Pet grooming sits within a large and varied U.S. pet-care market. In 2025, 94 million U.S. households owned at least one pet, while 2024 spending on other services—including grooming, training, boarding, insurance, and pet sitting or walking—reached $14.3 billion. The figures below show the size of the pet population, the spending environment, grooming-related behaviors, and the employment outlook for animal care.
Contents
- Pet ownership in the United States
- Pet industry spending
- Dog and cat care habits
- Travel, celebrations, and routine care
- Bird and horse grooming behavior
- The animal-care workforce
- Retail and platform service indicators
Pet ownership in the United States
The APPA 2025 State of the Industry Report counted 94 million U.S. households with at least one pet in 2025. That was up from 82 million households in 2023. APPA also reported that 77% of U.S. pet owners said the current economy had not affected their pet ownership in 2025.
Dogs and cats represented the largest named household groups in APPA’s 2025 National Pet Owners Survey statistics. Sixty-eight million U.S. households owned a dog in 2025, and 49 million owned a cat. The same source reported 10 million households with freshwater fish and 2 million with saltwater fish.
Other household pet categories were also substantial. Six million U.S. households owned a bird in 2025, 6 million owned a reptile, and 6 million owned a small animal. Two million U.S. households owned a horse.
| Pet category | U.S. households in 2025 |
|---|---|
| Dog | 68 million |
| Cat | 49 million |
| Freshwater fish | 10 million |
| Bird | 6 million |
| Reptile | 6 million |
| Small animal | 6 million |
| Saltwater fish | 2 million |
| Horse | 2 million |
APPA’s 2025 National Pet Owners Survey statistics also described the age distribution of pet owners. Millennials represented 30% of pet owners, while Gen X represented 25% and Baby Boomers represented 25%. Gen Z represented 20%.
The ownership data matters for grooming because the potential customer base includes animals with very different care routines. Dog and cat households are the largest named groups, but bird and horse owners also reported grooming-specific behaviors in APPA’s 2024 Bird, Small Animal & Horse Owner Insight Report.
Pet industry spending
Total U.S. pet industry expenditures reached $158 billion in 2024, according to APPA Industry Trends and Stats. APPA projected U.S. pet industry expenditures of $165 billion for 2026. The 2026 figure is a projection, not a reported historical total.
APPA’s 2024 spending categories show where grooming fits within the broader market. Pet food and treats accounted for $68.3 billion. Supplies, live animals, and over-the-counter medicine accounted for $34.4 billion. Veterinary care and product sales accounted for $41.0 billion. Other services—including grooming, training, boarding, insurance, and pet sitting or walking—accounted for $14.3 billion.
These categories are reported as market segments, so the $14.3 billion figure should be read as a combined services total rather than grooming revenue alone. It nevertheless identifies the service category that includes grooming within the 2024 U.S. pet-industry spending picture.
Consumer purchasing patterns also show spending beyond basic food. In the APPA 2025 Dog & Cat Report, 41% of dog owners purchased premium food in 2024, compared with 38% of cat owners. Basic food was purchased by 26% of dog owners and 38% of cat owners. Mixers or toppers were purchased by 16% of dog owners and 19% of cat owners, while pre- and probiotic diets were purchased by 13% of dog owners and 12% of cat owners.
Dog owners’ reported wellness purchases included vitamins or supplements: 53% gave their dogs vitamins or supplements in 2024, according to the APPA 2025 Dog & Cat Report. The APPA 2024 Dog & Cat Owner Insight Report found that 59% of dog owners and 52% of cat owners used some type of calming product in 2024. Among dog owners who gave supplements, 15% used an anxiety or calming supplement.
Dog and cat care habits
The available APPA data includes several measures of cat care that sit alongside grooming and general maintenance. In 2024, 48% of cat owners used some type of training method. Thirty-two percent had a leash, 22% owned a harness, and 27% owned a non-flea collar. These are ownership or use measures reported for cat owners, not estimates of grooming frequency.
Cat owners also reported spending on experiences and merchandise. Twenty-one percent hosted a holiday or birthday party for their cat in 2024, and 34% purchased pet-themed merchandise, according to the APPA 2025 Dog & Cat Report.
The APPA 2024 Dog & Cat Owner Insight Report recorded similar celebration measures for dogs. Forty-four percent of dog owners bought a gift for their pet’s birthday in 2024, while 32% of cat owners did so. Twenty-seven percent of dog owners hosted a holiday or birthday party for their pet, compared with 20% of cat owners.
| Reported owner behavior in 2024 | Dog owners | Cat owners |
|---|---|---|
| Bought a birthday gift | 44% | 32% |
| Hosted a holiday or birthday party | 27% | 20% |
| Used a calming product | 59% | 52% |
| Tailored travel plans to accommodate the pet | 55% | 36% |
The same report found that 55% of dog owners tailored travel plans to accommodate their pets, compared with 36% of cat owners. These figures describe owner behavior and should not be treated as direct measures of grooming appointments or home-grooming frequency.
Travel, celebrations, and routine care
Travel data provides another view of how owners incorporate pets into routines. In the APPA 2024 Dog & Cat Owner Insight Report, 50% of dog owners took their dogs with them on foot at least once a week in 2024. Fifty-three percent took their dogs with them in the car for errands or routines at least once a week.
For travel during the past year, 88% of dog owners traveled with their pets in the car and 90% of cat owners traveled with their pets in the car. The report also recorded plane travel: 68% of dog owners and 80% of cat owners traveled with their pets by plane in the past year.
The report separately measured more frequent trips. Thirty-four percent of dog owners took their dogs on three or more car trips in the past year, compared with 30% of cat owners. For plane trips, 22% of dog owners and 22% of cat owners took their pets on three or more trips.
These travel measures cover the past year as defined by the report, while the weekly walking and errand measures refer to 2024. They indicate the types of routines in which owners may need to consider general pet care, but they do not quantify grooming demand directly.
Bird and horse grooming behavior
The APPA 2024 Bird, Small Animal & Horse Owner Insight Report included direct grooming-related measures for birds and horses. Forty-two percent of bird owners said they now seek professional grooming services.
Horse owners reported both in-person and online purchasing of grooming tools. Fifty-six percent purchased grooming tools in person, while 29% purchased them online. The report said online grooming-tools purchasing among horse owners was up 53% over the last six years. That comparison describes a change over a six-year period; it does not provide a dollar value or identify the starting and ending totals in the supplied data.
The bird and horse figures illustrate that grooming-related activity can involve either professional services or product purchases. The bird measure concerns seeking professional grooming services, whereas the horse measures concern where grooming tools were purchased. They are different metrics and should not be combined into a single grooming rate.
The animal-care workforce
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected 11% growth in employment for animal care and service workers from 2024 to 2034. BLS projected 81,700 annual openings for these workers over that decade and estimated that 439,400 animal care and service workers were employed in 2024.
Wage figures vary by the BLS measure used. BLS reported a median annual wage of $33,470 for animal caretakers in May 2024. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook summary for animal care and service workers reported a median annual wage of $33,860 per year. These are separate published figures with different labels, so they are presented separately rather than treated as one number.
The employment projection covers animal care and service workers as a broad occupational group. It is not a grooming-only forecast. Groomers may be included within the broader category, but the supplied BLS figures do not isolate grooming employment, grooming wages, or grooming job openings.
Retail and platform service indicators
Company reports provide additional indicators for businesses that combine pet products and services. In its 2024 Annual Report, Petco reported $999.571 million in services and other revenue for fiscal 2024, compared with $981.574 million in fiscal 2023 and $805.452 million in fiscal 2022.
Petco reported total net sales of $6.116 billion in fiscal 2024, $6.255 billion in fiscal 2023, and $6.036 billion in fiscal 2022. Its fiscal 2024 product sales were $5.117 billion. The company reported $3.792 billion in total cost of sales, $2.324 billion in gross profit, $7.051 million in operating income, and a $101.816 million net loss in fiscal 2024.
Petco’s Q3 2024 earnings release reported $1.51 billion in net revenue for the quarter. It also reported that the services and other business grew 5.0% year over year. The quarter-specific result and fiscal-year figures use different reporting periods and should be kept distinct.
Rover’s reports provide a separate platform-based view of pet services. Rover’s 2022 Annual Report said more than four million unique pet parents had booked a service through December 31, 2022. Rover said those four million unique pet parents represented about 3% of an estimated 137 million pet households across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe.
Rover reported 5.6 million total bookings in 2022, up 32% year over year, in its Q4/FY 2022 results. Its 2021 Annual Report said 81% of bookings were repeat bookings in 2021 and 86% were from repeat customers in 2020. The same report said 84% of bookings were from repeat customers in 2019. These Rover figures describe the company’s broader pet-service platform, not grooming-only bookings, and the 137 million-household figure is an estimate identified by Rover.