September, or August in some parts of the country, is often considered one of the busiest spending months of the year. According to the National Retail Federation , a trade organization that predicts spending at department stores and other retail outlets, back-to-school spending will produce an additional $130 billion in sales in 2023, a new record for back-to-school season. Many states, for their part, offer sales tax holidays during that time of year to encourage additional local spending.
reviewed national sales data to see if, in fact, there's a noticeable impact on consumer spending as summer turns to autumn.When looking at the past 10 years of retail sales data from the U.S. Census Bureau, August and September don't seem to be especially huge for retailers. The average change from July to August since 2014 has been a tepid 1.7% increase, which is lower than the last three months of the year. And September shows an obvious decline, where spending is 6.
Credit card balances increased an average of 0.9% during August, which is in the middle of the pack as monthly increases are concerned. And since 2019, September balances increased by an average of only 0.1% from the prior August.