US pet industry spending

Between 2005 and 2022, US frozen pizza sales and pet industry spending both grew, correlating at 0.9638 across eighteen data points. The American household is, by the data, simultaneously eating worse and treating its animals better, which is either a commentary on priorities or a description of a very specific Friday evening. The frozen pizza goes in the oven. The premium kibble goes in the bowl. The human and the dog are both fed, and neither is eating particularly well by the standards of a nutritionist, but both are eating better than the data from 2005.

Frozen pizza sales grew from roughly $4 billion to over $7 billion, driven by product quality improvements and convenience trends. Pet industry spending grew from $36 billion to over $136 billion, driven by pet humanization and premium products. Both are long-run consumer spending trends across 18 years, reflecting American willingness to spend on convenience and on their animals in parallel.

Eighteen years of consumer spending growth in two household categories will produce a strong correlation. The frozen pizza and the pet food describe a household's spending patterns, not a causal relationship between dinner quality and animal care.