Parents expect to spend an average of nearly $900 per child on back-to-school shopping this year: GMA/Ipsos Parents Poll
The first-ever GMA/Ipsos Parents poll finds that a majority of parents with children in kindergarten through 12th grade say prices for things they normally buy for back-to-school shopping are more expensive this year than last year, and they expect to spend nearly $900 per child this year on items to get them ready to go back to the classroom.
The poll, which surveyed U.S. parents of children under 18 with children entering kindergarten through 12th grade, finds 68% saying things they normally buy are more expensive this year than they were last year, while 30% say prices are about the same.
Wider majorities of Democratic parents (76%) and independent parents (70%) say prices are more expensive than last year, while a smaller majority of Republican parents (56%) say they are more expensive.
Although parents across the board have noticed higher prices, just 4 in 10 overall say they expect to spend more money on back-to-school shopping this year. Another 46% say they are planning to spend the same amount, and just 13% say they expect to spend less this year.
There are some demographic differences on spending expectations this year. Parents with lower incomes, without college degrees and those under 40 are all more likely to say they are expecting to spend more this year.
Just over half of parents with household incomes of less than $50,000 (52%) say they are more likely to spend more money on back-to-school shopping this year, compared to 34% of those with incomes of $100,000 or more. Parents without college degrees are also more likely to say they are going to spend more this year (46%) than those with four-year degrees (32%).
Just under half of parents under age 40, 47%, say they expect to spend more on back-to-school shopping this year, compared with 34% of parents ages 40 to 49.
Democratic parents (43%) and independent parents (44%) are both more likely to say they expect to spend more this year than usual compared to Republican parents (33%). A 55% majority of Republican parents say they expect to spend about the same amount as usual this year.
In all, parents expect to spend an average of $885 per child this year on back-to-school shopping. That includes an average of $337 on items for after-school activities, including sports; $275 on clothing and shoes; $118 on school supplies, including backpacks and lunchboxes; $102 on technology, including tablets, laptops, and calculators; and $52 on books.
Parents of high schoolers and middle schoolers say they expect to spend far more on clothing and shoes on average ($332 and $290, respectively) than elementary school parents ($218).
Black parents on average expect to spend more on clothing and shoes ($447) than Hispanic ($300), white ($239) or Asian parents ($211).
Parents who themselves are college-educated are the most likely to expect to spend more on items for after-school activities, about $503 on average, compared to $207 among parents without college degrees. Those with higher incomes are also more likely to spend more on after-school activity items: Parents with incomes of $100,000 or more say they expect to spend $415 on average, over three times as much as those who make under $50,000 ($113 on average).
Methodology -- This GMA/Ipsos Parents poll was conducted using Ipsos' Knowledge Panel, July 28-30 among 1,213 U.S. parents of children under 18 who have at least one child enrolling in kindergarten through 12th grade for the 2026-2027 school year in public, private, religious or home school. The overall error margin is +/- 3.1 percentage points. Error margins are larger among subgroups.
ABC News' Liz Schreier contributed to this report.
See PDF for full results and detailed methodology.
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