american minute.

When do Americans go shopping?

On an average weekday, the share of Americans shopping or using services peaks at 11:15 AM, when 4.3% of people age 15 and older (about 10.8 million) are shopping or using services. On weekends it peaks at 1:15 PM (6.3%). Averaged over all days, Americans spend 27 min a day shopping or using services.

See shopping & services minute by minute ↗

12 AM6 AM12 PM6 PM12 AM
Share of Americans shopping or using services, by local time. Solid: weekdays. Dashed: weekends. Scale: 0–6.3%.

Shopping & services by hour

Share and number of Americans shopping or using services at the top of each hour.

TimeWeekdaysPeopleWeekendsPeople
12 AM<0.1%207,000<0.1%191,000
1 AM<0.1%128,000<0.1%108,000
2 AM<0.1%80,000<0.1%70,000
3 AM<0.1%84,000<0.1%42,000
4 AM<0.1%89,000<0.1%57,000
5 AM<0.1%116,000<0.1%105,000
6 AM0.1%356,0000.1%266,000
7 AM0.3%826,0000.3%737,000
8 AM1.0%2.4 million0.8%2.0 million
9 AM2.1%5.2 million2.1%5.2 million
10 AM3.2%8.1 million3.7%9.4 million
11 AM4.1%10.2 million5.1%12.7 million
12 PM3.9%9.7 million5.5%13.9 million
1 PM3.9%9.8 million6.0%15.2 million
2 PM4.0%10.0 million5.9%14.9 million
3 PM3.7%9.3 million5.3%13.4 million
4 PM3.4%8.7 million4.6%11.5 million
5 PM3.1%7.8 million3.8%9.5 million
6 PM2.7%6.7 million2.7%6.8 million
7 PM2.1%5.4 million1.9%4.7 million
8 PM1.4%3.6 million1.4%3.4 million
9 PM0.8%2.0 million0.8%2.1 million
10 PM0.3%806,0000.4%1.0 million
11 PM0.2%426,0000.2%404,000

What it includes

Average time per weekday, for the activities in this group that take the most time.

  • Shopping, except groceries, food and gas: 11 min a day
  • Grocery shopping: 5 min a day
  • Using health and care services outside the home: 4 min a day
  • Purchasing food (not groceries): 1 min a day
  • Using personal care services: 1 min a day

More

About these numbers

Estimates come from all 258,954 diaries in the American Time Use Survey (Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau), 2003–2025, weighted to the U.S. civilian population age 15 and older and pooled across years. Times are local clock time. Counts are people on an average day of that type, not a live count. Weekdays are Monday–Friday. How the estimates work.