Home services spending trends: what households buy and how they hire

The main home services spending trends are steady total spending, a shift toward maintenance and repairs, and homeowners who struggle to find reliable help. Angi's 2025 State of Home Spending Report, released in January 2026, found average home project spending of $12,472 in 2025, up 3.5% from $12,050 in 2024, after a 12% drop the year before.

Inside that total, the mix changed. Improvement spending dipped slightly from $9,322 to $9,288, while maintenance rose from $1,750 to $2,041 and emergency repairs rose from $978 to $1,143. Households also took on more projects, averaging ten in 2025 compared with nine in 2024.

This report compiles Angi's annual and mid-year State of Home Spending research, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey and Census County Business Patterns. Angi runs a home services marketplace, so its surveys focus on homeowners and projects. Where it does not publish sample sizes for a release, we say so.

The average U.S. household spent $2,034 on household operations in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey released in October 2026. That was up from $1,921 in 2024, a 5.9% change that BLS does not mark as statistically significant.

Household operations is a broad category. BLS includes personal services such as child care, and other household expenses such as housekeeping services, gardening and lawn care services, pest control, home security service fees and moving. It gives a sense of scale: recurring services compete for a slice of a household budget that is about $2,000 a year, inside total housing spending of $27,790.

Angi's homeowner numbers are higher because they include improvement projects and repairs, which BLS records in other categories.

Millennials spend the most on home maintenance and emergency repairs. Angi's 2025 report found Millennials averaged $14,199 in total home spending, including $2,601 on maintenance and $1,519 on emergency repairs, the highest of any generation in all three categories.

Gen Z spent the least in total ($10,283) but ranked second in maintenance ($2,261) and emergency repairs ($1,400). Boomers led improvement spending at $10,423. In Angi's 2024 report, households earning over $150,000 averaged $21,958 in total spending.

Younger homeowners are also planning ahead. Angi found 77% of Millennials plan a major home project within five years, and in its 2024 report 63% of homeowners aged 18 to 44 were actively saving for future projects, compared with 49% of those 65 and older.

Cost worries are the main reason. Angi's 2025 mid-year Pulse Report, a survey of 1,000 homeowners, found 71% had postponed a planned project in 2025, citing inflation, interest rates and economic worries. The same share, 71%, said they were prioritizing preventative maintenance to avoid larger problems later, and 62% were more worried about paying for maintenance than at the end of 2024.

Delays do not make the need go away. Angi's 2026 Pulse Report found 23% of homeowners who delayed a project said an unplanned or emergency need jumped the queue, and 63% of recent pro hirers had completed maintenance work. Angi's 2024 report found 67% would rather renovate than move.

Budgets are often missed. Angi's 2026 Pulse found 92% of homeowners who recently hired a pro finished at or above budget, including 43% who exceeded their original estimate. In the 2024 report, more than half of homeowners who completed projects ran into unexpected costs.

Lower costs would restart delayed projects for many homeowners, and attitudes toward home spending are strongly positive. Angi's 2026 Pulse Report found 59% said cheaper materials would make them more likely to act and 54% cited lower inflation. More than one in four are already speeding up projects to get ahead of future price increases.

Homeowners also see the value. In the same release, 95% consider investing in their home one of the smartest uses of their money, 97% say their home helps them manage stress and 96% say improvements have increased their day-to-day happiness. Angi's 2024 report found 85% believe owning a home has become more expensive, so the willingness is there even when budgets are tight. Clear options at a few price points let a homeowner start with what fits now and come back for the rest.

Homeowners hire pros in a market where good help is hard to find. Angi's 2024 report found 54% of homeowners struggled to find qualified professionals, citing delays, higher costs and limited availability, and its 2025 report found 70% of Millennials report difficulty finding skilled labor.

Demand is near-term and steady. Angi's 2026 Pulse found 56% of homeowners plan to begin or continue a home project within the next three months, and 66% plan a major home investment within five years, the highest level Angi has recorded.

For a home service company, the hiring difficulty is an opening. When more than half of homeowners struggle to find a qualified pro, the company that answers the phone, quotes clearly and shows up on time stands out without spending more on ads.

There are well over 100,000 landscaping and cleaning companies with employees in the U.S. Monvell summed the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns 2023 county records and found 117,185 landscaping services establishments (NAICS 561730) with 799,035 employees, and 66,761 janitorial services establishments (NAICS 561720) with 1,074,513 employees. The janitorial code includes commercial cleaning as well as residential.

Most are small. 70.3% of landscaping businesses and 60.5% of janitorial businesses had fewer than five employees in 2023. CBP excludes owner-operators with no employees, so the true number of providers is larger.

Homeowner spending figures come from Angi's 2024 and 2025 State of Home Spending Reports and its 2025 and 2026 mid-year Pulse Reports, using the figures published in Angi's press releases and trade coverage (GlobeNewswire, Kitchen & Bath Business, Home Textiles Today and Apartment Therapy). Apartment Therapy reported the 2024 survey drew nearly 7,000 homeowner responses, and the 2025 Pulse surveyed 1,000 homeowners; other releases do not state sample sizes. Angi operates a home services marketplace.

Household spending comes from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey release for 2025, published October 29, 2026. Business counts are Monvell's sum of Census County Business Patterns 2023 county records for NAICS 561730 and 561720, covering businesses with paid employees only. We computed the 17% maintenance increase from Angi's published averages.

For a cleaning, lawn, maintenance or repair company, the data favors recurring and preventative work. Homeowners are putting off large projects but spending more on upkeep and emergencies, and many cannot find a provider they trust.

Steps that follow from the findings:

• Package maintenance as a plan. With 71% of homeowners prioritizing preventative maintenance, seasonal or recurring service agreements fit how they are thinking.
• Answer and quote quickly. When 54% of homeowners struggle to find qualified pros, a fast, clear reply wins work.
• Put scope and price in writing up front. 43% of recent hirers exceeded their original estimate, and unexpected costs are a top complaint.
• Keep a path open for emergency calls, after hours included. Emergency spending rose in 2025 and emergencies jump ahead of planned work.
• Stay in touch with past customers. 66% plan a major home investment within five years, and they will call whoever they remember and trust.
• Speak to Millennial homeowners, the highest spenders on maintenance, through the online channels they use to find and book services.

Monvell builds the call handling, quoting, follow-up and recurring service reminders that turn one-time jobs into maintenance customers. The free digital audit shows how your current setup handles new inquiries and repeat work.