Fall begins next Thursday, but back to school shopping remains unfinished for 87% of US families, according to a new report from CBRE. As previously predicted, after everyone's bought their neon highlighters and Justin Bieber notebooks, back to school sales are expected to top $27B, up 2% from last year.
The low cost of living and healthy median incomes in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas give these three states more purchasing power than anywhere else in the US, according to SmartAsset. Rockwall County outside DFW and Fort Bend County in Houston have 97 and 96 points worth of spending power on a 100 point scale, respectively. Kendall County, just northwest of San Antonio, has spending power of 92. SmartAsset’s Purchasing Power Index is determined by weighted cost of living as a percentage of median income.
And while an increase of 2% from last year's sales might not sound like much, CBRE predicts this figure means good things for holiday sales and retail in general for the remainder of 2016. E-commerce and supercenter sales make up a large portion of the seasonal spending pie.
