US Toy Sales Statistics (2019–2021)
As one of the largest online shopping categories among consumers, it’s no surprise that the US toy industry is raking in dozens of billions of dollars annually.
According to the latest toy sales statistics in the US, consumers spent $38.19 billion on toys in 2021. This marks a whopping 14.2 percent increase from the previous year and comes despite overall reduced consumer spending as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The increase is, however, a slowdown compared to the previous year. In 2020, total sales from the US toy market grew 20.6 percent to $33.43 billion.
Analysts attribute the growth of the US toy market in 2021 to the pandemic, which affected consumer behavior. With restrictions on travel and leisure in place, many people diverted their money to alternative forms of entertainment, such as toys.
US Toy Sales Statistics: Best-Performing Categories
US toy sales statistics show that in 2021, outdoor and sports toys performed the best in terms of overall sales. US consumers spent $5.86 billion on this category—8.4 percent more than they did in 2020.
Outdoor and sports toys, however, aren’t the fastest-growing toy category from 2020 to 2021. With an annual growth rate of 35 percent, explorative and other toys saw the biggest increase among all the categories in the US toy market. In fact, $2.15 billion was spent on them in 2021, compared to $1.59 billion in 2020.
The second best-performing category of the US toy industry is dolls. Sales for them grew 3.7 percent from $3.65 billion in 2020 to $3.78 billion in 2021.
This is followed by toys for infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, which grew by 10.5 percent to $3.69 billion. Games and puzzles are the fourth-best performing category in terms of total sales. Overall, consumers in the US spent 14.4 percent more on them in 2021 to total $3.34 billion in sales. Building sets round up the five largest categories of the US toy market in 2021, increasing 16.4 percent to bring in $2.67 billion in sales.
The only toys to experience a fall in sales in 2021 were youth electronics. After a 2.7 percent rise in 2020, sales from this category dipped slightly by 0.4 percent to total $470 million in 2021.