Daily U.S. Consumption for 12 Items

college student credit cards
How educated are you about Americans' spending habits? ­
UpperCut Images/Getty Images

Living in the United States has its perks. If you want to brush your teeth, you can buy a toothbrush. If you outgrow your pants, you can shop for a new pair. If you need a soy latte and a Twinkie, you can get those pretty easily, too.

America is definitely "the land of plenty," and the statistics that follow offer a glimpse of how many goods U.S. consumers use every day and how much they spend on them. The numbers may surprise you.

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Go to the next page to check out the first item on our list.

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1. Movie Tickets -- 3.8 million

A general view of the crowd at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival.
Americans still flock to movie theaters in droves.
John Shearer/WireImage

­If ­the average cost of a movie is $7, Americans spend about $26.6 million a day at movie theaters. Take that number times 365, and the industry rakes in $9.7 billion annually, which doesn't include profits from popcorn, soda sales, or DVDs.

 

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2. Greeting Cards -- 19.2 million

­­Greeting cards are still of one our favorite ways to convey a holiday message.

­There's a card for every occasion -- heck, there's a card for occasions you didn't even know existed! Betw­een birthday, holiday, and "just because" cards, Americans show loved ones they care by spending $7.5 billion a year on greeting cards. ­

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3. Denim Jeans -- 641,000 pairs

Americans spend $14 billion annually on denim pants.

­Since Levi Strauss invented blue jeans in 187­3, Americans have loved the fashionable pants. Whether you're buying a pair of generic jeans at a discount store or plunking down $300 for designer denim, the blue-jeans industry is big business in the United States. Today, the average price of a pair of jeans comes to about $60, which means Americans spend about $38.5 million on denim pants every day, or $14 billion annually.­

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4. Domestic Beer Kegs -- 975,000

­Where there's a big celebration, or a bar, there are kegs of beer. Kegs of premium beer can get into the $200 range, but we're talking about good ol' American macro-brews. These average $60 per keg, so Americans spend about $58.5 million on them. Consumers down around 356 million kegs per year, which works out to more than $21 billion per year.­

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5. Pampers -- 300,000 packs

­­Pampers has the market cornered on the needs of new parents and sells its Jumbo pack (56 diapers) for around $13. Americans spend $3.9 million a

day --­ $1.4 billion a year -- keeping baby bottoms dry. ­

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6. Cosmetic Procedures -- 20,000

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Photo courtesy The Santa Barbara Plastic Surgery Center, Dr. David L. Buchanan

­Liposuction alone boasts about 1,000 procedures a day, and Botox injections have hit the 5,000-a-day mark. Whether you're going in for a tummy tuck or an eye lift, you can expect to pay an average of $1,700 for an appointment with a plastic surgeon. This means that the American cosmetic surgery industry makes about $34 million a day or $12.4 billion every year.­

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7. Axe Body Spray -- 28,876 cans

male and female student studying together
Is Axe a good accessory for a study date? Plenty of guys think so.
Jamie Grill/Iconica/Getty Images

­Priced around $5 per can, this deodorizer for frat boys and jocks pulls in approximately $145,000 every day. Guys are spending about $53 million a year to smell nice -- and the ladies thank them for it.­

 

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8. Starbucks Coffee -- 153,424 pounds

Starbucks exterior
Starbucks goes through millions of pounds of beans each day to keep us fueled up.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images

­The little Seattle coffee shop that could is now an internationally recognize­d trademark that rivals McDonald's when it comes to brand identification and customer loyalty. Americans like their Starbucks so much that the company orders around 56 million pounds of coffee beans every year.

 

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9. Oreo Cookies -- 205,000 bags

­An 18-ounce package of the iconic chocolate cookie filled with vanilla frosting is going to set a person back about $3.99. That means Americans spend nearly $818,000 every day, or about $300 million each year, on their beloved Oreos.­

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10. Cigarettes -- 1.1 billion

Smokers
The tobacco companies won't be going out of business any time soon.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

­With huge campaigns by antitobacco activists and health organizations across the country, Americans smoke a lot less than they did in the past. Still, the tobacco industry is a juggernaut, selling more than 400 billion smokes a year. With the average cost of a pack at $3.50, the U.S. spends $70 billion a year on cigarettes.­

11. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts -- 1.9 million

The original glazed Krispy Kreme

­This statistic refers to the Original Glazed variety of Krispy Kremes, served piping hot at various spots along the daily commute. If each doughnut costs 79 cents, Krispy Kreme businesses pull in more than $1.5 million a day on Original Glazed doughnuts alone. That's not including crullers, jelly-filled doughnuts, or coffee

12. iPods -- 88,163

ipod nano
The iPod Nano
Photo courtesy Apple

­The iPod is essentially a portable hard drive with headphones. Apple CEO Steve Jobs and his team of savvy engineers revolutionized the entire music industry with the iPod. A 30-gigabyte iPod that holds 7,500 songs and 40 hours of video costs $249. The price goes up from there, depending on added features, or skip the video and the price goes down. Still, on average, that's about $18 million a day and more than $6.4 billion a year -- music to Apple's ears.­

 

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