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.
