US Personal Care Industry (2018–2028)
In 2024, beauty and personal care is expected to rank among the top online shopping in the United States, with sales forecast at $29.9 billion. By experts’ estimations, sales in this category will continue to grow every year until at least 2028.
This makes starting an online business in this sector extremely attractive. But given the immensity of the beauty industry, you may want to consider starting small and focusing on a specific niche, such as personal care.
Here’s a breakdown of the US personal care industry and its performance over the years.
US personal care industry: 2018–2024
According to the latest data, the US personal care industry has generally been increasing over the past few years. In 2018, revenue from the US personal care industry registered at $40.6 billion. As the biggest revenue-generating category in the overarching beauty industry, personal care products accounted for 47% of overall sales generated from the beauty sector in 2018. In other words, nearly $1 out of every $2 spent on beauty items that year was on personal care products.
The following year saw annual revenues from the US personal care industry rise by 1.8%, to $41.3 billion. A year later, US personal care industry revenues held relatively steady, growing by a fractional 0.3%, to $41.4 billion.
In 2021, growth accelerated and revenues increased to $42 billion. This was followed by annual growths of around 3% in 2022 and 2023, as revenues hit $43.3 billion and $44.7 billion, respectively.
US personal care industry: 2025–2028 forecast
The annual growth rate of the US personal care industry from 2025 is set to decelerate slightly from that of the previous years. Experts expect the sector to increase its revenues by 1.8% in 2025, to $46.3 billion.
The personal care sector is forecast to continue to be the largest segment of the US beauty industry. At $48.8 billion, its expected revenues in 2028 are still expected to be much higher than those of other subcategories, such as skin care ($27.3 billion), cosmetics ($23.1 billion), and fragrances ($9.5 billion).
Analysts predict that the US personal care industry will continue to grow. Here are its expected annual growth rates and revenues:
- 2026: $47.1 billion (1.7%)
- 2027: $48 billion (1.9%)
- 2028: $48.8 billion (1.6%)
Even though personal care will continue to hold the lion’s share of the beauty industry’s sales in the coming years, its share is set to decline. In 2028, the personal care sector is expected to make up 44.2% of total beauty sales—2.8 percentage points lower than its share a decade ago.