United States Retail Sales Mom

Last Release

Jan 31, 2025

Actual

-0.9

Units In

0.7

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Mar 17, 2025

Time to Release

27 Days 22 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
18.2 May 2020	-14.7 Apr 2020	0.4 %	1992-2025	U.S. Census Bureau

Retail sales report in the US provides aggregated measure of sales of retail goods and services over a period of a month. There are thirteen major types of retailers: Motor vehicle & parts dealers (around 20 percent of total sales), Food & beverage stores (13%), General merchandise stores (12.5%), Food services & drinking places (11%), Gasoline stations (10%), Nonstore retailers (9.2%), Building material & garden dealers (6%), Health & personal care stores (6%), Clothing & clothing accessories stores (5%), Miscellaneous store retailers (2.3%), Furniture stores (2%), Electronics & appliance stores (2%) and Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores (1.7%).

Latest Updates

Retail sales in the US contracted 0.9% month-over-month in January 2025, much worse than forecasts of a 0.1% drop, and following an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in December. It is the biggest decline in retail sales since March 2023, with severe weather and LA fires weighing on consumer spending. Sales at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & book stores (-4.6%) recorded the biggest decline, followed by motor vehicles and part dealers (-2.8%); nonstore retailers (-1.9%); furniture (-1.7%); building material & garden equipment (-1.3%); clothing (-1.2%); health and personal care (-0.3%) and food and beverages (-0.1%). In contrast, sales rose at gasoline stations (0.9%); food services & drinking places (0.9%); general merchandise stores (0.5%) and miscellaneous store retailers (0.2%). Meanwhile, sales excluding food services, auto dealers, building materials stores and gasoline stations, which are used to calculate GDP, decreased 0.8%. Retail sales data is not adjusted for inflation.