US pet industry spending

As EV charging stations have proliferated, pet industry spending has grown, a correlation of 0.984 that is essentially a survey of the upper-middle-class American garage: an EV charger on one wall and a shelf of premium dog food on the other. The car charges, the dog eats, and both purchases are made by the same household with the same credit card. The chart is a household budget in disguise.

EV chargers grew from about 8,000 to over 160,000 between 2010 and 2022. Pet spending grew from about 50 billion to over 136 billion. Both serve the same affluent homeowner demographic: EV chargers require a garage, premium pet food requires disposable income, and both scale with suburban homeownership. The correlation is partly a demographic overlap—the same household that invests in sustainable transportation also invests in premium pet care.

Thirteen years of EV chargers and pet spending is a portrait of the American household circa 2022: electric vehicle in the driveway, artisanal dog food in the pantry, and a monthly budget that accommodates both without blinking. The charger plugs in, the bowl fills up, and the correlation is just a ZIP code with two line items.