Online Shopping Has Skyrocketed: Here Are Trends in Your State (2024)

COVID-19 has supercharged online shopping in the US. This trend isn’t evenly distributed across the country, though.

That’s according to a new report from comparison shopping service LendingTree. LendingTree’s report uses the latest data from the Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey to find online shopping trends for those who want to stay on the pulse of local economies as the pandemic progresses.

First, the general trend: Nearly half (49 percent) of Americans reported that they had made more online purchases than usual over a seven-day period from mid-to-late September. Specifically, the top ten states where residents made more purchases online were California (56.5 percent), Washington (55.3 percent), Massachusetts (54.7 percent), District of Columbia (53.4 percent), Virginia (53 percent), New Jersey (52.7 percent), Rhode Island (52.5 percent), New Hampshire (52.2 percent), Delaware (52.1 percent), and Connecticut (52.1 percent).

That’s five states in the Northeast (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut), two Western states (California and Washington), two Southern states (Virginia and Delaware), and the District of Columbia.

There were no Northeastern states in the bottom ten. Those slots were dominated by the South, West, and Midwest: Alabama (42.5 percent), Tennessee (41.3 percent), Montana (41.2 percent), Oklahoma (40.3 percent), New Mexico (40.2 percent), South Dakota (40.1 percent), Arkansas (40.0 percent), Louisiana (39.8 percent), Mississippi (39.1 percent), and Wyoming (38.0 percent).

In terms of demographic distribution, the report looked at age, race, education, and household income to better understand online shopping trends. Unsurprisingly, younger age groups made more purchases online than usual, with the 25-to-39 age group leading the way (54.3 percent) and the 65-and-older age group with the lowest percentage (43.3 percent).

Out of all the shoppers that made more purchases online, Asian (57.6 percent) and White (50.1 percent) shoppers led the way. Latino (45.9 percent) and Black (43.9 percent) shoppers followed.

Higher education levels correlated with higher spending. Only 29.4 percent of respondents with less than a high school education made more online purchases, compared to 61.2 percent of shoppers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

There was also a correlation between household income and making more online purchases. Households with an income of less than $25,000 had only 35.3 percent of respondents making more online purchases than expected. That percentage increased to more than 50 percent for households with income levels above $75,000.