Valentine’s Day Spending Statistics 2023

How much do people spend on their significant others for Valentine's Day? Find out with the latest 2023 spending statistics here.

Key Findings

A total of $25.9 billion was expected to be spent on Valentine's Day in the United States in 2023 (National Retail Federation).
52% of Americans were planning to celebrate Valentine's Day, with an average planned spend of $192.80 per person (National Retail Federation).
Candy was the top valentine's gift choice with 57% planning to give it to their loved ones on Valentine's Day (National Retail Federation).
Only 52% of the Valentine's Day spend was on a significant other, as people also bought gifts for friends, family, coworkers, classmates, teachers and pets (National Retail Federation).
While 35.5% of men and 21% of women said they'd be buying Valentine's Day gifts for more than one partner! (Finder).
Inflation has made popular Valentine's Day gifts more expensive on average in 2023, which has led to 40% of people saying they'll look for a lower cost gift (Statista).

February 14th is a special day for lovers the world over, with couples coming together to celebrate their love for one another.

And each year billions of dollars are spent on Valentine's Day gifts such as flowers, chocolates, and jewelry, as well as candlelit dinners and romantic getaways to mark the occasion.

But how much should we be spending on our significant other? And what shoud we be getting for them?

To answer these questions we thought we'd take a look at the latest Valentine's Day statistics and trends to get an insight into what lovers are really spending on each other.

And to do this we analysed surveys from the following retail companies along with other reports to get an idea of what Valentine's Day is all about.

National Retail Federation - Valentine's Day survey from January 2023.
Finder - Valentine's Day survey from January 2020.

How Much Are Lovers Spending For Valentine's Day 2023?

In January 2023 it was estimated that a total of $25.9 billion dollars would be spent on the upcoming Valentine's Day in the United States (National Retail Federation).

And for the Americans that were planning to celebrate it the average Valentine's Day spend per person was going to be $192.80.

This amount has increased quite dramatically over the years, being up 9% from the previous years figure of $175.41 per person and a whopping 32% increase from an average spend of $130.97 in 2013.

However, interest in Valentine's Day seems to be decreasing over the years with only 52% saying they were planning to celebrate it in 2023, compared to 60% in 2013.

What Are The Most Popular Valentine's Day Gifts In 2023?

When you think of Valentine's Day gifts you typically imagine things like chocolates, flowers, jewelry and romantic candelit meals, and this is reflected in the Valentine's Day gifts people are most commonly buying.

As candy came out on top as the most popular Valentine's Day gift option in 2023, with 57% of people surveyed planning to buy some (National Retail Federation).

Flowers were the next best gift option for 37% of people, while 32% were treating their loved one to an evening out and 21% of people were planning to buy some jewelry.

And greeting cards companies must love Valentine's Day too as 40% of us plan to buy our lovers a Valentine's Day card this year (National Retail Federation).

With the Greetings Card Association estimating that 145 million Valentine's Day cards are sold each year in the United States.

Who Else Are We Buying Valentine's Day Gifts For In 2023?

Who are we buying Valentine's Day gifts for graph

It's not just our partners or spouses that get to feel the love on Valentine's Day, as many people also buy gifts for their friends, family, or even their pets to celebrate.

As the National Retail Federation survey found that out of the $192.80 household average spend for Valentine's Day, only 52% was on a gift for a significant other.

The rest was spent on other family members (16%), friends (8%), their children's classmates or teachers (7%), pets (7%), coworkers (5%) and others (5%).

In fact, there were 32% of people that said they'd be buying their pet a Valentine's Day gift, which is even more than the 29% that were planning to buy a gift for a friend!

And in 2020 there were plenty of underhand shenanigans going on during Valentine's Day too, as 35.5% of men said they planned to buy Valentine's Day gifts for more than one partner (Finder).

While the women weren't whiter than white either, with 21% of them admitting they'd be doing the same!

Where Are We Buying Our 2023 Valentine's Day Gifts?

When it comes to our preferred way to shop for Valentine's Day gifts in 2023 it was the convenience of online shopping, with 35% planning to get their gifts at an online store (National Retail Federation).

However, regular stores weren't far behind with 34% planning to shop at a department store.

Discount stores were next up with 31% of people planning to shop for a bargain, while 18% planned to shop in a speciality store and 17% using a local or small business.

And for the Valentine's Day staple gifts of flowers and jewelry, 16% were planning on buying their flowers in a florist, while 13% were going to visit a jewelry store.

With speciality clothes stores (11%) and other (8%) rounding off people's gift shopping preferences.

And it seems that women start planning for their Valentine's Day gifts before the guys.

As an SEMRush data survey found that online search queries for 'Valentine's Day gifts for him' spiked in January, whereas 'Valentine's Day gifts for her' searches didn't spike until February.

Rising Inflation Has Made Valentine's Day In 2023 More Expensive

Inflation in the United States has been highlighted by a rise on the Consumer Price Index of 6.4% between January 2022 and January 2023 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

And this has had an impact on many American's preparations for Valentine's Day 2023, with 40% of those surveyed saying they were going to be looking for a lower cost Valentine's gift than usual (Statista).

As many of the most popular Valentine's Day gift options are now more expensive than they were a year ago.

With the price of the most popular Valentine's Day gift choice of candy rising by 12.2% in that time, while flowers were up by 5%, perfume by 5.7% and jewelry increased by 4.9%.

And the cost of taking your special one out for Valentine's Day also jumped with drinks out up 6.9%, movie, theater and concert tickets up by 6.5% and hotels and motels up 8.5%.