The National Retail Federation forecasts $29 billion in gift card spending for the 2025 holiday season, with 43% of shoppers planning to purchase at least one. On the other side of that transaction, Bankrate’s August 2024 survey found 43% of Americans currently hold at least one unused gift card, averaging $244 per person in balances that have not been spent. Sales and unspent value turn out to be two sides of the same coin.
How much do Americans spend on gift cards?
Gift cards rank as the second-most popular gift in the National Retail Federation’s holiday shopping survey, and NRF projects $29 billion in total spending on them for the 2025 season. Of shoppers surveyed, 43% plan to buy at least one gift card, and 50% say a gift card is among the gifts they would most like to receive themselves, edging out clothing and accessories at 46%.
Gift cards are heavily concentrated in the same few weeks every year; our Christmas shopping statistics for 2026 cover the broader holiday spending season gift card purchases sit inside. Spending skews by age. Shoppers 65 and older are the most likely to buy a gift card, at 53% planning to purchase one, more than any other age group, and they also spend more per card, averaging $58 compared to roughly $53 for the typical shopper. A Refund Policy Generator is worth pairing with any gift card program: a card is effectively a prepaid promise of future goods or services, and a clear policy on refunds, exchanges, and expiration keeps that promise legally sound.
How many gift cards go unused, and what’s the average balance?
43% of Americans currently hold at least one unused gift card, gift voucher, or store credit, according to Bankrate’s August 2024 survey of 2,373 US adults conducted with YouGov, of whom 1,010 reported holding an unused balance. The average unused amount is $244 per person, up 30% from $187 in Bankrate’s 2023 survey, though the median sits lower at $100, meaning a relatively small number of people with large forgotten balances pull the average well above the typical amount. High-income households, those earning $100,000-plus, carry the largest average balance at $348.
The unused balance also varies sharply by generation. Millennials hold the largest average unused balance at $332, more than double what Gen Z holds.
| Generation | Average unused gift card balance |
|---|---|
| Millennials | $332 |
| Gen X | $255 |
| Baby boomers | $227 |
| Gen Z | $142 |
Source: Bankrate/YouGov survey, August 19 to 21, 2024.
Figure 1: Millennials, now in their prime spending years with the most gift-giving occasions to track, hold the largest average unused balance of any generation. Source: Bankrate/YouGov, August 2024.
Why do gift cards go unredeemed?
34% of Americans have lost money to a gift card that expired, was lost, or came from a store that closed, per the same Bankrate survey. Broken down by cause: 20% let a card expire, 17% lost the physical card or its code, and 12% had the issuing store close before they redeemed it.
Figure 2: Expiration is the single largest cause of lost gift card value, ahead of a lost card or a store closing. Source: Bankrate/YouGov, August 2024. Categories are not mutually exclusive, so figures do not sum to the 34% overall total.
An expired card is the most preventable of the three: most US states cap or ban gift card expiration dates entirely, so a card expiring at all is frequently a sign the issuer set a shorter validity window than the applicable state actually requires.
What happens to unredeemed balances? Breakage, explained
Money loaded onto a gift card but never redeemed does not simply vanish from a retailer’s books. Accountants call the portion of that balance a company does not expect to ever be redeemed “breakage,” and it gets recognized as revenue over time based on historical redemption patterns. Starbucks’ fiscal year 2025 SEC filing reports a stored value card liability of $1.593 billion as of September 28, 2025, down slightly from $1.6125 billion a year earlier. In fiscal 2024, Starbucks recognized $207.6 million in breakage revenue, split between $187.6 million from company-operated stores and $20 million from licensed stores.
Figure 3: Nearly all of Starbucks’ breakage revenue comes from its own company-operated locations rather than licensees. Source: Starbucks Corporation, FY2024 10-K, filed with the SEC.
Figure 4: How an unredeemed gift card balance eventually becomes recognized revenue rather than a permanent liability. Source: authors’ synthesis of standard stored-value accounting treatment, based on Starbucks’ 10-K disclosures.
Breakage commonly falls in the 1% to 5% range of total gift card sales across the public companies that disclose it, though the exact share varies by brand, card type, and how aggressively a company markets card usage. Retailers with high foot traffic and frequent repeat visits, like Starbucks, tend to see lower breakage than gift cards for a single big-ticket purchase a recipient might use once, or never. The same seasonal spending patterns show up in returns data: our holiday returns statistics for 2026 and Prime Day sales and return data both track the broader post-purchase behavior gift cards eventually feed into once they are redeemed.
The Bottom Line
Gift cards generate $29 billion in expected 2026 holiday spending on one side of the ledger, and an estimated $244 in unused balance per person, held by 43% of Americans, on the other. Neither number is going away: gift cards remain the most-requested gift category, and the same features that make them attractive to give, no wrong size, no returns, spend it whenever, are exactly what makes them easy to forget. Retailers that keep expiration policies generous, clearly disclosed, and consistent with state law reduce both the breakage they cannot count on and the customer frustration that comes from a card that quietly expired.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do Americans spend on gift cards? The National Retail Federation forecasts $29 billion in gift card spending for the 2025 holiday season, with 43% of shoppers planning to purchase at least one card.
What percentage of gift cards go unused? 43% of Americans currently hold at least one unused gift card, averaging $244 per person, according to Bankrate’s August 2024 survey of 2,373 US adults conducted with YouGov.
What is gift card breakage? Breakage is the accounting term for gift card balances a company does not expect to be redeemed. Starbucks alone recognized $207.6 million in breakage revenue in fiscal 2024, according to its SEC 10-K filing.
Why do gift cards go unredeemed? 34% of Americans have lost money to a gift card that expired, was lost, or came from a store that closed, per Bankrate. Specifically, 20% let a card expire, 17% lost one, and 12% had the issuing store close before they could redeem it.
Sources and References
- National Retail Federation. (2025). “Gift cards gain popularity as top choice for holiday shoppers in 2025.” $29 billion forecast, 43% purchase intent, generational breakdown.
- Bankrate. (2024). Gift card survey, conducted with YouGov, August 19 to 21, 2024. Sample of 2,373 US adults, 1,010 reporting an unused balance.
- Starbucks Corporation. Form 10-K, fiscal year 2025, filed with the SEC. Stored value card liability and breakage revenue disclosures.
Note: All figures verified as of August 2026. Bankrate’s survey figures are current as of its August 2024 data collection; the National Retail Federation and Starbucks figures reflect the most recently published 2025 holiday forecast and fiscal 2025 filing respectively. Headline figures are refreshed at least twice a year.
