How Much Do Americans Spend on Subscriptions? (2025 Survey)

It is easy to dismiss any single subscription as a few dollars a month. The problem is that almost nobody has just one. CNET surveyed 2,440 Americans in 2025 in partnership with YouGov, of whom 1,932 had paid for at least one subscription in the past year, and the results put a hard number on a soft, creeping cost most households never sit down to total. The figures below are drawn from that survey.

What Americans Actually Spend

The headline numbers are larger than most people guess for themselves. When CNET asked respondents to account for everything they pay for on a recurring basis, the averages came out like this:

• About $90 per month on subscriptions overall
• Roughly $1,080 per year once those monthly charges are added up
• Around $17 per month - about $205 a year - spent on subscriptions that are rarely or never used

That last figure is the one worth pausing on. Over $200 a year, for most people, is money leaving the account every month for something that delivers no value - not because of a single bad decision, but because forgotten subscriptions quietly renew in the background.

Where the Money Goes

The survey also mapped which categories dominate household subscription budgets. Streaming led by a wide margin, but the long tail of e-commerce memberships and music services adds up:

• Streaming video - the most common subscription, held by 61% of respondents
• E-commerce memberships like Amazon Prime and Walmart+ - 37%
• Streaming music services - 33%

These three categories alone explain a large share of the monthly total, and because each one auto-renews on its own schedule, they are rarely reviewed together. That is precisely how the bill creeps upward without any single moment where someone decided to spend more.

People Are Already Cutting Back

The CNET survey found that subscription fatigue is translating into action. With economic pressure on household budgets, 61% of respondents said they were reconsidering at least one subscription, and one in four said they had already cancelled one. The appetite to trim is clearly there - what most people lack is a clear, complete picture of what they are paying for in the first place.

How to Audit Your Own Subscriptions

The survey numbers are averages, but the only ones that matter are yours. A short audit usually surfaces at least one or two charges worth cutting. Work through it in order:

1. List every recurring charge you have - check email receipts and bank statements, or use a tracker so nothing slips through
2. Convert each one to a monthly cost and add them up to get your real total
3. For each subscription ask: did I actually use this in the last 30 days?
4. For the ones you did not: will I realistically use it in the next 30 days?
5. Cancel everything that fails both questions

Stop Paying for the Ones You Forgot

The reason these costs accumulate is that each subscription is forgettable on its own. The fix is a single live list of every service, what it costs, and when it renews - so the total is always visible and every renewal is a conscious choice rather than a surprise charge. Suprascribe is free for manual tracking with no bank access required. The Pro upgrade adds automatic email discovery to surface subscriptions you have forgotten, plus renewal reminders that email you before each charge so you can decide to keep or cancel in time.