Cat litter is a large and growing part of life with cats. The global cat litter products market was estimated at $17.23 billion in 2025, while U.S. households owned 73.8 million cats in 2024, according to the cited market research and AVMA figures. The statistics below put litter purchasing, cat ownership, litter-box setup, and cleaning habits into context.
Contents
- Cat litter market size and growth
- Product types and shopping channels
- U.S. and European market statistics
- Cat ownership and household patterns
- Litter-box setups and litter choices
- Cleaning habits and house-soiling
- Covered versus uncovered litter boxes
Cat litter market size and growth
Grand View Research estimated the global cat litter products market at $17.23 billion in 2025. Its forecast places the market at $26.38 billion by 2033, with a projected 5.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2026 to 2033. These are market estimates and forecasts, not counts of bags sold or individual cat households.
North America accounted for about 38% of global cat litter products revenue in 2025, according to Grand View Research. The regional share helps explain why U.S. market data is especially relevant when considering the scale of litter use, although a revenue share does not directly measure the number of cats or the amount of litter purchased.
The same source reported that the global clumping cat litter products market was valued at $12,957.4 million in 2025. It is forecast to reach $20,174.8 million by 2033, growing at a projected 5.7% CAGR from 2026 to 2033.
For comparison, the global conventional cat litter products market was valued at $4,271.9 million in 2025. Grand View Research forecasts $6,202.0 million by 2033 and a 4.8% CAGR from 2026 to 2033. The clumping and conventional figures come from separate market segments, so they should not be added to the overall market estimate without knowing how the source defines overlap.
Product types and shopping channels
Clumping products represented about 75.2% of global cat litter products revenue in 2025, while clay products represented about 81.6%. These percentages describe revenue shares for different product classifications; they are not directly comparable as a single ranked list because a product can be both clumping and clay.
Grand View Research valued the global clay cat litter products market at $13,407.9 million in 2024. The market is expected to reach $18,043.3 million by 2030, with a projected 5.1% CAGR from 2025 to 2030.
Wood, bamboo, and sawdust products formed a smaller but faster-growing segment in the supplied market figures. This global market was valued at $596.2 million in 2025 and is expected to reach $1,127.5 million by 2033, with a projected 8.3% CAGR from 2026 to 2033.
Online and e-commerce sales were valued at $3,744.3 million globally in 2025. Grand View Research expects this channel to reach $6,338.0 million by 2033, representing a projected 6.9% CAGR from 2026 to 2033. Supermarkets and hypermarkets accounted for about 39.2% of global cat litter products sales in 2025, showing that physical retail remained a major channel alongside online purchasing.
| Global segment or channel | Measurement or forecast | Period | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clumping products | $12,957.4 million | 2025 value | Grand View Research |
| Conventional products | $4,271.9 million | 2025 value | Grand View Research |
| Clay products | $13,407.9 million | 2024 value | Grand View Research |
| Wood/bamboo/sawdust products | $596.2 million | 2025 value | Grand View Research |
| Online/e-commerce | $3,744.3 million | 2025 value | Grand View Research |
U.S. and European market statistics
Grand View Research valued the U.S. cat litter products market at $4,698.0 million in 2025. The source expects it to reach $6,555.3 million by 2033, with a projected 4.3% CAGR from 2026 to 2033.
Clay held an 82.6% revenue share of the U.S. cat litter products market in 2024, according to Grand View Research. The source also forecasts a 7.1% CAGR from 2025 to 2030 for U.S. wood, bamboo, and sawdust cat litter products. Because the share and growth figures use different measurement periods, they describe separate snapshots rather than one same-year comparison.
For Europe, Grand View Research estimated the cat litter products market at $5.48 billion in 2023. The market is forecast to grow at a 5.1% CAGR from 2024 to 2030. The European estimate and the U.S. estimate use different base years, so their dollar values should not be treated as a same-year ranking.
The broader U.S. pet economy provides additional context. APPA reported $158 billion in U.S. pet industry expenditures in 2025 and projected $165 billion for 2026. This total covers the pet industry broadly, not cat litter alone. APPA also reported that 95 million U.S. households owned at least one pet in 2025, including 53 million households that owned a cat.
Cat ownership and household patterns
APPA reported that 49 million U.S. households owned at least one cat in 2024 and said cat ownership rose 23% in 2024. APPA also described an increase from 40 million cat-owning households in 2023 to 49 million in 2024. These APPA figures and the later 2025 household figure use the source’s reported survey periods and should be read as distinct annual measurements.
The AVMA reported that 32.1% of U.S. households owned cats in 2024, equivalent to 42.2 million U.S. cat-owning households. The AVMA also reported an average of 1.8 cats per cat-owning household and 73.8 million cats in the U.S. in 2024. The APPA and AVMA household totals differ, reflecting different organizations and reported measurements; neither should be silently substituted for the other.
Household size is changing in the APPA data. Single-cat households fell from 64% in 2018 to 58% in 2024. Households with two cats increased by 8% from 2018 to 2024, while households with three or more cats rose by 36% over the same period. More cats per household can affect litter storage, box placement, cleaning frequency, and the number of boxes needed, but the supplied figures do not quantify those effects.
APPA reported that average annual veterinary care spending was $433 per cat-owning household in 2024, according to AVMA’s U.S. pet ownership statistics. This is a veterinary-spending measure, not a litter-spending estimate, but it illustrates that litter is one part of a wider recurring cost of cat care.
Litter-box setups and litter choices
The Italian survey titled Litter Management Practices and House-Soiling in Italian Cats covered 3,106 cats. The survey population was geographically and socially specific: 52.74% of respondents were from Northern Italy, 69.86% of cats lived in apartments, and 69.51% lived in homes without a garden.
The same survey reported that 47.66% of households had two adults, 69.80% had no animals other than cats, and 91.85% of respondents were amateur cat keepers rather than breeders. Regarding cat numbers, 44.85% of respondents owned two or three cats. These details matter when interpreting litter-box behavior because the findings describe the surveyed Italian households, not all cat owners worldwide.
Among the cats in that survey, 42.17% were older than 5 years, 84.03% were neutered, and 50.64% were European type. Also, 32.19% of cats had 25 to 49 square meters per cat. These are characteristics of the survey sample and should not be generalized beyond its population without additional evidence.
Only 47.33% of households provided one litter box, according to the Italian survey. The survey also found that 51.38% of litter boxes were covered, and 51.92% were located in the bathroom. For litter material, 52.48% of cats used clumping litter and 20.15% used biodegradable litter. The categories may not cover every possible product arrangement, so the two percentages should not be assumed to total 100%.
Cleaning habits and house-soiling
Cleaning frequency was quantified in the Italian survey. 80.58% of litter boxes were scooped at least once a day, while 59.11% were fully cleaned at least once a week. Scooping and full cleaning are different activities, so these figures answer different questions and should not be combined.
The survey reported house-soiling for 16.74% of cats. This is a reported outcome within the Italian study population; it is not a worldwide prevalence estimate. The survey’s apartment-heavy sample, household composition, cat characteristics, box arrangements, and litter choices provide context for interpreting the result.
Other APPA ownership statistics describe the broader relationship people have with cats. In 2024, 48% of cat owners used some type of training method, and training-method use was up 41% since 2018. 35% used training treats, with training-treat use up 30% since 2018. These figures are not litter-box statistics, but they show that cat-care practices extend beyond feeding, veterinary care, and litter maintenance.
Covered versus uncovered litter boxes
The study titled Litter box preference in domestic cats: covered versus uncovered enrolled 28 cats and used 27 cats in the final analysis. Of the cats in that study, 56% were male and 44% were female. At the start, 78% were using an uncovered box, while 59% had used a covered litter box at some point in their lives.
During the study, 70% of cats showed no preference between covered and uncovered boxes. 15% preferred the covered box, and 15% preferred the uncovered box. All 27 analyzed cats had no house-soiling outside the boxes during the study period.
| Covered-versus-uncovered study result | Share or count |
|---|---|
| Cats enrolled | 28 |
| Cats in final analysis | 27 |
| Cats with no box preference | 70% |
| Preferred covered box | 15% |
| Preferred uncovered box | 15% |
| Analyzed cats with no outside-box house-soiling during study | 27 |
The study was small, and its findings describe the enrolled cats over the study period. They do not establish that every cat prefers one box style, nor do they replace the larger Italian survey’s household-management statistics.
Together, these figures show why cat litter statistics need several kinds of measurement: market revenue explains the scale of the product category; ownership data describes the households creating demand; and litter-box studies show how box design, litter type, placement, and cleaning practices appear in specific cat populations.