Holiday Survey: Average U.S. Gift Budget $1,000 Less Than In 2019
A recent 2020 holiday spending survey has found that a large percentage of Americans are working with a much tighter budget in the coming weeks leading up to Christmas. The Coronavirus pandemic was mentioned as the top reason for the drastic decrease in projected spending.
A new survey by Debt.com is projecting that the average United States household's holiday budget has decreased by more than $1,000 compared to spending statistics in 2019. The average family budget in the U.S. last year was approximately $1,500, according to findings at fortunly.com. Participants from every U.S. state were selected to take part.
More than 70% of the 1,200 people who took part in the survey between September 21 and October 8, 2020, stated that they could spend no more than $500 on gifts this Christmas. There is still a small percentage of those surveyed (18%) that claimed to have the means to spend $1,000 or more on gifts, according to Debt.com.
I first fell into this economic category back in 2001 when my first child was born, and I can still say to this day, that I have never come close to being able to comfortably spend anywhere near $1,500 annually on Christmas gifts. I've been married for six years now, and together my wife and I average about $1,000 on Christmas spending. Although I didn't take as hard a hit financially as a large percentage of the Americans did since the pandemic began, it's still pretty tight in my household in 2020.
Wherever you fall into in this 2020 holiday spending scale, I wish you the best. The most important thing to remember is that at the end of the day, the health of our loved ones far exceeds the number of wrapped packages we are able to place under the Christmas tree.