Hard to believe it, but it's almost time for Berkshire County students to head back to school.

While Massachusetts public schools head back to school much later than other states (some districts in states like Arizona, Alabama, and Mississippi, among others, are back in school in late July) I remember feeling like September always came way too soon. I'm sure parents are always thrilled when that day arrives, but the kids, not so much.

As a child, I might have dreaded the end of summer, but there was one part of back to school that I always looked forward to...the shopping! (Can we say foreshadowing into my shopaholic adulthood?)

The prospect of new clothes, new shoes, a new backpack, and new school supplies made me giddy, the only catch was, I never got all that! Don't get me wrong, my parents would take me shopping, but only for what I NEEDED never what I WANTED, a recurring theme throughout my childhood. We absolutely never went without in my household, but my parents were frugal people and if your backpack wasn't falling apart (which they made sure would never happen because of L.L. Beans' lifetime warranty) there was no shot you were getting a new one. So needless to say, in the height of the Abercrombie & Fitch explosion of the late 90s and early 2000s, there were no overpriced A&F t-shirts in our closets.

The point of that little trip down memory lane is back to school shopping is expensive! Households across Massachusetts feel the crunch of sending their child back to school between clothes and the list of school supplies parents are responsible for that seems to grow each year.

How Much Does the Average Massachusetts Family Spend on Back-to-School Shopping?

According to the National Retailers Association, in 2022, the average family is expected to spend $864 on back-to-school shopping. That's about a $15 increase over last year. The average family has two (technically 1.93) children, so think about how much more that would go up in larger households.

While back to school has always been big business for retailers, experts say inflation plays a huge factor in these costs. 2021 back-to-school shopping set a record of $37 billion, which is an $11 billion increase from 2019. $11 million increase in TWO YEARS.

 

LOOK: These Are the 50 biggest retailers in America

Stacker compiled a list of the 50 biggest retailers in the country, using retail sales data from Kantar, provided by the National Retail Federation.

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