Graduation Gift Spending Statistics 2023 – Cash Is King

Find out what graduation gifts people are buying and how much they're spending in 2023 with these graduation spending statistics.

Graduating from high school or college is a big milestone in anyones life.

As all those years of hard work, late nights, essays, exams, and lectures has finally paid off and you're ready to move on to the next stage of your journey.

So when someone we love graduates we want to help them celebrate by buying them a nice gift to mark the occasion.

But this poses the question of what should you get a graduate for their graduation gift? And how much should you spend on it?

So to answer these questions we thought we'd take a look at the latest graduation gift spending statistics to see just what others are buying for their favourite graduates and how much it's costing.

And to do this we analysed surveys from the following retail organisations to get an idea of the general graduation gift shopping trends:

How Much Are We Spending On Graduation Gifts In 2023?

It was found that a total of $6.4 billion was expected to be spent on high school and college graduation gifts in the United States in 2023 (National Retail Federation).

This was an increase of over 10% from the previous years figure of $5.8 billion, which may be down to 36% of people saying they were planning to buy graduation gifts compared to only 33% the year before.

And the average expected spend per person on graduation gifts was also slightly higher than the previous year, coming in at $116.19 compared to $114.89 in 2022.

And this average figure has trending upwards over the years, increasing by almost 24% from the 2013 average of $93.90.

What Are The Most Popular Graduation Gifts In 2023?

The graduation gift survey from the National Retail Federation found that the majority of Americans (52%) were planning to give cash as a graduation gift for high school and college students in 2023.

With the next most popular choice being gift cards, with 33% planning to give these as graduation gifts.

Clothing/apparel was next up with 18% thinking this was a good idea for a graduation gift, followed by electronics which was considered by 15%.

While 5% said they planned to give a different kind of gift from those previously mentioned. 

And 38% of people said they planned to give their graduate a 'well done' card as part of their graduation celebrations.

With the Greeting Card Association estimating that 59 million graduation greeting cards are sold in the United States each year.

Which Graduation Gifts Do Graduates Actually Want?

So that's what people are planning to buy as gifts for high school and college graduates, but is it what they really want?

Well, according to a 2018 graduation gifts survey from Offers.com we are getting it right by giving cash as a gift.

As 55% of the graduates they surveyed said that some form of financial help such as cash, stocks, or money put into a 401k would be their preferred graduation gift.

21% said they'd love to be treated to a trip, which could account for graduating students that are planning to travel the world or do some backpacking before joining the work force.

While 19% were being extremely hopeful and wanted a car (high school grads, we see you!).

Then there were the 12% that wanted some help paying their rent as they were starting out with their adult life, while 10% wanted an electronical gift, and 8% wanted clothes for future job interviews.

Only 1% of graduates said they didn't want a gift, and 1% chose a different gift option to those previously mentioned.

Rounding Up

Buying a graduation gift to help a high school or college graduate celebrate their achievements is a really nice thing to do.

So I hope you've now got some idea of what kind of gifts graduates want, what people are commonly buying, and how much they're spending, by reading through these graduation gift spending statistics.

And that it helps guide you in finding the perfect gift for a graduate.

With the main takeaway being, just give them the cash!

Sources:

https://nrf.com/research-insights/holiday-data-and-trends/graduation/graduation-season-data-center

https://nrf.com/research-insights/holiday-data-and-trends/graduation

https://www.offers.com/blog/post/graduation-survey/

https://www.greetingcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Greeting-Card-Facts-2020.pdf