In 2022, health and personal care and beauty ranked among the top ecommerce categories in the United States, with sales exceeding $100 billion. By experts’ estimations, sales in this category will continue to grow every year until at least 2026. 

This makes starting an online business in this sector extremely attractive. But given the immensity of the beauty industry, you may want to consider starting small and focusing on a specific niche, such as personal care.

Here’s a breakdown of the US personal care industry and its revenue performance over the years.

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US personal care industry: 2018–2022

According to the latest data, the US personal care industry has generally been increasing over the past few years. In 2018, revenue from the US personal care industry registered at $39 billion. As the biggest revenue-generating category in the overarching beauty industry, personal care products accounted for 47.6% of overall sales generated from the beauty sector in 2018. In other words, nearly $1 out of every $2 spent on beauty items that year was on personal care products.

The following two years saw annual revenues from the US personal care industry hold steady, before rising by 2.6% in 2021, to $40 billion. A year later, US personal care industry revenues rose by 2.5%, to $41 billion. 

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US personal care industry: 2023–2028

The annual growth rate of the US personal care industry in 2023 is set to decelerate slightly from that of 2022. Experts expect the sector to increase its revenues by 2.4% this year, to $42 billion. 

The personal care sector is forecast to continue to be the largest segment of the US beauty industry. Its expected revenues in 2023 are much higher than those of other subcategories, such as skin care ($21 billion), cosmetics ($19 billion), and fragrances ($9 billion).

Analysts predict that the US personal care industry will continue to grow. Here are its expected annual growth rates and revenues:

  • 2024: $43 billion (2.4%)
  • 2025: $44 billion (2.3%)
  • 2026: $45 billion (2.3%)
  • 2027: $45 billion (0%)
  • 2028: $46 billion (2.2%)

Even though personal care will continue to hold the lion’s share of the beauty industry’s sales in the coming years, its share is set to decline. In 2028, the personal care sector is expected to make up 43.8% of total beauty sales—3.8 percentage points lower than its share a decade ago.

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