Home craft spending is recorded across several household and retail categories rather than in one national total. The latest figures below show the surrounding household budget, the scale of craft and hobby businesses, related shopping channels, and price movements affecting supplies. Household figures are U.S. consumer-unit averages, while most retail figures describe employer businesses.
Contents
- How home craft spending fits into the household budget
- Sewing, needlework, and piece-goods spending channels
- Hobby and craft-supply retail scale
- Creative-material and craft-adjacent specialty stores
- Stationery, gifts, resale, and online craft outlets
- Recent price movement affecting home craft purchases
How home craft spending fits into the household budget
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported average annual expenditures of $78,535 per U.S. consumer unit in 2024, an increase of 1.8% from 2023. The estimate covered 135.760 million consumer units. BLS consumer units are the population represented by the Consumer Expenditure survey, so this is an average across consumer units, not a measure of what every household spent. (BLS, Consumer expenditures in 2024, 2024)
Home crafts can overlap with entertainment, furnishings, apparel, and other spending categories. In 2024, average annual entertainment spending was $3,609, down 0.7% from 2023. Household furnishings and equipment averaged $2,414, down 3.7%, while apparel and services averaged $2,001, down 2.0%. These categories are useful context, but they do not isolate craft purchases. (BLS, Consumer expenditures in 2024, 2024)
| BLS consumer-unit measure | 2021 | 2024 | Change described by BLS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average annual expenditures | $66,928 | $78,535 | 2024 was up 1.8% from 2023 |
| Average annual entertainment spending | $3,568 | $3,609 | 2024 was down 0.7% from 2023 |
| Household furnishings and equipment | $2,701 | $2,414 | 2024 was down 3.7% from 2023 |
Between 2021 and 2024, average annual expenditures rose from $66,928 to $78,535. Entertainment spending rose from $3,568 to $3,609 over the same period, while household-furnishings-and-equipment spending fell from $2,701 to $2,414. The BLS also reported 2.9% inflation from 2023 to 2024 for its all-urban-consumer measure. (BLS, Consumer expenditures in 2024, 2021–2024 and 2023–2024)
These figures help place creative projects in the broader household budget, but they should not be added together as a craft-spending estimate. The BLS categories include many goods and services unrelated to sewing, painting, paper crafts, woodworking, or other home projects.
Sewing, needlework, and piece-goods spending channels
Sewing, needlework, and piece-goods stores provide one of the clearest retail views of home craft purchasing. Census Bureau data for employer firms recorded $3.270002 billion in sales or revenue in 2023. Those businesses reported $484.588 million in annual payroll and $124.392 million in first-quarter payroll during 2023. (Census Bureau, AIES44BASIC Retail Trade, 2023)
The 2023 Census Bureau profile counted 3,602 employer establishments in sewing, needlework, and piece-goods stores. (Census Bureau, 451130 profile, 2023) A later 2024 AIES table reported $521.290 million in annual payroll for these employer firms, and the 2024 inventories table reported $1.119888 billion in total inventories. (Census Bureau, AIES00BASIC; Census Bureau, AIES00INV, 2024)
The sales, payroll, establishment, and inventory measures describe the business channel, not the amount individual households spent. They also cover employer firms and therefore do not represent every seller or every informal craft transaction. The Census dollar values are reported in thousands of dollars in the tables; the figures above convert them to millions or billions for readability.
For price context, sewing machines, fabric, and supplies carried a 0.028% relative-importance weight in the August 2026 CPI-U. That weight indicates the category’s position in the CPI basket; it is not a share of household craft budgets. (BLS, CPI-U detailed expenditure categories, August 2026)
Hobby and craft-supply retail scale
The broader hobby, toy, and game-store category was much larger than the sewing and piece-goods channel. Employer stores recorded $17.515567 billion in sales or revenue in 2023, with $2.484631 billion in annual payroll and $585.444 million in first-quarter payroll. (Census Bureau, AIES44BASIC Retail Trade, 2023)
In 2024, hobby, toy, and game employer stores recorded $17.914046 billion in sales or revenue and reported $2.565974 billion in annual payroll. (Census Bureau, AIES00BASIC, 2024) These totals include toys and games as well as hobby products, so they are a broad retail indicator rather than a standalone measure of home craft purchases.
The 2022 Economic Census counted 5,130 hobby, toy, and game-store firms and 8,447 establishments. The category generated $17.570927 billion in 2022 sales or revenue. (Census Bureau, EC2200COMP, 2022) A related 2022 NAICS bridge classified 676 firms and 2,839 establishments as craft-supplies stores. (Census Bureau, EC2200BRIDGE2, 2022)
The comparison shows why category definitions matter:
| Measure | Sewing, needlework, and piece-goods stores | Hobby, toy, and game stores |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 sales or revenue | $3.270002 billion | $17.515567 billion |
| 2023 annual payroll | $484.588 million | $2.484631 billion |
| 2024 annual payroll | $521.290 million | $2.565974 billion |
The two columns are not equivalent scopes. Sewing, needlework, and piece-goods stores are narrower, while hobby, toy, and game stores combine several types of retail activity. The bridge figures are also a classification view from the 2022 Economic Census, not a household-spending survey.
Creative-material and craft-adjacent specialty stores
Home creativity is connected to other specialty retail categories, although the available figures do not identify the portion used for home crafts. Sporting-goods employer stores recorded $58.025514 billion in 2023 sales or revenue, with $7.146941 billion in annual payroll and $1.742398 billion in first-quarter payroll. (Census Bureau, AIES44BASIC Retail Trade, 2023)
Musical-instrument-and-supplies employer stores recorded $5.363101 billion in sales or revenue in 2023. Their annual payroll was $862.291 million, and first-quarter payroll was $197.334 million. (Census Bureau, AIES44BASIC Retail Trade, 2023)
Art dealers recorded $9.498482 billion in 2023 sales or revenue and reported $1.182791 billion in annual payroll. Their first-quarter payroll was $308.351 million. Book stores recorded $7.846651 billion in sales or revenue, with $1.103300 billion in annual payroll and $263.513 million in first-quarter payroll. (Census Bureau, AIES44BASIC Retail Trade, 2023)
These categories can include products used in creative hobbies, but their totals should not be labeled craft spending. They are best read as the size of adjacent retail channels that may serve people making, collecting, learning, decorating, or performing at home.
Stationery, gifts, resale, and online craft outlets
Some home craft purchases move through stores whose classifications are broader than crafts. In 2024, office-supplies, stationery, and gift employer stores recorded $7.979607 billion in sales or revenue and reported $1.142935 billion in annual payroll. Gift, novelty, and souvenir employer stores recorded $19.013006 billion in sales or revenue and reported $3.163999 billion in annual payroll. (Census Bureau, AIES00BASIC, 2024)
Used-merchandise employer stores recorded $20.802826 billion in 2024 sales or revenue and $6.125141 billion in annual payroll. This channel can include secondhand materials or equipment, but the statistic does not separate those uses. (Census Bureau, AIES00BASIC, 2024)
The 2024 category for all-other-miscellaneous-store employer firms recorded $43.518571 billion in sales or revenue and $6.445056 billion in annual payroll. Again, the category is broad and does not isolate craft products. (Census Bureau, AIES00BASIC, 2024)
Online channels were larger still in the available business data. Electronic-shopping and mail-order employer firms recorded $1.211277997 trillion in 2024 sales or revenue and reported $97.786372 billion in annual payroll. Other-direct-selling employer firms recorded $28.112622 billion in sales or revenue and $4.706296 billion in annual payroll. Neither category identifies the share attributable to craft goods. (Census Bureau, AIES00BASIC, 2024)
Recent price movement affecting home craft purchases
The BLS CPI-U provides price movement for selected product groups rather than a direct spending total. From August 2025 to August 2026, the index for sewing machines, fabric, and supplies rose 3.5%. It increased 0.1% from July to August 2026. (BLS, CPI-U detailed expenditure categories, August 2025–August 2026 and July–August 2026)
The index for toys, games, hobbies, and playground equipment rose 3.3% over the year ending August 2026 and 0.7% during the month ending August 2026. The music instruments and accessories index rose 2.9% over the year and 0.3% over the month. These categories provide adjacent price signals for hobby materials and equipment, not a complete home-craft price index. (BLS, CPI-U detailed expenditure categories, August 2025–August 2026 and July–August 2026)
| CPI-U category | 12-month change to August 2026 | One-month change to August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Sewing machines, fabric, and supplies | 3.5% | 0.1% |
| Toys, games, hobbies, and playground equipment | 3.3% | 0.7% |
| Music instruments and accessories | 2.9% | 0.3% |
| Household furnishings and supplies | 0.0% | Not supplied here |
Household furnishings and supplies had a 3.323% relative-importance weight in August 2026, and its index was unchanged over the year ending that month. (BLS, CPI-U detailed expenditure categories, August 2026 and August 2025–August 2026) Relative importance is a weighting measure in the CPI basket, not a percentage of household spending on home projects.
Taken together, the statistics show a dispersed market: household surveys provide broad budget context, Census business data show the scale of retail channels, and CPI data show price movement for selected craft-adjacent goods. None of these measures alone is a complete national total for home craft spending.