Pet Breed Statistics: The 50 Most Popular Dog Breeds in 2024

Pet breed statistics offer a useful snapshot of which dogs were most popular in the United States during a particular measurement period. The American Kennel Club’s 2024 most popular dog breeds list ranked the French Bulldog first, followed by the Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever. The list below covers the top 50 breeds and keeps the rankings tied to the AKC’s 2024 measurement period.

Contents

• At a glance: the top 10
• Ranks 11 through 20
• Ranks 21 through 30
• Ranks 31 through 40
• Ranks 41 through 50
• Notable movement and repeated positions

At a glance: the top 10

The first ten places in the AKC Most Popular Dog Breeds of 2024 list show a mix of companion breeds, working dogs, sporting breeds, and hounds. The ranking measures popularity for 2024; it does not describe temperament, health, exercise needs, suitability for a particular household, or the number of dogs in the country.

2024 rank	Breed
1	French Bulldog
2	Labrador Retriever
3	Golden Retriever
4	German Shepherd Dog
5	Poodle
6	Dachshund
7	Beagle
8	Rottweiler
9	Bulldog
10	German Shorthaired Pointer

The French Bulldog ranked No. 1 in 2024, making it the highest-ranked breed in this dataset. The Labrador Retriever ranked No. 2, while the Golden Retriever ranked No. 3. These three breeds occupy the top tier of the list, but their positions should be read as rankings rather than as a quantified gap in popularity.

The German Shepherd Dog ranked No. 4. The Poodle ranked No. 5, followed by the Dachshund at No. 6 and the Beagle at No. 7. The Rottweiler ranked No. 8, the Bulldog No. 9, and the German Shorthaired Pointer No. 10. Together, these ten entries establish the leading group in the AKC’s 2024 ranking.

Ranks 11 through 20

The next ten positions include several breeds frequently associated with companionship, family life, herding, guarding, and sporting work. As with every position in this article, the figures are ordinal: they identify place on the AKC’s 2024 list rather than a share or count.

11. The Yorkshire Terrier ranked No. 11.

12. The Australian Shepherd ranked No. 12.

13. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel ranked No. 13.

14. The Cane Corso ranked No. 14. The AKC’s 2024 press release also reported that the breed rose from No. 47 in 2014, a ten-year comparison between the 2014 and 2024 lists.

15. The Pembroke Welsh Corgi ranked No. 15.

16. The Doberman Pinscher ranked No. 16.

17. The Boxer ranked No. 17.

18. The Miniature Schnauzer ranked No. 18.

19. The Bernese Mountain Dog ranked No. 19.

20. The Shih Tzu ranked No. 20. The AKC’s 2024 list stated that it held the same position as in 2023.

The Cane Corso is the clearest long-term movement described in the supplied AKC facts: its 2024 position was No. 14, compared with No. 47 in 2014. That comparison identifies a change in rank over time, but it does not provide registration totals or explain why the position changed.

The Shih Tzu’s repeated No. 20 position supplies a different kind of comparison. It indicates that the breed occupied the same ordinal place in the 2023 and 2024 lists. It should not be interpreted as proof that the number of registrations stayed unchanged, because no registration counts are provided here.

Ranks 21 through 30

Positions 21 through 30 continue the AKC’s 2024 list with large breeds, small companion dogs, herding breeds, and sporting breeds. The measurement period remains the 2024 list published by the American Kennel Club.

21. The Great Dane ranked No. 21.

22. The Pomeranian ranked No. 22 and held the same spot as in 2023.

23. The Boston Terrier ranked No. 23 and held the same spot as in 2023.

24. The Miniature American Shepherd ranked No. 24.

25. The Havanese ranked No. 25 and held the same spot as in 2023.

26. The Siberian Husky ranked No. 26.

27. The Chihuahua ranked No. 27.

28. The English Springer Spaniel ranked No. 28.

29. The Shetland Sheepdog ranked No. 29.

30. The Border Collie ranked No. 30.

Three breeds in this group are specifically identified as unchanged from 2023: the Pomeranian at No. 22, the Boston Terrier at No. 23, and the Havanese at No. 25. Those repeated positions are useful for describing year-over-year rank stability, while the other entries in this section are recorded only with their 2024 positions in the supplied AKC list.

The range also shows why a popularity ranking should not be used as a substitute for a breed-selection guide. The list places the Great Dane, Pomeranian, Miniature American Shepherd, Siberian Husky, and Chihuahua in the same ten-position band, but the ranking itself does not quantify their care requirements or compare their household needs.

Ranks 31 through 40

The AKC’s 2024 positions 31 through 40 include sporting, herding, companion, terrier, and guardian breeds. Each entry below represents one rank in the same national popularity list.

31. The Brittany ranked No. 31.

32. The Cocker Spaniel ranked No. 32.

33. The Belgian Malinois ranked No. 33 and held the same spot as in 2023.

34. The Basset Hound ranked No. 34 and held the same spot as in 2023.

35. The Vizsla ranked No. 35 and held the same spot as in 2023.

36. The English Cocker Spaniel ranked No. 36.

37. The Maltese ranked No. 37 and held the same spot as in 2023.

38. The Pug ranked No. 38.

39. The Collie ranked No. 39.

40. The Mastiff ranked No. 40.

Five breeds in this ten-position segment have a supplied year-over-year comparison. The Belgian Malinois remained No. 33, the Basset Hound remained No. 34, and the Vizsla remained No. 35. The Maltese remained No. 37. These statements describe the same list position in 2023 and 2024; they do not establish equal popularity counts across those years.

The Cocker Spaniel and English Cocker Spaniel appear as separate entries at Nos. 32 and 36. The supplied AKC list treats them as distinct ranked breeds, so they are retained separately here rather than combined. That distinction matters when reading a ranked dataset: combining entries would change the reported positions and would no longer represent the source list.

Ranks 41 through 50

The final ten places in the top 50 are still part of the AKC’s 2024 most popular dog breeds list. Being ranked from No. 41 through No. 50 means each breed appears in the top 50 for that measurement period; it does not mean that the breeds share the same level of demand.

41. The West Highland White Terrier ranked No. 41.

42. The Shiba Inu ranked No. 42.

43. The Rhodesian Ridgeback ranked No. 43.

44. The Papillon ranked No. 44.

45. The Portuguese Water Dog ranked No. 45.

46. The Bichon Frise ranked No. 46.

47. The Newfoundland ranked No. 47.

48. The Dalmatian ranked No. 48.

49. The Australian Cattle Dog ranked No. 49.

50. The Whippet ranked No. 50.

This group completes the 50 quantified positions supplied by the AKC 2024 list. The ranks run continuously from No. 41 to No. 50, so the section provides a precise view of the lower end of the top-50 set without adding unsupported estimates about registration volume or household ownership.

Notable movement and repeated positions

The supplied AKC facts include two kinds of time comparison: one longer-term rank movement and several repeated positions between 2023 and 2024. They should be kept separate because they answer different questions.

Breed	Earlier reference	2024 position	What the comparison shows
Cane Corso	No. 47 in 2014	No. 14	Rose in rank over the ten-year comparison
Shih Tzu	No. 20 in 2023	No. 20	Held the same position
Pomeranian	No. 22 in 2023	No. 22	Held the same position
Boston Terrier	No. 23 in 2023	No. 23	Held the same position
Havanese	No. 25 in 2023	No. 25	Held the same position
Belgian Malinois	No. 33 in 2023	No. 33	Held the same position
Basset Hound	No. 34 in 2023	No. 34	Held the same position
Vizsla	No. 35 in 2023	No. 35	Held the same position
Maltese	No. 37 in 2023	No. 37	Held the same position

The source labels for these figures are the AKC Most Popular Dog Breeds of 2024 and, for the Cane Corso’s 2014 comparison, the AKC 2024 press release. The 2024 list provides the measurement year for all 50 positions. The earlier-year statements are historical comparisons reported by the AKC; they are not independently verified here.

For readers using pet breed statistics as a starting point, the most defensible takeaway is narrow: these figures identify the breeds’ relative positions in the AKC’s 2024 popularity ranking. They can help describe which recognized breeds occupied the top 50, highlight the Cane Corso’s reported movement from 2014 to 2024, and identify breeds whose listed positions repeated from 2023. They do not, on their own, measure health outcomes, lifespan, costs, behavior, shelter populations, or the best match for a particular home.