Fastest-Growing Entertainment Categories

The average household spent $2,913 on entertainment in 2016, only 3 percent more than the $2,828 of 2006, after adjusting for inflation. But spending has surged in some categories over the decade. These are the five entertainment categories with the fastest growth in average household spending between 2006 and 2016, after adjusting for inflation...

1. Streamed and downloaded video: The average household spent just $1.23 on this category in 2006, and $30.06 in 2016—an increase of more than 2,000 percent as streaming and downloading video replaced watching video cassettes and DVDs. 

2. Pets: Average household spending on pets climbed 55 percent between 2006 and 2016. The $586 spent by the average household on pets ranked a lofty 21st among the items on which the average household spent the most in 2016—higher than women's clothes, alcoholic beverages, and internet service.

3. Hunting/fishing equipment. Guns are included in this entertainment category. Between 2006 and 2016, average household spending on hunting/fishing equipment increased 54 percent. The biggest spenders on hunting/fishing equipment are non-Hispanic Whites. Between 2006 and 2016, households headed by non-Hispanic Whites boosted their spending on hunting/fishing equipment by 63 percent.

4. Toys, games, arts and crafts: Average household spending on toys grew 47 percent between 2006 and 2016. While this is an impressive rise, toy spending did not grow as fast as pet spending. In 2016, the average household spent only about one-quarter as much on toys as it spent on pets. 

5. Bicycles: It may be no coincidence that average household spending on bicycles grew by an impressive 46 percent just as spending on new cars and trucks fell 23 percent. The 2006-to-2016 surge in spending on bicycles may explain why bicycle repairer is projected to be the 11th fastest-growing occupation in the decade ahead. 

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Surveys