What Americans Pawn When They Need Cash

Pawnbroking has been around for a very long time, tracing its origins as far back as 5th Century China. Today, it is still going strong with an estimated 30 million Americans using pawn shops every year, using their property as collateral to secure loans. Today, there are more than 11,000 pawn shops dotted across the U.S. and the industry has over $14 billion in revenue. Pawn shops are attractive options for people seeking a quick and uncomplicated loan with long operating hours and no requirement to check credit scores boosting their popularity. That has been enhanced even further by digitization and the relatively new phenomenon of online pawning.

PawnGuru conducted an analysis of the American pawn landscape, finding there are considerable regional distances in the items people actually pawn. Take guns for example. In southern and western states, they are pawned at a disproportionately high rate while in Colorado and Florida, vehicles are the most likely item. Nationwide, however, electronics are the most commonly pawned item in the country, accounting for 30 percent of requests on PawnGuru. Antiques and collectibles come second with a 9.4 percent share of requests, followed by tools & equipment and designer wear & handbags with 8 percent each. When it comes to the average price offered by pawn shops for popular items, a diamond ring would fetch $446 while a Macbook Pro would average $248.