Engagement Ring Spend By State

Except Alaska and Hawaii… sorry guys.

Remember Rare Carat? It’s (relatively) newly launched website that’s basically the Kayak of diamonds. You select a shape, price, and other search parameters, and their magic technology finds you pretty much every available diamond based on your needs. From there, you can purchase your gem and begin your journey to the perfect engagement ring.

In less than a year Rare Carat has conducted over 1 million searches for engagement ring hunters, and now they’ve released some seriously insightful data regarding what people are searching for. Let’s get the most important figure out of the way first; here’s what the average spend on a diamond (not an entire engagement ring, remember) is per state.

Alabama – $6499
Arizona – $9212

Arkansas – $8665
California – $10,606
Colorado – $7855

Connecticut – $9254
Delaware – $7807
Florida – $9014

Georgia – $8095
Idaho – $8450
Illinois – $9022

Indiana – $7644
Iowa – $6114
Kansas – $7300

Kentucky – $8786
Louisiana – $7832
Maryland – $8493

Massachusetts – $10,020
Maine – $6325
Michigan – $7904

Minnesota – $7049
Mississippi – $7361
Missouri – $7737

Montana – $5352
Nebraska – $6108
Nevada – $9138

New Hampshire – $9317
New Jersey – $9995
New Mexico – $6207

New York – $11,718
North Carolina – $9091
North Dakota – $6328

Ohio – $7555
Oklahoma – $7509
Oregon – $6312

Pennsylvania – $7629
Rhode Island – $10,786
South Carolina – $7424

South Dakota – $5738
Tennessee – $7834
Texas – $9330

Utah – $6208
Vermont – $9119
Virginia – $8803

Washington – $7446
West Virginia – $6893
Wisconsin – $6508

Wyoming – $6413

It probably won’t surprise many to know that New York tops the list, with shoppers dropping a huge $11,718 on a sparkly rock. But the lowest? That would be Montana, at $5,352 – less than half the amount spent by New Yorkers. Following hot on their heels at either end of the scale are California, Massachusetts and Rhode Island (all over $10,000) and South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa (all under $6,200).

The round brilliant is still the cut of choice with 44.3% of searchers choosing it, but the usual second favourite, the princess cut, has been bumped down to fourth place by the cushion cut (14.4%) and the oval cut (13%) – which just goes to show how alternative cuts are really taking off in popularity.

As for the 4Cs, there’s a definite trend towards the more ‘covetable’ carat numbers like 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5 carats. The most common weight by far was 1 carat – a nice, respectable size that won’t break the bank. Rare Carat’s consumers also know the importance of a good cut, with 65.5% of searchers seeking a stone of excellent cut. With colour and clarity however, there’s much more room for compromise. Most users selected a colour grade of K (D being the highest possible) and a clarity grade of SI2 (Slightly Included 2 – basically a ‘c’, with flawless being an ‘a+’).

See the full data here: https://www.rarecarat.com/our-data