Engagement ring statistics 2026: cost, lab-grown share, shapes and timing

Couples married in 2025 spent an average of $4,600 on an engagement ring, according to The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study of 10,474 US couples, published February 18, 2026. 61% of those rings had a lab-grown center stone, the average stone was 1.9 carats, and round edged out oval 26% to 25%. December is still the most popular month to get engaged, and 79% of people who received a ring helped choose it.

Which year each number describes

The Knot names each study for the year it comes out, and each one covers weddings from the year before. The 2026 study surveyed couples married between January 1 and December 31, 2025. The $5,200 average often quoted for 2025 comes from the previous study, which surveyed 16,956 couples married in 2024.

The rings were bought well before those weddings. Couples in the 2026 study were engaged for 14 months on average, and nearly 9 in 10 proposers had the ring in hand when they asked. So the newest survey numbers describe rings bought more than a year before the wedding. This page labels every figure by the year the couples married, the same way The Knot does.

Average engagement ring cost

Average spending has fallen four years in a row, according to The Knot's figures as reported by National Jeweler:

Couples married in	Average spent on the ring
2021	$6,000
2022	$5,800
2023	$5,500
2024	$5,200
2025	$4,600

Stones got bigger as spending fell. The average center stone grew from 1.7 carats for couples married in 2024 to 1.9 carats for 2025, while the average ring cost $600 less. Lab-grown and natural buyers spent very differently, from IDEX's report on the 2026 study and its report on the 2025 study:

	Lab-grown ring	Natural diamond ring
Average spend, couples married in 2025	$4,300	$7,000
Average spend, couples married in 2024	$4,900	$7,600
Average center stone, 2025	2.0 ct	1.6 ct
Most chosen shape, 2025	Oval	Round

Natural buyers paid about 63% more for a ring whose center stone was 0.4 carat smaller. These are averages for the whole ring, setting included. For scale, the average 2025 wedding cost $34,000.

Lab-grown vs natural diamonds

Lab-grown went from a small slice to the majority in six years. Share of engagement rings with a lab-grown center stone, from IDEX's report on The Knot data:

Couples married in	Lab-grown center stone
2019	12%
2023	46%
2024	52%
2025	61%

The Knot calls the 2025 figure a 239% increase since 2020, and 40% of couples said it was specifically important that their stone be lab-grown.

Retail sales data shows the same direction with a lower share. Industry analyst Edahn Golan told National Jeweler his data shows more than 50% of engagement rings sold today are set with lab-grown diamonds. In his 2025 numbers, sales of natural diamond engagement rings fell 4% and units fell 2%, while lab-grown engagement ring sales rose 31% on 30% more units.

Price is the obvious difference, and the gap grows with size. Rare Carat's median listing prices for round diamonds, as of October 2026 (data dated October 17):

Weight band	Natural round	Lab-grown round	Natural costs about
0.90 to 1.10 ct	$2,834	$464	6 times as much
1.90 to 2.10 ct	$13,386	$1,444	9 times as much
2.90 to 3.10 ct	$29,669	$2,826	10 times as much

Those medians mix every color and clarity grade, so treat them as a direction and price your own grades in Rare Carat's diamond search, which lets you filter natural and lab-grown side by side.

Most popular engagement ring shapes

Round and oval are now a near tie. Princess, once the No. 2 shape on the market, is down to 8%.

Shape	Couples married in 2024	Couples married in 2025
Round	28%	26%
Oval	25%	25%
Emerald	10%	8%
Princess	10%	8%
Pear	Not reported	8%
Marquise	Not reported	8%
Cushion	Not reported	6%
Radiant	Not reported	6%

2025 figures are from National Jeweler's report on the 2026 study, which counts old mine and elongated cushions as cushion. 2024 figures are from the Plumb Club's summary of The Knot's 2025 study, which lists only the top four.

Shape tracks stone type: lab-grown buyers most often chose an oval, and natural buyers a round. For how the two leaders differ on a finger, see our oval vs round comparison.

Diamonds still dominate the center. 83% of couples bought a white diamond. Among non-diamond center stones, sapphire led at 23% and moissanite followed at 20%.

Metals and settings

Metal shares for couples married in 2025, from National Jeweler's report on the 2026 study:

Metal	Share of rings
Yellow gold	39%
White gold	35%
Platinum	13%

Yellow gold is the most chosen single metal, while white metals together still lead at 48%. Yellow gold's share is up 140% in five years.

A second survey points the other way. Jewelers Mutual asked 2,000 US adults who bought or received a ring in the past five years, and white gold came out on top at 43%, up from 35% two years earlier. The two surveys asked different people about different years, so cite the survey along with the number.

Settings have swung toward the plain solitaire. About 38% of couples in The Knot's 2026 study chose a solitaire, and Jewelers Mutual found solitaires at 37% of rings, up from 22% in 2024. The year before, The Knot found the prong setting on 35% of rings and the hidden halo on 18%.

Shares tell you what other couples bought. They say less about what suits your hand, and a shape or metal can look different on your finger than in a chart.

Who chooses the ring

The ring is mostly a joint decision now. In the 2026 study, 79% of recipients were involved in the selection and one in four couples shopped together at a retailer before the proposal. Only 21% of rings were chosen without any input from the recipient.

The surprise has moved to the moment itself. Nearly 9 in 10 proposers had a ring in hand when they asked, and 96% of couples exchanged rings to mark the engagement.

More couples now both wear one. In Jewelers Mutual's 2026 survey, 61% said both partners wear an engagement ring. That falls to 43% for couples ages 18 to 24 and rises above 80% for ages 55 to 64. Asked what mattered most, 52% named design or uniqueness as the top factor.

How people shop for the ring

Proposers start looking early and buy late. 57% started their search more than six months ahead, and 63% made the final purchase within two months of the proposal. 77% said the selection and purchase took four months or less.

Most of the shopping is still in person. Proposers visited an average of two retailers in person and looked at 10 rings, and 64% bought in a store while about a third bought online.

Recipients are doing homework too. Among Jewelers Mutual respondents who researched rings before receiving one, 38% started at least three months in advance, compared with 13% in 2024.

Then the ring waits. 41% of proposers held the ring for more than a month before proposing, and 45% kept it somewhere unsecured, such as a drawer or closet. 62% of respondents count their ring among the three most expensive things they own, and 49% insured it at purchase. Jewelers Mutual sells jewelry insurance, so read those figures with that in mind, and ask a licensed insurance agent what a given policy covers.

When people get engaged

December leads. The 2026 study found December still the most popular month to get engaged, with Christmas Day the top day of the year, followed by Christmas Eve and Valentine's Day. The previous study put about 47% of engagements between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day, the stretch jewelers call engagement season.

Couples talk about it long before the ring shows up. In the study of couples married in 2024, 57% discussed engagement and marriage more than a year before the proposal, and 54% of proposers spent one to four months selecting and buying the ring.

After the proposal, the average engagement lasted 14 months for couples married in 2025, against about 15 months in the previous study.

Where these numbers come from

If you cite a figure from this page, cite the survey behind it too. They ask different people.

Source	Who was asked	Sample	Fielded
The Knot 2026 Real Weddings Study	US couples married in 2025, recruited by email from The Knot and WeddingWire members, self-reported	10,474 couples	Throughout 2025, published February 18, 2026
The Knot 2025 Real Weddings Study	US couples married in 2024	16,956 couples	Published in 2025
Jewelers Mutual 2026 Engagement Ring Study	US adults 18 and over who bought or received an engagement ring in the past five years and make household insurance decisions, via an online panel	2,000 adults	May 2026, published October 13, 2026
Edahn Golan sales data	US engagement ring retail sales	Not stated	2025
Rare Carat medians	Round diamond listings on Rare Carat	Not stated	October 17, 2026

The Knot draws its sample from its own members, so its numbers describe couples who planned with The Knot or WeddingWire. It is also the largest survey on this page, which is why most of the numbers above come from it.