Christmas Spending 2016: How Much Money Do Americans Spend On Gifts?

Americans spend more than $800 just on Christmas gifts every year. That's more than they've ever spent before.

Roughly 30 percent of adults told Gallup pollsters last year that they expect to spend $1,000 or more on gifts, while only 19 percent set aside less than $250 on Christmas gifts. The 2015 spending figures were the highest reported to Gallup since 2007.

The highest earners tend to spend the most. Americans earning $75,000 or more per year spent $1,227 on Christmas gifts, while $460 was a typical budget for those earning less than $30,000. The Gallup poll was based on a random sample of 1,021 adults living in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.

Many Americans have already checked their holiday shopping off their to-do list. More than 154 million people went holiday shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, a surge from 151 million shoppers in 2015. Another 122 million Americans bought gifts online on Cyber Monday.

Holiday shopping isn't all about giving to others. Nearly 60 percent of Americans get themselves a little something special, spending about $139.61 on personal spending.

This flurry of spending is expected to add up to retail sales in November and December of $655.8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. In all, Americans spend more on holiday shopping than nearly any other country, the Economist found.