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Please provide demographic information regarding cat ownership, specifically as it relates to income, age, gender, marital status, homeownership, geography and as much else as you can find. We're also interested in learning more about attitudes towards cats as pets.
Hello! Thank you for your request to provide demographic information regarding cat ownership in the US. The short version is that a cat owner in the US is on average a 43 year old white, married female who earns at least $37,000 per annum, she owns 2 cats and her children are older than 18 or at the very least approaching that age. The average cat owner in the US resides in in a suburban environment, where she owns her residence either in New England or the Pacific North-West and she considers her cat to be a part of her family. The cat food market in the US has grown at a CAGR of 4% from $6.99 billion in 2014 to $7.56 billion in 2016, with wet food comprising 37.2% of the market.
METHODOLOGY
I have scoured the Internet for articles, papers and statistics related to this subject.
I have only included statistics that were corroborated by unrelated sources, so as to provide the most accurate demographic information as possible.
Below is a breakdown of demographic statistics as it relates to US cat owners.
INCOME
According Pew Research, 26% of households that have an aggregate annual income of more than $100,000 own at least one cat. In fact, the average annual household income for cat owners is $37,000 per year, this is $1,000 more than the average for all pet owning households across the US, out of a total of 42.9 million households that own cats.
AGE
Pew Research shows that 25% of households, with the head of the household aged between 30-49 own a cat. This is supported by Pet Place's report, which states that the average age of the head of the household is 47 years old, and that the average cat owner's age is 43 years.
GENDER
Research shows that 25% of women in the US own cats, as opposed to 21% for men. Several other reports state that Women are more likely to own cats than men.
RACE
MARITAL STATUS
According to Pew Research, 60.5% of cat owners are married, 17.5% never married and 22% are divorced.
Pew Research also shows that virtually the same amount of households with children under 18 and only children above 18 have cats.This would suggest that the average cat owner has children aged around 18 years old, slightly leaning towards over 18 only.
HOMEOWNERSHIP
According to a report by Humane Society, 30 million pets live in rental housing in the US. Considering there are an estimated 163.6 million cats and dogs as pets in the US, it is most likely that the average cat owner owns the house they reside in.
GEOGRAPHY
Business Insider provides an excellent visual representation of the distribution of cats across the US. From this we see that the two most congested (by far) regions in the US for cat owners are New England and the Pacific North-West.
CAT FOOD MARKET SIZE
According to statista, the US cat food market reached $6.99 billion in 2014. According to Euro Monitor, the US market has shown annual growth of 4% over the period 2011-2016 (and is expected to continue said growth), therefore we can calculate the current market size for cat food in the US to be:
6.99*1.04*1.04 = $7.56 billion. From the Statista report we see the breakdown by type to be 54.36% dry food, 37.2% wet food and 8.44% treats. If we apply these percentages to the current market size we see (in billions $):
2014 2016
Dry Cat Food 3.8 4.11
Wet Cat Food 2.6 2.81
Cat Treat 0.59 0.64
total 6.99 7.56
SOME OTHER STATISTICS
78% of cat owners consider their cat to be part of the family, this rises to 86% for those individuals who never married.
The number of cats as pets in the US has increased steadily from 73 million in 2000, to 85.8 million in 2016. (This number varies greatly from various sources, but considering (since the APPA only revels reports every second year) that the numbers for 'in-between' years are based on estimates, based on the previous year's growth rate, the lower numbers are likely more accurate.)
Also, there are numerous articles, citing the increasing adoration and love for cats (and pets in general), Pop Sci cites a scientific study that sheds light on an ever increasing awareness of cats' appreciation (which logically would translate to a more favorable public view), as does Wired.com (more generally stated towards pets but does include cats as a part of the study).
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, a cat owner in the US is on average a 43 year old white, married female who earns at least $37,000 per annum, she owns 2 cats and her children are older than 18 or at the very least approaching that age. The average cat owner in the US resides in in a suburban environment, where she owns her residence either in New England or the Pacific North-West and she considers her cat to be a part of her family. The cat food market in the US has grown at a CAGR of 4% from $6.99 billion in 2014 to $7.56 billion in 2016, with wet food comprising 37.2% of the market.
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