The Cost of Valentine’s Day: Average Man to Spend $170 Today

Dinner, flowers, cards, chocolates, gifts… it can add up pretty quickly. The average man will spend about $170 on Valentine’s Day. Add all of the couples in the United States together and an estimated $17.6 billion will be spent.

According to the Retail Federation man will spend close to double on Valentine’s Day compared to their female counterparts. Women will spend about $85.76.

The average person (male of female) will spend $126.03 which is 8.5% higher than last year’s average expenditure of $116.21. It is also the highest average price in the survey’s 10-year history.

Matthew Shay, president of the retail federation, said that the numbers are encouraging. Shay said:

“As one of the biggest gift-giving holidays of the year, it’s encouraging that consumers are still exhibiting the desire to spend on discretionary gift items, a strong indication our economy continues to move in the right direction.”

So where does the money go?

According to the National Retail Federation about 19% of celebrants will buy jewelry, 13.3 percent will buy gift cards, 50% will buy candy, 36% will buy flowers and 35% will spend money on a night out.

Out of the $17 billion that will be spent on Valentine’s Day, $4.1 billion will be spent on jewelry, $3.5 billion will be spent on entertainment, $1.8 billion on flowers, $1.5 billion on candy, $1.4 billion on clothing and $1.1 billion on gift cards.

Are you celebrating Valentine’s Day?