St. Patrick's Day Statistics in 2026

St. Patrick’s Day statistics: the numbers behind celebration, spending, and risk

St. Patrick’s Day is not just a cultural holiday; it is also a recurring snapshot of how Americans celebrate, shop, and travel around a single date. The matched statistics show a holiday that keeps a large share of consumers engaged, while also carrying real safety risks on the road.

Table of contents

• At a glance
• St. Patrick’s Day statistics on celebration and participation
• Spending and shopping behavior
• Age, category, and demographic patterns
• Year-by-year changes in the NRF data
• Traffic safety and alcohol-related risk
• Historical notes and event scale

At a glance

Big number: 162 million Americans planned to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in 2024 (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).

Spending: Total 2024 consumer spending was projected at $7.2 billion, with average per-person spending of $44.40 (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).

Participation: 62% of Americans planned to celebrate in 2024, and 61% planned to celebrate in 2025 and again in 2026 (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey; NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2025 page; NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2026 page).

Risk side: During the 2022 holiday period, 36% of crash fatalities involved a drunk driver (NHTSA 2022 St. Patrick’s Day press release).

Survey base: The 2024 NRF survey sampled 8,724 U.S. adults ages 18+, with a field period of February 1-6, 2024 and a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).

St. Patrick’s Day statistics on celebration and participation

The headline pattern in the St. Patrick’s Day statistics is straightforward: participation remains broad. In 2024, 62% of Americans planned to celebrate, which translated to 162 million people (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey). That is a large holiday footprint for a single day built around a mix of food, gatherings, and symbolic rituals.

The next two NRF pages keep that scale in perspective. In 2025, 61% of consumers planned to celebrate, which NRF said was on par with the prior year’s record (NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2025 page). In 2026, the same share slipped only slightly to 60% (NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2026 page). Taken together, the data point to a holiday with unusually stable consumer participation.

Fast facts about participation

• 62% planned to celebrate in 2024 (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).
• 61% planned to celebrate in 2025 (NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2025 page).
• 60% planned to celebrate in 2026 (NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2026 page).
• NRF first started tracking St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in 2007 (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).

Why it matters

A holiday that holds near the same participation rate year after year is useful for retailers, restaurants, and event organizers. It suggests that St. Patrick’s Day is not driven by one-off spikes so much as by repeatable consumer habits: a special meal, a green outfit, or a social outing.

Spending and shopping behavior

The spending side of the story is just as important as the participation rate. In 2024, total consumer spending on St. Patrick’s Day was projected at $7.2 billion, with average spending of $44.40 per person (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey). That average was even more striking when set against earlier years: $43.64 in 2025 and a projected $47.45 per person on NRF’s 2026 page (NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2025 page; NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2026 page).

The 2016-2018 figures show how spending rose before settling into the newer pattern. In 2016, average spending was $35.37 per person and total spending was projected at $4.4 billion (NRF 2016 St. Patrick’s Day press release). By 2017, average spending had climbed to $37.92 per person and total spending reached $5.3 billion (NRF 2017 St. Patrick’s Day press release). In 2018, average spending rose again to $39.65 per person and total spending reached $5.9 billion (NRF 2018 St. Patrick’s Day press release).

Spending snapshot by year

Year	Planned or average spending	Total spending	Source
2016	$35.37 per person	$4.4 billion	NRF 2016 St. Patrick’s Day press release
2017	$37.92 per person	$5.3 billion	NRF 2017 St. Patrick’s Day press release
2018	$39.65 per person	$5.9 billion	NRF 2018 St. Patrick’s Day press release
2024	$44.40 per person	$7.2 billion	NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey
2025	$43.64 per person	not stated in the dataset	NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2025 page
2026	$47.45 per person projected	not stated in the dataset	NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2026 page

The table shows a clear upward run in the holiday’s average spend level over time. Even though the exact mix of purchases can vary by year, the spending pattern itself suggests that St. Patrick’s Day has become a more monetized occasion.

What consumers planned to buy in 2016

The 2016 NRF release gives a useful view into the purchase mix behind holiday spending (NRF 2016 St. Patrick’s Day press release):

• 56.5% of celebrants planned to buy food and beverages.
• 28% planned to buy apparel or accessories.
• 23.3% planned to buy decorations.
• 17.2% planned to buy candy.

The shopping location split also tells a practical story about where spending happened:

• 36.2% planned to shop at grocery stores.
• 30.4% planned to shop at discount stores.
• 20.8% planned to shop at bars and restaurants.

That mix suggests a holiday anchored in food and home celebration, with a meaningful out-of-home share for bars and restaurants.

Age, category, and demographic patterns

St. Patrick’s Day statistics also show distinct age differences. In 2024, 87% of 18- to 24-year-olds planned to wear green (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey). In the same 2024 survey, 38% of consumers age 65+ planned to prepare a special dinner (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).

Those two data points point to different expressions of the holiday. Younger adults are more likely to lean into visible participation, while older adults show stronger interest in the dinner-centered version of the event.

Notable demographic signals

• 18- to 24-year-olds were the strongest green-wearing group in 2024 at 87% (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).
• 65+ consumers showed a strong home-hosted food signal in 2024, with 38% planning a special dinner (NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).
• In 2016, 70.1% of celebrants were ages 18-24 in the NRF release’s age breakdown (NRF 2016 St. Patrick’s Day press release).
• In 2016, 25-34-year-olds were the biggest spenders at $42.58 per person (NRF 2016 St. Patrick’s Day press release).
• In 2018, 35-44-year-olds were the biggest spenders at $45.76 per person (NRF 2018 St. Patrick’s Day press release).

Common celebration behaviors in the older NRF releases

The 2016 and 2017 releases make the behavior mix even more concrete.

In 2016, the leading celebration behaviors included:

• 82.1% planned to wear green.
• 31.3% planned a special dinner.
• 28.7% planned to celebrate at a bar or restaurant.
• 21.1% planned to host a private party.
• 22.8% planned to decorate their homes or offices (NRF 2016 St. Patrick’s Day press release).

In 2017, the pattern remained similar:

• 83% planned to wear green.
• 31% planned a special dinner.
• 27% planned to celebrate at a bar or restaurant.
• 23% planned to decorate their homes or offices.
• 15% planned to attend a private party.
• 15% planned to attend a St. Patrick’s Day parade (NRF 2017 St. Patrick’s Day press release).

These are not niche behaviors. They are broad consumer rituals, which helps explain why the holiday can generate large total spending without requiring any one single dominant activity.

Year-by-year changes in the NRF data

A compact year-by-year look shows how the holiday has shifted in scale and mix.

Year	Celebrating share	Average spend	Total spend	Key behavior signal	Source
2016	more than 125 million Americans planned to celebrate	$35.37	$4.4 billion	82.1% planned to wear green	NRF 2016 St. Patrick’s Day press release
2017	more than 139 million Americans planned to celebrate	$37.92	$5.3 billion	83% planned to wear green	NRF 2017 St. Patrick’s Day press release
2018	over 149 million adults planned to celebrate	$39.65	$5.9 billion	83% planned to wear green	NRF 2018 St. Patrick’s Day press release
2024	162 million Americans planned to celebrate	$44.40	$7.2 billion	87% of 18- to 24-year-olds planned to wear green	NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey
2025	61% planned to celebrate	$43.64	not stated in the dataset	celebration held near record levels	NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2025 page
2026	60% planned to celebrate	$47.45 projected	not stated in the dataset	celebration remained broad-based	NRF St. Patrick’s Day 2026 page

A few patterns stand out

1. Participation stayed high across the entire period.
2. Average spending rose over time, even when the celebration share remained relatively stable.
3. Wear-green behavior remained a durable holiday marker, hovering around the low 80s in 2016-2018 and climbing to 87% among 18- to 24-year-olds in 2024 (NRF 2016-2018 St. Patrick’s Day press releases; NRF 2024 St. Patrick’s Day survey).
4. The most recent years show a holiday with less explosive growth in participation and more pressure in per-person spend.

Traffic safety and alcohol-related risk

The celebration data tells only half the story. St. Patrick’s Day is also a holiday with measurable traffic safety risk, especially during late-night hours.

The 2022 NHTSA St. Patrick’s Day press release said that during the holiday period from 6 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18, 36% of crash fatalities involved a drunk driver (NHTSA 2022 St. Patrick’s Day press release). The same source reported 287 lives lost in drunk-driving crashes during the St. Patrick’s Day period from 2016 to 2020 (NHTSA 2022 St. Patrick’s Day press release).

The broader 2020 baseline in that release is also sobering:

• 11,654 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes in 2020.
• One person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 45 minutes in 2020.
• 30% of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in 2020 had BACs at or above 0.08 (NHTSA 2022 St. Patrick’s Day press release).

2023 holiday risk facts

TrafficSafetyMarketing.gov’s St. Patrick’s Day facts add another layer of detail for the 2023 holiday period:

• Drunk male drivers accounted for 26% of fatal crashes.
• Drunk female drivers accounted for 25% of fatal crashes.
• Drivers ages 21-34 accounted for 35% of alcohol-impaired drivers in fatal crashes.
• 32% of drivers in fatal crashes between 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. were drunk.
• 41% of drivers in fatal crashes between midnight and 2:59 a.m. were drunk.
• Passenger car drivers involved in fatal crashes were drunk at a rate of 31%.
• Motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes were drunk at a rate of 43% (TrafficSafetyMarketing.gov St. Patrick’s Day facts).

Those numbers matter because they narrow the highest-risk time window. The later the night, the more the alcohol-impaired share rises, which makes the post-celebration drive home a critical point of risk.

Michigan as a state-level example

Michigan’s 2026 St. Patrick’s Day release reinforces the same point using state-level historical data. Between 2018 and 2022, there were 290 alcohol-related traffic fatalities on St. Patrick’s Day in Michigan (Michigan LARA 2026 St. Patrick’s Day release). In 2022 alone, there were 74 fatalities tied to alcohol-impaired driving in Michigan (Michigan LARA 2026 St. Patrick’s Day release).

The release also repeated the national share that St. Patrick’s Day involved drunk driving in 38% of traffic deaths, citing NHTSA (Michigan LARA 2026 St. Patrick’s Day release). That makes the holiday one of the clearest examples of how celebratory consumption and roadway danger can overlap.

Historical notes and event scale

Not every St. Patrick’s Day statistic is about spending or safety. Some of the most interesting figures describe how long the holiday has been formally observed and how large specific local events can be.

The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade was first held on March 17, 1762 (NPS Morristown article). Washington’s 1780 order gave his army a St. Patrick’s Day holiday on March 17, 1780, and the order described the day as one held in particular regard by people of that nation (NPS Morristown article).

That history helps explain why the holiday is both ancient and adaptable. It carries cultural continuity, but the modern data shows that it also functions as a live consumer occasion.

Examples of 2026 event scale in Charleston

The Charleston city agenda gives a snapshot of how specific events are organized in 2026:

• The Charleston St. Patrick’s Day Parade was scheduled for 10:00 AM to 11:15 AM, with an attendee estimate of 2,715 (Charleston city agenda).
• The Hibernian Society St. Patrick’s Day Parade was scheduled for 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM, with an attendee estimate of 200 (Charleston city agenda).
• The same agenda listed a Farmers Market event with 8,113 attendees (Charleston city agenda).

Those local numbers are useful because they show the holiday at street level. National surveys capture the consumer scale; city agendas capture the operational scale.

One last reading of the data

St. Patrick’s Day statistics do not point to a single behavior. They show a blend of repeat participation, rising spending, visible dress-up rituals, dinner-centered celebration, and a real late-night risk profile.

That combination is why the holiday keeps appearing in consumer surveys, traffic-safety releases, and local event schedules at the same time. It is a holiday with both commerce and caution built into the same date.