Father’s Day spending

Father’s Day is almost here, but are dads getting stiffed on gifts in 2023? Well, less than half (42%) of American adults say they’ll be buying a gift for dad this year, according to the latest research from Finder.

This is well below the 55% who said they planned to buy Mother’s Day gifts. While 33% of respondents said they were buying gifts for both their parents, just 9% said they were shopping for just dad, while 22% said they were buying for just mom.

With 109 million adults saying they plan to buy a gift for Father’s Day, at an average of $60, we’re looking at a total spend of $7 billion on gifts for dad — about $4 billion less than the $11 billion spent on Mother’s Day.

Men more likely to be buying dad a gift

Men are more likely to say they’re buying a gift for Father’s Day, with a combined 45% saying they’re buying a gift compared to 40% of women. About 10% of women say they’re buying a gift for just dad, slightly more than men at (8%).

Related: Father's Day is the 5th most deadly holiday weekend to drive

Men ($100) will be spending twice as much as women ($50) on dad.

Two-thirds if Gen Z shopping for dad

Roughly 64% of Gen Z say they’re buying a gift for Father’s Day. About 10% of both Gen Z and Millennials said they’re only buying Father’s Day gifts in 2023.

Millennials will be spending the most on dad at $100, while all other generations plan to spend an average of $50.

No Father’s Day shoppers

In the South, roughly 45% say they’re buying Father’s Day gifts, closely followed by the West (44%). However, the West is also home to those spending the most on dad, with an average of $83.50 spent on gifts.

Closing the gap between spending on Mother’s and Father’s Day

Maybe it’s spending fatigue with Father’s Day coming so quickly after Mother’s Day (or maybe it’s just that moms are worth more), but there is a way to close that 20% gulf between spending on mom and dad if we look ahead to Father’s Day 2024.

Right now, there’s a whole bunch of high-yield savings accounts offering between 4-5% APY. If you were to put $1,000 into an account earning 4.5% APY and contribute $122 each month, you’d earn about $75 in interest over the year. This means you could spend as much on dad as you are on mom just from the interest on your savings.

When is Father’s Day?

If you’re wondering when is Father’s Day this year, it’s pretty easy to remember, as Father’s Day always falls on the third Sunday in June. Father’s Day 2023 will be on Sunday, June 18, 2023.

• Methodology

  Finder’s Consumer Confidence Index is a nationally representative survey polling more than 6,000 Americans about household finances since October 2022.

  Our Father’s Day Shopping data is based on an online survey of 2,113 US adults commissioned by Finder and conducted by Qualtrics/SAP between April 11-20, 2023, with representative quotas for sex and age.

  We assume the 2,113 participants in our survey represent the US population of 259.2 million Americans who are at least 18 years old, according to the July 2022 US Census Bureau population estimate. This assumption is made at the 95% confidence level with a 2% margin of error.

  Our survey asked people whether they plan to buy either their mom or dad a gift for either Mother’s or Father’s Day and, if so, how much they plan to spend on that parent.

  We define generations by birth year according to the Pew Research Center’s generational guidelines, though we’ve combined baby boomers and the Silent Generation into a single group for sampling ease:

  • Gen Z — any adults born post-1997
  • Millennials — 1981–1996
  • Gen X — 1965–1980
  • Baby boomers — anyone born pre-1964

  We define geographical regions as defined by the US Census Bureau.