An overwhelming majority of Generation Z and millennial consumers feel an engagement ring should cost less than $2,500, according to a new study from TD Ameritrade on young Americans and marriage, conducted by the Harris Poll.
Perhaps the most striking number: More than 80 percent of Gen Z shoppers feel that their engagement rings should cost less than $2,500.
Fifty-four percent of that generation’s consumers wanted to spend less than $1,000 on a ring, while 28 percent feel a ring should carry a price tag between $1,000 and $2,500, the study found. By contrast, 11 percent expected to cough up between $2,500 and $5,000, and only 7 percent felt they should retail for more than $5,000.
Young millennials were a little bit more willing to spend: 39 percent said their engagement rings should cost less than $1,000, and 30 percent said they should go for $1,000–$2,500. Eighteen percent said they should cost $2,500–$5,000, and 14 percent expected to pay more than $5,000.
Older consumers expected to part with more cash, perhaps because they’d actually been in the market. Twenty-one percent expected their rings to cost less than $1,000, while 36 percent expected rings to set them back between $1,000 and $2,500. Twenty-seven percent pegged the price as between $2,500 and $5,000, and 16 percent expected to shell out more than $5,000.
The survey found that women of all ages expected to spend less on engagement rings than men, although there was a smaller gap between younger men and women shoppers than among the older consumers.
Surveys have generally found the average engagement ring price to top $5,000.
The survey also found four in 10 millennials plan to foot the bill for their own weddings, while only 7 percent of parents expect that they won’t contribute.
The survey was conducted online by the Harris Poll on behalf of TD Ameritrade from February 28 to March 14, 2019, among 3,054 U.S. adults and teens ages 15 and older. The full study, titled “Young Americans & Marriage Survey,” can be seen here.
(Image: Getty)
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