Valentine's Day spending is expected to hit over $25 billion (2024)

FAQs

Valentine's Day spending is expected to hit over $25 billion? ›

Overall, consumers plan to spend a total of $25.8 billion in the US, slightly lower than last year's $25.9 billion. If realized, this year's figure would be the third-highest amount, after 2023 and the year of 2020, when it stood at $27.4 billion.

Americans will spend about $25.8 billion overall on the holiday this year – just a tick down from $25.9 billion last year. Valentine's Day spending peaked at $27.4 billion in 2020.

This display of love will not come cheap. The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that consumers will spend a record $25.8 billion, an average of $185.81 per person, on Valentine's Day in 2024. It is no wonder that US retailers love the holiday. So, who was this Saint Valentine to whom they owe the windfall?

There are enough candy hearts made each year to stretch from Valentine, Arizona to Rome, Italy, and back again. The number of these candy hearts produced is approximately 8 billion.

Given the average price in supermarkets over the whole year for a dozen roses was a bit over $12, this means people in the U.S. are spending more than $3 billion annually.

Valentine's Day, whether you're coupled up with your boo or celebrating being single, is about love.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 62% of consumers ages 25-34 plan to celebrate Valentine's Day in 2024. The projected total in general for spending is $25.8 billion, while the projection for spending specifically on significant others is $14.2 billion.

“Valentine's Day is a one-day opportunity. So sellers almost need a higher markup on the candy items to justify stocking the specially-packaged products,” Talbott said. At the same time, plenty of shoppers will likely not even be thinking about the price as Feb.

52 million USD

Valentine's Day / Budget

For Valentine's Day 2024, roughly half of surveyed U.S. shoppers said they would buy chocolate or candy as a gift for another, making it the most shopped for Valentine's Day gift. About a third of respondents said they intended to purchase flowers.

Who started Valentine's day? ›

Oruch, a University of Kansas English professor, determined that Chaucer was the first to link love with St. Valentine in his 14th-century works "The Parliament of Fowls" and "The Complaint of Mars," notes the Times. Therefore, Oruch claimed, Chaucer invented Valentine's Day as we know it today.

The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries, when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring.

U.S. consumers alone are expected to spend $25.8 billion on Valentine's Day this year, according to a survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Planned Valentine's Day spending in the United States was expected to reach just under 26 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. This is an increase of about two billion dollars from 2022, but roughly the same amount that had been projected for 2023.

Across the country, the average cost of a dozen roses is $88.61. The average cost in 21 states lands within five dollars of that total.

Americans who participate in Valentine's Day festivities paid 4.7% more when purchasing candy for their valentines. When purchasing flowers, jewelry, or wine, they faced an uptick of 3%, 0.6%, and 4.7%, respectively.

52 million USD

Valentine's Day / Budget