Note from the editor: I’m including a hyperlink next to every statistic in this piece so you can check the math yourself. None of these numbers are mine — they come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pew Research Center, the U.S. Department of Labor, the McKinsey Global Institute, Harvard Business Review and similar sources.
When a family decides which plumber to call, where to eat dinner or which pediatrician to trust, the person making that call is overwhelmingly the same: Mom.
American households spent an average of $78,535 on goods and services in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. Across the country’s roughly 134 million consumer units, that adds up to more than $10 trillion in household spending each year — and women, particularly mothers, control or influence the vast majority of it.
Mothers are increasingly the financial center of the American family. A landmark Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data found that 40% of households with children under 18 include a mother who is the sole or primary breadwinner, up from 11% in 1960. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that 40.5% of all mothers are equal, primary or sole earners for their families — a share that climbs to 65.9% for Black mothers.
Beyond earning the money, mothers decide where it goes. Research compiled by Harvard Business Review found that women make 94% of home furnishing decisions, 92% of vacation decisions, 91% of new home purchases, 60% of automotive decisions and 51% of consumer electronics purchases. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that women make about 80% of family healthcare decisions — selecting doctors, insurance plans and treatments for spouses and children. Research firm Nielsen projects that women will control 75% of all discretionary consumer spending by 2028.
Mothers also do the unpaid work that keeps households running. The National Partnership for Women & Families, analyzing the American Time Use Survey, valued women’s unpaid caregiving at more than $625 billion per year. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that unpaid household work performed disproportionately by women is worth roughly $1.5 trillion annually — a figure not counted in GDP.
The macroeconomic stakes are significant. McKinsey’s Power of Parity report calculated that closing gender gaps in U.S. labor force participation, hours worked and sector representation could add $2.1 trillion to U.S. GDP, requiring 6.4 million new jobs. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau estimates that if American women’s labor force participation matched Canada or Germany, the workforce would gain about 5 million women and generate $775 billion in additional annual economic activity.
For Salem business owners, the implication is concrete. Whether a downtown restaurant fills tables on a Tuesday night, whether a contractor wins a $15,000 roofing job or whether a family books a coast weekend — those decisions are made disproportionately by mothers comparing options on their phones between school pickup and dinner.
The American consumer economy doesn’t just include moms. It largely runs on them.