Moviegoing by household income statistics
Published October 7, 2026 · StatsGalore
adults with upper incomes saying they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months [1]
Pew Research Center’s summer 2025 survey provides a direct income-based view of recent moviegoing in the United States. The key statistic is that 64% of adults with upper incomes said they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months, compared with 57% of adults with middle incomes and 43% of adults with lower incomes. These are adults, not tickets sold, theater visits, accounts, or households; each percentage is the share of U.S. adults in that income tier who reported recent theater moviegoing. [1]
The numbers
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total U.S. adults saying they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months | 53% | [1] |
| Lower income adults saying they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months | 43% | [1] |
| Middle income adults saying they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months | 57% | [1] |
| Upper income adults saying they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months | 64% | [1] |
Income pattern in recent moviegoing
The survey shows a clear income ordering in recent theater moviegoing. Among adults with upper incomes, 64% said they had gone to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months. The corresponding shares were 57% for adults with middle incomes and 43% for adults with lower incomes.
The total adult benchmark was 53%. That total is useful for context because the upper- and middle-income shares were above the overall figure, while the lower-income share was below it. The source does not require treating these as admissions counts; the unit is people reporting whether they went at least once.
[1]Denominator and wording
The measure is worded as the percent of U.S. adults saying they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months. It is therefore a participation measure, not a frequency measure. Someone who went once and someone who went many times are both counted within the same yes-or-no style denominator if they reported going during the period.
This matters for household-income interpretation. The source labels the income categories as lower income, middle income, and upper income, and notes that family income tiers are based on adjusted 2024 earnings. The percentages should not be read as the share of households buying tickets, the average number of trips per household, or the median number of movies seen.
[1]Survey timing and population
The survey was conducted from July 8 to Aug. 3, 2025, among 9,916 U.S. adults. Pew Research Center says the survey was conducted online and by phone, and that respondents were members of the Center’s American Trends Panel.
The scope is all U.S. adults, as reflected in the survey source. Because the income tiers are tied to adjusted 2024 earnings, the income classification and the moviegoing recall period are not the same thing: the income basis is adjusted 2024 earnings, while the moviegoing question asks about the prior 12 months as of the 2025 survey.
[1]How to use the figures
For a compact reference statistic, the upper-income figure of 64% is the headline number for recent moviegoing by income. The table also shows a substantial lower-income figure of 43%, so the data describe differences in reported participation, not the presence or absence of moviegoing in any income group.
The same source states that about half of Americans, 53%, said in summer 2025 that they had seen a movie in theaters in the past year, while 7% said they had never seen a movie in theaters. Those figures are broader context for the income-specific values, but they are not broken out by income in the supplied evidence.
[1]Sources & notes
Pew describes the tiers as family income tiers based on adjusted 2024 earnings. The survey was conducted online and by phone among 9,916 U.S. adults from July 8 to Aug. 3, 2025, and the chart measure is the percent saying they went to a theater to see a movie in the prior 12 months. The figures are self-reported adult shares, not household counts, ticket counts, revenue, admissions per person, means, medians, or accounts.
Source review: 2026-10-07. Article publication and underlying data dates are separate. How we use statistics · Suggest a correction