no surprise that as more and more households own pets, pet industry expenditure has also witnessed steady growth. Expenditure reached over 136 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, almost a sixfold increase from 1998. The majority of pet product sales are still made in brick-and-mortar stores , despite the rise and evolution of e-commerce in the United States.

Wyoming had the highest pet ownership rate in the United States, with 72 percent of households owning a pet in 2024. West Virginia came in second place with a 71 percent pet ownership rate. In comparison, Colorado's pet ownership rate that year was 65 percent.

In the United States, more than half of the population reported owning a pet in 2011. This number has been quite steady since then. Today there are more than 90 million cats in the United States, while the number of dogs is just below the 90 million-mark. Freshwater fish are the most common pet with almost 140 million nationwide in 2018, followed by the aforementioned cats and dogs.   Pet expenses    When it comes to expenses, fish are generally considered low maintenance compared to other pets. Dogs especially require high expense, particularly for kennel boarding while their owners are away. However, the highest costs for dog owners are due to surgical vet visits, reported at almost double the expense for cats in 2019. Lower life expectancy could be a factor - around 11 years for a medium-sized dog, compared with 12 to 15 years for cats.  
  Pet food  

Food is currently the largest expense for cat owners, and the second highest for dogs, not even including treats. Despite the convenience of buying pet food online, or while already grocery shopping in a supermarket, food store, or wholesale club, the highest share of pet food sales comes from pet specialty chains. With many owners are willing to make the extra trip for their pets, chain shops Pet Smart and PetCo make up almost half the market for pet companies in the United States.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected many industries in significant ways, including the pet industry. During a survey carried out in February 2022, 14 percent of respondents in the United States reported acquiring a new pet. This is an increase of four percent compared to December 2020, when 10 percent of respondents reported getting a new pet.

Pet ownership during the pandemic With nationwide lockdowns forcing people to spend most of their time confined at home, approximately 70 percent of Americans from all generations surveyed in 2020 reported spending more time with their pets as a result of social distancing regulations. Additionally, the pandemic had its impact on the economic situation of millions of people who may have struggled with precarious work or part-time employment that was discontinued due to lockdowns, which made many pet owners concerned about the affordability of pet food and products. In fact, younger generations like Gen Z and Millennials in the United States were more likely than Baby Boomers to be worried about pet expenses during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Pet industry in the United States Pet industry expenditure in the United States has witnessed remarkable growth over the years and was forecast to reach nearly 110 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up from less than half that figure only ten years prior when it was approximately 51 billion U.S. dollars in 2011. Among the most prominent players in the U.S. pet industry are pet food companies Mars Petcare Inc. and Nestlé Purina Petcare, generating 18 billion and 14 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, respectively.

The population of dogs kept as pets in the United Kingdom (UK) was estimated at 13.5 million in 2024, which is an increase of around 1.5 million from the previous year. Dog ownership in the UK As the population of dogs grew in the United Kingdom over the last decade, so did the share of dog-owning households in the UK. Between 2019/20 and 2021/22, the share of UK households owning a pet dog jumped from 23 percent to around 34 percent. This sudden increase could be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting government-imposed quarantines that forced people to stay at home. UK households own pet dogs from various breeds. However, Labrador Retrievers were by far the most popular dog breed in the UK, with around 39,905 registrations in 2020. French Bulldogs were also equally popular with 39,266 registrations in that year. How much does it cost to own a dog in the UK? Consumer spending on pets and related products went up significantly in the United Kingdom between 2005 and 2020, with expenditure levels peaking at 7.88 billion British pounds in 2020. The annual cost of keeping a pet dog in the UK amounted to an estimated 1,875 GBP as of 2022. Broken down by expense type, boarding for two weeks cost approximately 450 GBP per year and was the costliest part of owning a pet dog, followed by pet insurance estimated at around 330 GBP annually.

Sixty six percent of households in the United States owned one or more pets in 2023. Household penetration rates for pet-ownership have increased by 10 percent since the beginning of the survey period in 1988.

What kinds of pets do Americans prefer?

There were estimated to be around 65 million dog-owning households in the United States according to a recent survey, making dogs the most popular kind of pets in American homes. Cats and freshwater fish ranked in second and third places, respectively. Horses and saltwater fish were the least popular types of animals to keep, with around 2.2 million households owning each type of pet.

How much do Americans spend on their pets?

Total pet industry expenditure reached around 136.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, an increase on the previous year. As well as regular expenses such as food and vet costs, households were estimated spend around 1.7 billion U.S. dollars on Valentine's Day gifts for their pets in 2023.

With over 470 million dogs kept as pets worldwide, dogs came out on top as the leading type of pet in 2018. Within the same year, there were roughly 370 million pet cats in the world.

Pets in the European Union

While dogs were globally speaking the most common type of pet, cats were more common in the European Union in 2018. Roughly 75 million people within this region had a pet cat in 2018, compared to the 65 million pet dogs. That year, Germany had about nine and a half million pet dogs, making it the country with the highest number within the European Union. Other top dog-loving countries included the United Kingdom, Poland, and France.

Other pets in Germany

Besides cats and dogs, Germans had many other household pets in 2018. About five and a half million small pets, such as hamsters and rabbits, were kept by Germans that year. Additionally, about two million households in Germany owned an aquarium and roughly one and a half million households owned a garden pond.

In 2023, Germany had the highest pet dog population in the European Union, with more than 10 million dogs. Spain ranked second with a dog population of 9.3 million. Other countries, like Greece and Denmark, had comparatively smaller dog populations of approximately 655,000 and 643,000, respectively. Pet dogs in Europe The number of pet dogs in Europe has witnessed a notable increase since 2010, increasing from around 73 million in 2010 to more than 92 million in 2021. This positive trend was accompanied by a similar growth in the number of pet-owning households in Europe, which has increased by an estimated 20 million in the period between 2010 and 2021. Pet food industry in Europe Despite a marked increase in the dog population along with the number of pet-owning households in Europe, this has not been translated in a similarly significant increase in pet food sales in the continent. The annual sales volume of pet food products remained relatively stable in the last decade, until increasing in 2021 to about 10.2 million tons of pet food products. The largest pet food manufacturer in Europe was the Belgian company United Petfood Producers, with an annual revenue stream of approximately 800 million U.S. dollars in 2021.

During a survey conducted in 2024, it was revealed that millennials represented the biggest share of pet owners in the United States (32 percent), followed in second place by Generation X (24 percent). Baby Boomer's came in third, representing some 24 percent of pet owners. Pet ownership in the United States Despite some fluctuations, household penetration rates for pet ownership in the United States have generally increased over the years, going from 56 percent in 1988 to approximately 66 percent in 2023. With millennials constituting the largest group of pet owners in the United States, they also constituted the generational group that planned to spend the most on their pets during the holidays in 2020, with an average spending of 51 U.S. dollars, compared to only 28 U.S. dollars of average planned spending on pets for Baby Boomers. Pet expenditure in the U.S. Pet food and treats constituted the highest selling category for pet products in the United States, with total food and treats sales reaching 58.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Vet care and product sales were the second biggest pet market category that year, generating around 35.9 billion U.S. dollars in sales. Generally, average annual pet expenditure was higher for dog owners than for cat owners across all pet market categories in 2020.

The share of households owning a pet in the United Kingdom remained relatively stable between 2012 and 2018, hovering around an estimated percentage of 47 to 45 percent. However, pet ownership levels peaked to an unprecedented high of 62 percent in 2022, likely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and increased time spent at home. In 2023, this figure shrank to 57 percent.

Pet ownership in the UK With more than half of UK households owning at least one pet in 2021/22, dogs and cats were the most common household pets in that year, with an estimated 13 million dogs and 12 million cats living in homes. As of 2020, the United Kingdom was the second highest-ranking European country in terms of its dog population, preceded only by Germany.

Consumer spending on pets in the UK As the pet population in the United Kingdom increased in size, so did consumer spending on pet food and pet-related products and services. Spending on pets and related products reached almost eight billion British pounds in 2020, a notable increase from a mere 2.9 billion British pounds in 2005. Among the most expensive pet-related expenditures are veterinary and pet services, which constituted almost four billion British pounds in 2020.

This survey depicts the prevalence of obese and overweight pet dogs in the United States as of 2018. Around 19 percent of dogs were reported to be obese and some 37 percent to be overweight.

The statistic shows the share of pet types owned in households in the United States as of January 2024, by generation. At the time of the survey, some 66 percent of millennial respondents stated that they owned a dog.

This statistic shows the mean dog owner household income in the United States from 2006 to 2016. In 2016, the mean household income for dog owners in the U.S. amounted to about 96,700 U.S. dollars.

This statistic shows the household penetration rates for dog-ownership in the United States from 1988 to 2016. In 2016, some 48 percent of U.S. households owned a dog, an increase from 44 percent of households in 2014.

By 2022, it was estimated that there would be 187 million pets in Latin America. This represents a growth of 17 percent in the pet population compared to the number in 2017, which stood at 160 million pets throughout the region. In 2019, Brazil was Latin America's biggest pet market and among the largest in the world. In that year, the country's pet care industry accounted for 4.7 percent of the global pet market.

Surveyed dog owners in the United States stated that they spent, on average, 442 U.S. dollars on pet food per year in 2020. In comparison, cat-owning respondents claimed to spend an average of 329 U.S. dollars on pet food on an annual basis.

Pet ownership in the United States In 2019/20, dogs and cats were the most popular American household pets. There were approximately 63.4 million dog-owning households and 42.7 million cat-owning households in the United States. Other pets living in U.S. households included freshwater fish, saltwater fish, birds, reptiles, and horses. Due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and the increased time spent at home, many Americans reported acquiring new pets. In a recent survey carried out in December 2020, 10 percent of respondents in the United States reported acquiring a new pet as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Pet expenditures in the United States As Americans increasingly acquired more and more pets over the years, pet industry expenditure in the United States increased at an impressive rate, growing by over 500 percent between 1994 and 2020. Pet food and treats captured the biggest share of pet industry sales, followed by veterinary services and related products. In terms of pet food, the dry dog food segment generated the highest amount of sales, with around 5.3 billion U.S. dollars generated in 2020.

According to a 2017 survey, Millennial males in the United States were more likely to be cat and/or dog owners than their female counterparts. Some 48 percent of male Millennial survey respondents stated that they owned a cat and 71 percent owned a dog. In comparison, 35 and 62 percent of female respondents were cat and/or dog owners, respectively.

Pet ownership rates in the United States

In 2019, 67 percent of all households in the United States owned a pet . This is over a ten percent increase from 1988. Almost 50 percent of surveyed American pet-owning households had a dog in 2017 , making it the most popular type of pet to own in the United States. Cats and freshwater fish were the second and third most popular type of pet, with a 38 and 10 percent share of the vote respectively.

Number of pets owned

Freshwater fish were the most kept pet in the United States in 2017/18 in terms of volume. In total, Americans were estimated to own approximately 139.3 million of the aquatic animals in that year. This large volume is no surprise when considering their small size and minor cost increases when owning more than one fish as a pet. Cats and dogs were the second and third most owned pets, with around 94.2 and 89.7 million living in U.S. households respectively.

According to a national pet owners survey, there was a total of approximately 95.6 million cats living in households in the United States in 2017. In the same year, some 68 percent of all U.S. households owned at least one pet.

Increasing pet expenditure

Whilst the number of households owning cats, and pets in general, has remained relatively consistent over the last few years, pet industry expenditure has steadily grown. Consumers are expected to spend a record breaking 75.38 billion U.S. dollars on their pets in 2019. The majority of pet market revenue comes from food sales, followed by veterinary care costs.

Shopping location preferences

When it comes to shopping locations, most consumers still purchase their pet products in physical retail stores. However, the number of consumers buying pet products online is on the rise. Dry cat food was the number one pet product bought online by cat owners in the United States in 2018.