Americans set to spend a total of $39 billion on back-to-school shopping this year

(CNN) — Last year, consumers shelled out big bucks for their back-to-school shopping needs, spending a record $41.5 billion, according to estimates from the National Retail Federation.That whopping tally, which amounted to more than $890 per household, bested 2021’s all-time high by roughly 12%. While higher prices sure played their part, so did buoyed optimism in the strong labor market, plus slowing inflation and the resilient US economy.This year, consumers have grown more tempered. Although higher-than-typical inflation is just about snuffed out, consumers have pulled back as they feel the compounding effects of price hikes and navigate through an economic slowdown that, while expected, is feeding into uncertainty.Still, there’s enough of a foundation there that the NRF expects 2024’s back-to-school spending to be the second-highest on record at $38.8 billion, or $874.68 per household.To what extent that bears out could prove to be a critical barometer, not only for how people are approaching their spending, but also for the health of the consumer-powered economy.“There still seems to be quite a lot of intent to go out and spend,” Mark Mathews, NRF’s executive director of research, told CNN.People have just become “very, very price-conscious,” he added. Any other time of year,...