Consumer products span everyday purchases, household appliances, packaging, furniture, and other durable goods. In the United States, average consumer-unit spending reached $78,535 in 2024, while retail e-commerce sales were estimated at $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026. The statistics below connect that market activity with household ownership and end-of-life flows.
Contents
- Consumer spending
- Retail and e-commerce
- Appliance ownership
- Packaging materials
- Durable products and waste
- Household-resource segments
Consumer spending
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported average consumer-unit spending of $78,535 in 2024, an increase of 1.8% from 2023 to 2024. Because consumer prices increased 2.9% during the same period, real average spending fell 1.1%. These figures describe consumer units and average annual expenditures, rather than the spending of a single individual. Consumer expenditures in 2024
Several product-related categories show the scale of ordinary household demand in 2024:
- Housekeeping supplies averaged $877 per consumer unit.
- Household furnishings and equipment averaged $2,414 per consumer unit.
- Apparel and services averaged $2,001 per consumer unit.
- Personal care products and services averaged $978 per consumer unit.
Transportation products also represented a substantial household commitment. Average consumer units reported 1.9 vehicles, and vehicle purchases accounted for 6.8% of average consumer-unit spending in 2024. Personal care products and services accounted for 1.2% of average spending.
These measures place product design decisions in a broader spending context: household products compete with furnishings, apparel, personal care, and major purchases for a limited annual budget. The 2024 figures are averages, so they should not be read as a spending profile for every household.
The category figures also have different practical meanings. Housekeeping supplies capture recurring purchases, while furnishings and equipment can include less frequent replacement decisions. Apparel and personal care combine products with services in the BLS categories, so their totals are broader than a count of physical goods alone. Vehicle purchases are included here as a major consumer expenditure, although vehicles are not household products in the narrowest design sense. Keeping these category definitions visible helps prevent direct comparisons that the source does not support.
Retail and e-commerce
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated seasonally adjusted retail e-commerce sales at $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026. The estimate is not price-adjusted. Total seasonally adjusted U.S. retail sales were $1,986.5 billion in the same quarter, making e-commerce 17.1% of total retail sales. Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales Report
The latest quarter showed growth on both short and year-over-year comparisons:
- Seasonally adjusted e-commerce sales rose 3.8% from Q1 to Q2 2026.
- Seasonally adjusted e-commerce sales rose 12.2% from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026.
- Seasonally adjusted total retail sales rose 2.9% from Q1 to Q2 2026.
- Seasonally adjusted total retail sales rose 6.7% from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026.
The Census Bureau also reported unadjusted e-commerce sales of $329.5 billion for Q2 2026. That figure should be kept distinct from the seasonally adjusted $340.2 billion estimate. Seasonal adjustment changes how the series is presented; neither measure removes the effect of price changes.
For consumer-product businesses, the 17.1% share describes the size of the online channel within total retail, not the share of every product category sold online. It is therefore useful as a market-scale indicator, while product-specific channel mixes require separate evidence.
Appliance ownership
The Energy Information Administration’s 2024 survey estimates 132.54 million U.S. housing units. Its preliminary housing-characteristics estimates show how widely several appliances are used. Table HC3.1 Appliances in U.S. homes, by housing unit type, 2024
Microwave ovens were used in 126.30 million U.S. homes in 2024, including 120.56 million homes with a single microwave. Air fryers were used at least weekly in 57.93 million homes, while blenders or juicers were used at least weekly in 41.25 million homes.
Refrigerator ownership was similarly widespread. U.S. homes used 132.11 million refrigerators. Homes with one refrigerator numbered 86.64 million, while homes with two or more refrigerators numbered 45.47 million. The appliance-size distribution included 57.37 million homes with a medium refrigerator of 17.6–22.5 cubic feet and 64.07 million homes with a large refrigerator of 22.6–29.5 cubic feet.
| 2024 U.S. home appliance measure | Housing units or appliances |
|---|---|
| Estimated housing units | 132.54 million |
| Microwave ovens used | 126.30 million |
| Homes using an air fryer at least weekly | 57.93 million |
| Homes using a blender or juicer at least weekly | 41.25 million |
| Refrigerators used | 132.11 million |
The EIA reports these appliance figures in millions of housing units or appliances, and the 2024 estimates are preliminary. The counts indicate installed or reported use at the household level; they are not a measure of annual appliance sales.
Ownership and use also describe different kinds of demand. A refrigerator count reflects appliances present in homes, whereas the air-fryer and blender-or-juicer figures use a weekly-use threshold. A home may therefore appear in an ownership measure without meeting a stated frequency-of-use measure, and the available figures should not be combined into a single ranking of appliance popularity. They are best used as separate signals about household presence and reported regular use.
Packaging materials
The Environmental Protection Agency’s product-specific municipal solid-waste data provide the latest available observations in this dataset for packaging: 2018. U.S. containers and packaging generated 82.22 million short tons that year. Recycling totaled 44.33 million short tons, equivalent to a reported recycling rate of 53.9%, while landfills received 30.47 million short tons. Containers and Packaging: Product-Specific Data
Material categories varied substantially in both scale and recycling rate:
- Paper and paperboard packaging generated 41.9 million short tons, with an 80.9% recycling rate.
- Corrugated boxes generated 33.3 million short tons and had a 96.5% recycling rate.
- Plastic containers and packaging generated 14.53 million short tons.
- Glass containers and packaging generated 9.79 million short tons; 3.06 million short tons were recycled, a 31.3% rate.
- Steel containers and packaging generated 2.21 million short tons; 1.63 million short tons were recycled, a 73.8% rate.
- Aluminum containers and packaging generated 1.92 million short tons. Aluminum beverage-can recycling totaled 670,000 short tons, or 50.4% of aluminum packaging generation.
These are U.S. municipal solid-waste generation and end-of-life measurements, not total packaging sales. The 2018 observation date is important: it should not be presented as a current 2026 recycling rate or as a forecast.
Durable products and waste
EPA durable-goods data also use 2018 U.S. municipal solid-waste observations. Major appliances generated 5.25 million short tons. Major-appliance recycling totaled 3.14 million short tons, while landfills received 2.11 million short tons. Durable Goods: Product-Specific Data
The end-of-life picture was less favorable for several other product groups. Small appliances generated 2.16 million short tons, and only 5.6% of small-appliance waste was recycled. Furniture and furnishings generated 12.08 million short tons, with 9.68 million short tons sent to landfills.
Carpets and rugs generated 3.37 million short tons. Recycling of carpet fiber, backing, and padding totaled 310,000 short tons, or 9.2% of carpet generation. Vehicle tires generated 6.53 million short tons.
The categories are not interchangeable: an appliance, a furnishing, a carpet, and a tire have different material compositions and collection systems. Still, the figures show why product longevity, repairability, disassembly, and material recovery are relevant design considerations. EPA product categories describe waste generation and end-of-life flows, not total product sales.
Household-resource segments
Spending changes differed across the income distribution from 2023 to 2024. Average annual expenditures increased 3.8% for the lowest-income consumer quintile and 0.4% for the highest-income consumer quintile. The fourth-income-quintile consumer unit increased average annual expenditures by $2,123. Consumer expenditures in 2024
Selected category changes were also uneven:
- Apparel spending rose 19.8% for the lowest-income quintile.
- Personal-care products and services spending rose 6.8% for the highest-income quintile.
- Reading spending rose 44.2% for the highest-income quintile.
| Consumer segment or category | Change from 2023 to 2024 |
|---|---|
| Lowest-income-quintile average annual expenditures | +3.8% |
| Highest-income-quintile average annual expenditures | +0.4% |
| Lowest-income-quintile apparel spending | +19.8% |
| Highest-income-quintile personal-care spending | +6.8% |
| Highest-income-quintile reading spending | +44.2% |
These differences matter when interpreting “the consumer” as a market. A national average can conceal different budget pressures and category movements across household-resource groups. The BLS measures describe changes in reported average annual expenditures; they do not by themselves explain why a category changed.