Engagement ring shopping comes with more folklore than fact — the old “two months’ salary” rule still gets repeated with no real data behind it. The numbers below come from The Knot’s 2026 Jewelry & Engagement Study (a survey of more than 10,000 couples married in 2025, as reported by the diamond trade publication Rapaport), a Business Insider state-by-state cost analysis, and live commodity data on the gold price behind the metal itself — sourced numbers, not the round figures that circulate without one.
What Couples Actually Spent on an Engagement Ring in 2025
Couples married in 2025 spent an average of $4,600 on an engagement ring, down from $5,200 the year before — an 11.5% drop, according to The Knot’s 2026 Jewelry & Engagement Study. That’s a national average pulled in both directions by very different budgets, and it hides a lot of range by state and by which kind of diamond a couple actually chose. Both of those are covered below, along with the single biggest reason the number moved at all: a real shift in what couples are buying, not just how much they’re spending.
How Much an Engagement Ring Costs, by State
National averages hide a lot of range. A Business Insider analysis of prices actually paid for engagement rings (not asking prices) found some of the widest state-to-state gaps in the country: Washington tops the list at $10,109 — more than three times what couples in South Dakota pay.
Business Insider attributes most of that spread to regional income and cost of living rather than different buying habits — a bigger ring budget in an expensive state doesn’t necessarily mean a more traditional couple, just a bigger local number to budget against.
The Lab-Grown Diamond Shift Behind the Falling Average
The main driver of that falling national average is which kind of diamond couples are actually buying. In 2025, 61% of surveyed couples chose a lab-grown center stone — a 239% increase since 2020, and the second year running that lab-grown has been the majority pick (it first crossed 50% in 2024). About 40% of respondents said buying lab-grown mattered to them specifically, which The Knot’s report frames as “economic pragmatism and evolving values” rather than a compromise.
That $2,700 gap between the two averages is doing a lot of the work behind the falling national number — as more couples choose the cheaper stone, the blended average moves down even before anyone changes their actual budget. The gap holds at the loose-stone level too: Brilliant Earth’s own published price ranges (as of April 2026) show a 1-carat natural diamond running $1,000–$16,000 against $500–$4,500 for a comparable lab-grown stone, with the gap widening further at larger carat weights.
Average Diamond Size Is Growing Even as the Price Falls
Cheaper stones haven’t meant smaller ones — the opposite is happening. The Knot’s data shows the average engagement ring center stone grew from 1.7 carats in 2024 to 1.9 carats in 2025, the same year the average price dropped. A jump of that size would be a large added expense on a natural stone, where price rises sharply per carat; on a lab-grown stone, where production cost scales far more gently with size, it’s a big part of why couples are reporting they feel they’re getting more for less rather than settling for less.
How Couples Are Paying For It
Financing is common, not an exception: about 34% of people proposing said they financed some or all of the ring, per The Knot’s data. Buy-now-pay-later is creeping into ring purchases specifically, too — Federal Reserve survey data (cited via Blue Nile’s research summary) shows 16% of U.S. adults used a buy-now-pay-later service in 2025, up from 10% in 2021, a trend jewelers have leaned into with in-house financing and installment plans as prices stayed elevated.
Why the Metal Itself Costs More Than It Used To
The diamond isn’t the only line item moving. Gold — the metal most engagement ring bands and settings are made from — was trading at $4,414.80 per troy ounce on the day this was written (September 8, 2026), up about 21.7% from a year earlier, per live commodity data from Trading Economics. We covered this trend in more depth in our gold price statistics breakdown; the short version is that a plain 14K band now carries meaningfully more raw-metal cost than it did even a year ago, on top of whatever the center stone costs.
What This Means If You’re Ring Shopping in 2026
A few things stand out from the data above:
- A lab-grown center stone isn’t a downgrade in the data — it’s now the majority choice, and it’s the reason for a real, sourced $2,700 average gap between stone types.
- Location shifts what "normal" spending looks like more than most advice admits — a budget that’s modest in Washington is well above average in South Dakota.
- Financing is mainstream, not a sign anyone did it "wrong" — about 1 in 3 couples use it, and buy-now-pay-later use is rising alongside it.
- Ask when a setting was priced — with gold up roughly 22% year over year, a quote from even six months ago may not reflect current metal cost.
For the bigger picture on U.S. jewelry spending beyond just engagement rings, see our breakdown of jewelry spending statistics. And if you’re weighing a smaller, more personal piece alongside — or ahead of — a traditional diamond ring, a personalized couple’s name ring is a common lower-cost way couples mark the moment; for the history and etiquette behind the ring itself, our guide to what an engagement ring means covers that in full.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average cost of an engagement ring in 2026?
There isn’t a completed 2026 average yet, but the most recent finished data — The Knot’s 2026 Jewelry & Engagement Study, covering couples married in 2025 — puts the average at $4,600, down from $5,200 in 2024.
Why did the average engagement ring cost go down?
Mainly the diamond, not the ring overall. Lab-grown center stones went from a minority choice to 61% of purchases in 2025, averaging $4,300 versus $7,000 for a natural stone — that $2,700 gap pulls the blended national average down as more couples choose the cheaper option.
Which states have the most expensive engagement rings?
Washington ($10,109), California ($9,482) and Illinois ($9,197) average the most, per Business Insider’s state-by-state analysis — more than three times what couples in South Dakota ($3,005) typically pay.
Are lab-grown diamonds actually cheaper?
Yes, consistently. The Knot’s data puts the average lab-grown ring at $4,300 versus $7,000 for natural. At the loose-stone level, Brilliant Earth’s published price ranges (April 2026) show a 1-carat natural diamond at $1,000–$16,000 versus $500–$4,500 for lab-grown, with the gap widening at larger carat weights.
Is financing an engagement ring common?
Yes — about 34% of people proposing financed some or all of the ring, according to The Knot, and broader buy-now-pay-later use among U.S. adults rose to 16% in 2025 from 10% in 2021, per Federal Reserve survey data.
Are engagement ring center stones getting bigger or smaller?
Bigger, on average — The Knot’s data shows the typical center stone grew from 1.7 carats in 2024 to 1.9 carats in 2025, even as the average price paid fell, largely because lab-grown stones make additional carat weight far cheaper to add than a natural stone would.
