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.

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.

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.

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 statistic shows the share of pet types owned in households in the United States in 2020. According to a survey, some 48 percent of respondents owned a dog at the time of the survey, and around 32 percent owned a cat.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This statistic displays the share of pet owning households who feed their cat and/or dog wet food in the United States from 2010 to 2018. Some 29.8 percent of households reported feeding their dog wet food in 2010, this figure increased to 40.3 percent by 2018.

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.

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.

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.

Hungary had the highest share of dog-owning households in the European Union, with almost half of the population owning at least one dog in 2023. Other countries, like Poland and Romania, had a little more than a third of households with at least one pet dog. Pet ownership in Europe Germany had the highest pet dog population in Europe, with more than ten million dogs in 2022. In comparison, Romania had approximately 4.2 million dogs in that same year. However, pet dog ownership was more prevalent among Romanian households, where 43 percent of households owned at least one dog in 2022, compared to only 21 percent of German households who were dog owners in that same year. In the last decade, both the number of pet cats and pet dogs increased significantly in Europe. Pet food trade Due to a growing pet population in the European continent, the pet industry flourished, and pet food trade is one indicator of that growth. The import value of cat and dog food more than tripled in the last decade, increasing from 480 million U.S. dollars in 2011 to over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. European exports of pet food followed a similar trend, reflecting a general expansion in pet food industry and trade in Europe.

According to a 2019/2020 survey, eight out of ten households in Paraguay have at least one pet, while in Peru nearly seven out of ten households have a domesticated animal. In 2019, there were approximately 55 million dogs and nearly 25 million cats as pets in Brazil.

The statistic shows the household penetration rates for dog-ownership in the United States in 2013, by generation of the pet owners. The dog-ownership household penetration rate for the Generation Y (18-34) was 44.3 percent in 2013.

This statistic presents the share of Americans who owned a dog in 2020, by age. In that year, 73 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 years owned a dog.

Vermont was the leading state in terms of cat ownership, with some 45 percent of households owning a pet cat in 2024. In comparison, around 32 percent of households in Wisconsin were cat owners that year. Cat ownership in the U.S. There are almost 47 million households in the U.S. that own a cat. Cats are the second most popular type of pets, only surpassed by dogs, which are owned by about 65 million households. The average accident and illness insurance premium for a cat in the U.S. amounts to approximately 387 U.S. dollars annually. The costs of insurance largely depend on the type of cat. The largest cat insurance claims paid in Canada and in the U.S. are made for a sphynx. A total claim amount of approximately 40,000 U.S. dollars is paid annually to treat various conditions for this breed. In comparison, a total claim amount of slightly under 15,000 U.S. dollars is paid for domestic short hairs at the age of four. American pet food companies The global pet food market has shown a growing trajectory for over a decade. The market reached sales of approximately 124 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. The U.S. company Freshpet is the fourth fastest-growing pet food company worldwide, with an annual growth rate of about 40 percent. The U.S. companies General Mills and Tuffy’s Pet Foods are also among the top ten fastest-growing pet food companies worldwide, with annual growth rates of approximately 33 and 25 percent, respectively. The German company Bewital petfood GmbH & Co. KG ranks in first place, with an annual growth rate of almost 100 percent. The leading pet food company in the U.S. is Mars Petcare Inc., with 19.5 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. Nestlé Purina PetCare follows closely in second place with just under 19.4 billion U.S. dollars in revenue.

The share of households with dogs as pets increased from four and a half percent in 2014 to 7.9 percent in 2023. The increase in the number of households getting dogs and cats as pets had led to an increase in value of pet food sales to about 629 million U.S. dollars in 2023, up from 172 million U.S dollars in 2016.