Pet market statistics show a large and diversified U.S. industry. APPA reported $158 billion in U.S. pet industry expenditures in 2024, while its outlook projected $165 billion for 2026. The market includes food, veterinary care, supplies, insurance, services, and specialized products for dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, and other animals.
Contents
- U.S. pet industry size and spending
- Pet ownership by household
- Dogs, cats, and other pets
- Who owns pets
- Pet insurance market statistics
- Retailers and pet companies
- Purchasing behavior by category
U.S. pet industry size and spending
APPA’s Industry Trends and Stats reported $158 billion in U.S. pet industry expenditures in 2024. APPA projected total expenditures of $165 billion in 2026. These figures are industry totals for the United States, with the 2026 figure identified as a projection rather than a completed measurement.
The largest reported 2024 category was pet food and treats, at $68.3 billion. Vet care and product sales represented $41.0 billion, while supplies, live animals, and over-the-counter medicine accounted for $34.4 billion. Other services contributed $14.3 billion.
APPA’s 2026 projections put pet food and treats at $69.7 billion, supplies, live animals, and over-the-counter medicine at $35.6 billion, vet care and product sales at $42.4 billion, and other services at $14.9 billion.
| U.S. pet spending category | 2024 | APPA 2026 projection |
|---|---|---|
| Pet food and treats | $68.3 billion | $69.7 billion |
| Supplies, live animals, and OTC medicine | $34.4 billion | $35.6 billion |
| Vet care and product sales | $41.0 billion | $42.4 billion |
| Other services | $14.3 billion | $14.9 billion |
Source: APPA Industry Trends and Stats. The 2024 values are reported expenditures; the 2026 values are projections.
These categories describe different parts of pet care. Food and treats cover recurring feeding purchases, veterinary care covers clinical services and related product sales, and supplies include products used for animals and aquariums as well as over-the-counter medicine. Services form a separate category in APPA’s reporting.
Pet ownership by household
APPA’s 2025 reporting placed U.S. pet ownership at 95 million households. APPA also reported 94 million households owning a pet in its 2025 National Pet Owners Survey. Because these figures come from different APPA reports, they should be kept distinct rather than treated as one precisely interchangeable count.
APPA’s 2025 survey and State of the Industry figures identified substantial ownership across several animal groups:
- 68 million U.S. households owned a dog in APPA’s 2025 State of the Industry report.
- 49 million U.S. households owned a cat.
- 10 million households owned freshwater fish.
- 6 million households owned birds.
- 6 million households owned small animals.
- 6 million households owned reptiles.
- 2 million households owned horses.
- 2 million households owned saltwater fish.
APPA’s 2026 State of the Industry press release said dog ownership reached 53% of U.S. households and 71 million households in 2025. It also said that 4 million additional households became dog owners year over year in 2025. The same release said overall U.S. pet ownership remained at 95 million households in 2025.
The dog figures differ across APPA reports: the 2025 report listed 51% of U.S. households as dog-owning, while the 2026 report gave 53%. The cat figure in APPA’s 2025 State of the Industry press release was 37% of households. These measurements should be read with their named report and reporting period.
Dogs, cats, and other pets
AVMA’s 2024 U.S. pet ownership statistics provide another measurement of the national pet population. In that survey, 45.5% of U.S. households owned dogs, representing 59.8 million dog-owning households. Dog-owning households averaged 1.5 dogs, and the U.S. had 89.7 million pet dogs. Those households spent $580 per year on veterinary care.
AVMA reported that 32.1% of U.S. households owned cats in 2024. That represented 42.2 million cat-owning households. Cat-owning households averaged 1.8 cats, producing a reported U.S. total of 73.8 million pet cats. Annual veterinary-care spending averaged $433 per cat-owning household.
The AVMA figures offer a useful distinction between households and animals. Household ownership rates describe how widespread ownership is, while average animals per owning household and total pet counts describe the size of the animal population. The dog and cat veterinary-spending figures are household averages from AVMA’s 2024 survey, not industry-wide spending totals.
AVMA’s 2024 survey also counted 3.9 million U.S. households owning fish, 2.3 million owning reptiles, 2.1 million owning birds, and 1.3 million owning small mammals. It reported 0.9 million rabbit-owning households, 0.7 million horse-owning households, and 0.7 million poultry-owning households.
Who owns pets
APPA’s generation split attributed 20% of pet owners to Gen Z, 30% to millennials, 25% to Gen X, and 25% to baby boomers. These are shares of pet owners in APPA’s generation split, not percentages of all U.S. households.
APPA’s 2026 State of the Industry press release reported several year-over-year changes for 2025. Gen X pet ownership grew 12%, while Gen X dog ownership also grew 12%. Gen X cat ownership grew 8%. Bird ownership grew 25%, reptile ownership grew 20%, and freshwater fish ownership grew 17%.
These growth figures describe changes reported by APPA for the specified ownership groups. They do not establish that every pet category grew at the same rate, and they should not be combined into a single overall growth rate.
Pet insurance market statistics
NAPHIA’s State of the Industry Report 2025 recorded approximately $5.1517 billion in North American pet insurance gross written premium at year-end 2024. The U.S. portion was about $4.7 billion. North American insured pets reached 7.03 million at year-end 2024, up 12.2% from 6.25 million in 2023 to 7.03 million in 2024. U.S. pet insurance gross written premium grew 21.4% from 2023 to 2024.
Dogs represented 86.1% of U.S. pet insurance volume in 2024, while cats represented 13.9%. In Canada, pet insurance gross written premium reached $583.9 million at year-end 2024, and insured pets grew 7.2% from 2023 to 2024. Dogs represented 84.9% of Canadian pet insurance gross written premium, and cats represented 15.1%.
| Pet insurance measure | Reported figure | Geography or period |
|---|---|---|
| Gross written premium | About $5.1517 billion | North America, year-end 2024 |
| Insured pets | 7.03 million | North America, year-end 2024 |
| Insured-pet growth | 12.2% | North America, 2023–2024 |
| Gross written premium | About $4.7 billion | United States, year-end 2024 |
| Gross written premium | $583.9 million | Canada, year-end 2024 |
NAPHIA industry data described the North American pet insurance marketplace in 2025 as being served by about 30 companies and more than 20 additional pet insurance product brands. NAPHIA said its data represented approximately 99% of written pet health insurance premium in the United States and Canada.
Retailers and pet companies
Company disclosures illustrate the scale and variety of businesses operating in the pet market. Chewy reported fiscal 2024 net sales of $11.86 billion. Its net sales per active customer increased to $578 in fiscal 2024, an increase of $23, or 4.1%. Chewy’s active customers totaled 20.0 million in fiscal 2024 quarter data, and Autoship customer sales totaled $2.23 billion in the 2024 quarter data shown in a Chewy filing.
Petco operated nearly 1,400 pet care centers in the United States and Puerto Rico in its 2024 Form SD. PetMed Express reported fiscal 2024 net sales of $281.1 million, adjusted EBITDA of $8.2 million, and a net loss of $7.5 million. For the quarter ended March 31, 2024, PetMed Express reported net sales of $66.5 million and a net loss of $5.0 million.
Central Garden & Pet reported fiscal 2024 consolidated net sales of $3.2 billion. Its Pet segment reported $1.832744 billion in net sales and $203.425 million in operating income. The company reported total operating income of $285.318 million, while its Garden segment reported $1.367716 billion in net sales.
Freshpet reported fiscal 2024 net sales of $975.2 million and Q4 2024 net sales of $262.7 million. It reported fiscal 2024 adjusted EBITDA of $161.8 million, a 16.6% adjusted EBITDA margin, and household penetration of 13.5 million households. Freshpet said household penetration increased by about 2 million households year over year, reported a 17% household penetration increase in 2024, and reported net sales growth of 27% for fiscal 2024 and 22% in Q4 2024.
Purchasing behavior by category
APPA’s 2025 Dog & Cat Report said 53% of dog owners gave their dogs vitamins or supplements, up 6% from 2023. This measure describes the share of dog owners using that type of product and indicates that supplements are a meaningful part of dog-care purchasing behavior.
APPA’s 2024 Fish & Reptile Report supplied several in-person purchasing measures. Twenty-eight percent of fish owners learned about fish availability from retailers, compared with 59% in 2018. Thirty-seven percent of fish owners purchased fish from fish stores, up 32% from 2018.
For food purchases, 51% of saltwater fish owners bought food in person, compared with 63% of freshwater fish owners. For medication, 35% of saltwater fish owners bought in person and 52% of freshwater fish owners did so. Additives and supplements were purchased in person by 48% of saltwater fish owners and 51% of freshwater fish owners.
These fish-owner measures come from APPA’s 2024 Fish & Reptile Report and refer to reported purchasing behavior by the specified owner groups. They are category-specific percentages, not shares of all U.S. pet owners or measures of total market revenue.