Advance Monthly Retail and Food Services Survey · Sales by kind of business, seasonally adjusted
How much do US stores and restaurants sell, and what do they sell it as?
The month ended : of the 17 lines, the change over a year was largest for Gasoline stations, up 28.1%, and smallest for Health and personal care, down 1.2%.
Retail and food services sales by kind of business, totals, each month
- Retail and food services745.0402.2 to 745.0
- Without motor vehicles605.2335.7 to 605.2
- Without gasoline stations677.0375.6 to 677.0
- Without motor vehicles and gas537.2309.1 to 537.2
Retail and food services sales by kind of business, stores, each month
- Motor vehicle and parts dealers139.866.4 to 141.0
- Furniture and home furnishings10.73.8 to 12.2
- Electronics and appliances7.93.2 to 8.0
- Building materials and garden44.127.9 to 44.6
- Food and beverage stores85.158.2 to 85.1
- Health and personal care39.525.4 to 40.2
- Gasoline stations68.026.6 to 68.0
- Clothing and accessories26.52.6 to 26.5
Retail and food services sales by kind of business, more stores and food service, each month
- Sporting goods, hobby, music, books8.73.5 to 8.7
- General merchandise stores81.856.1 to 81.8
- Miscellaneous stores15.86.4 to 16.3
- Nonstore retailers124.343.7 to 124.3
- Food services and drinking places92.929.8 to 92.9
Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one month to a point, on a scale shared by the rows of the tab, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a month with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.
Observed .
Right now
Over a year to September 2026, of the 17 lines on this page the change was largest for Gasoline stations, up 28.1%, and smallest for Health and personal care, down 1.2%.
Of these lines, 16 rose, 1 fell and 0 did not change over the year (ours, from the published values).
By lineOver a year, ours
Retail and food services sales by kind of business, change over a year, by line
- Totals
- Stores
- More stores and food service
Each bar is the change in one line over a year, the largest first, with its rank at the left and its newest value under the figure. A line with its own page links it from its name. A change below zero runs to the left of the zero line. The colour says which section of the page a line is in.
Observed .
Retail and food services sales by kind of business, change over a year in each month
| Line | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail and food services | +2.8 | +2.9 | +2.1 | +2.2 | +3.5 | +3.6 | +4.1 | +6.7 | +5.9 | +4.5 | +5.6 | +6.3 |
| Without motor vehicles | +3.2 | +3.7 | +2.9 | +2.7 | +3.4 | +4.8 | +5.6 | +7.2 | +5.9 | +5.2 | +6.3 | +7.2 |
| Without gasoline stations | +2.9 | +2.8 | +2.2 | +2.6 | +3.9 | +2.6 | +2.6 | +5.1 | +4.9 | +3.5 | +4.3 | +4.5 |
| Without motor vehicles and gas | +3.4 | +3.7 | +3.1 | +3.2 | +3.8 | +3.7 | +3.8 | +5.2 | +4.6 | +3.9 | +4.8 | +5.0 |
| Motor vehicle and parts dealers | +1.0 | −0.3 | −1.2 | +0.1 | +4.0 | −1.4 | −1.8 | +4.7 | +6.1 | +1.8 | +2.3 | +2.5 |
| Furniture and home furnishings | −0.5 | −2.3 | −7.1 | −4.9 | −5.1 | −1.0 | −3.5 | +0.5 | −0.8 | −3.3 | −0.4 | +4.9 |
| Electronics and appliances | +5.6 | +4.9 | +4.1 | +4.9 | +6.1 | +6.3 | +7.8 | +6.8 | +6.7 | +5.2 | +8.3 | +9.4 |
| Building materials and garden | −4.7 | −2.8 | +0.5 | +4.8 | +4.0 | +3.2 | +2.7 | +5.0 | +5.2 | +5.6 | +5.4 | +4.5 |
| Food and beverage stores | +1.9 | +1.8 | +1.1 | +1.3 | −0.5 | +0.6 | +1.3 | +2.3 | +1.0 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.9 |
| Health and personal care | +5.5 | +4.9 | +5.6 | −2.9 | −2.4 | −1.8 | −2.2 | −1.2 | −2.2 | −2.3 | −0.8 | −1.2 |
| Gasoline stations | +1.4 | +3.4 | +1.4 | −2.6 | −0.5 | +16.1 | +22.6 | +26.9 | +18.5 | +17.4 | +21.0 | +28.1 |
| Clothing and accessories | +7.0 | +7.7 | +5.3 | +4.2 | +8.7 | +7.0 | +5.4 | +6.2 | +4.1 | +4.2 | +4.3 | +5.0 |
| Sporting goods, hobby, music, books | +3.8 | +5.6 | +3.4 | +5.8 | +8.7 | +4.7 | +11.7 | +11.1 | +12.0 | +9.0 | +9.5 | +9.6 |
| General merchandise stores | +1.9 | +1.7 | +1.3 | +1.3 | +2.6 | +3.5 | +3.4 | +4.9 | +3.4 | +3.6 | +4.6 | +4.2 |
| Miscellaneous stores | +10.7 | +15.9 | +9.8 | +11.2 | +12.3 | +7.8 | +10.6 | +10.5 | +9.7 | +10.1 | +18.1 | +10.9 |
| Nonstore retailers | +6.1 | +6.1 | +4.7 | +6.7 | +7.3 | +8.3 | +8.1 | +9.5 | +9.8 | +6.6 | +7.8 | +8.2 |
| Food services and drinking places | +4.2 | +4.6 | +4.1 | +3.4 | +5.3 | +2.4 | +2.7 | +4.2 | +4.3 | +5.2 | +5.8 | +7.0 |
Each chip is one month's change from the same month a year earlier. The mark in its middle is zero: a fill to the right of it is a rise and a fill to the left a fall. A longer, brighter fill is a larger change, in five steps up to 9.8 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign.
Observed .
Understanding retail sales by kind
Where it stands today
The largest change over a year was Gasoline stations, up 28.1%, in September 2026.
What do the lines of this page measure?
This page shows the Census Bureau's monthly estimate of retail and food services sales: the total, the total with motor vehicle and parts dealers or gasoline stations left out, and 13 kinds of business, from motor vehicle dealers to restaurants. The Census Bureau adjusts the values for seasonal variation and for differences in holidays and trading days, but not for changes in prices: they are in dollars of the month they were spent.
Read more
The Census Bureau groups stores by what they mainly sell (its North American Industry Classification System). Nonstore retailers are businesses that sell to households without a store, such as mail-order and online sellers.
What 500metrics adds: the change over a year of every line, ranked across the page; the last ten years of every line as rows of small charts; and a table of the change over a year in each of the last twelve months. Lines with a link have a page of their own with the history since the series begins.
The numbers behind the chart
What is the latest value of each line?17 lines, in the sections of the page
| Line | Section | Month | Value | Change over a year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail and food services | Totals | $745.0 billion | +6.3% | 8 | |
| Without motor vehicles | Totals | $605.2 billion | +7.2% | 6 | |
| Without gasoline stations | Totals | $677.0 billion | +4.5% | 12 | |
| Without motor vehicles and gas | Totals | $537.2 billion | +5.0% | 9 | |
| Motor vehicle and parts dealers | Stores | $139.8 billion | +2.5% | 15 | |
| Furniture and home furnishings | Stores | $10.7 billion | +4.9% | 11 | |
| Electronics and appliances | Stores | $7.9 billion | +9.4% | 4 | |
| Building materials and garden | Stores | $44.1 billion | +4.5% | 12 | |
| Food and beverage stores | Stores | $85.1 billion | +0.9% | 16 | |
| Health and personal care | Stores | $39.5 billion | −1.2% | 17 | |
| Gasoline stations | Stores | $68.0 billion | +28.1% | 1 | |
| Clothing and accessories | Stores | $26.5 billion | +5.0% | 9 | |
| Sporting goods, hobby, music, books | More stores and food service | $8.7 billion | +9.6% | 3 | |
| General merchandise stores | More stores and food service | $81.8 billion | +4.2% | 14 | |
| Miscellaneous stores | More stores and food service | $15.8 billion | +10.9% | 2 | |
| Nonstore retailers | More stores and food service | $124.3 billion | +8.2% | 5 | |
| Food services and drinking places | More stores and food service | $92.9 billion | +7.0% | 7 |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite
What this number cannot tell you
- The values come from the Census Bureau's monthly sample surveys of retail and food services firms, so each carries sampling error; the Census Bureau publishes its size beside each value.
- The newest month is an advance estimate. The Census Bureau revises it in later releases, and revises earlier months again in its annual benchmark.
- The values are in dollars of the month, not adjusted for changes in prices. A kind of business is the Census Bureau's grouping of stores by what they mainly sell: a store sells things of other kinds too, and sales over the internet appear under nonstore retailers or under the store's own kind according to the business that makes them.
- The changes, the ranks and the highest and lowest values are ours, worked out from the values the Census Bureau publishes; a change is in percent.
- This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
Observed . Checked .
How to cite this
U.S. Census Bureau, Economic Indicators. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau., Sales by kind of business, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How much do US stores and restaurants sell, and what do they sell it as?", https://500metrics.com/retail-sales.
Can the data be downloaded?retail-sales.csv
Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 2,057 rows, to , 123,203 bytes.
Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.
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