--- title: High school proms are getting extremely expensive - The Hustle description: Ahhhh, prom, that fairy tale night of limos, glamour, dancing, buckets of fresh pig blood, and — a TON of cash. According to the most recent data (compiled by Visa in 2015), the average prom attendee spends $919 on the likes of tickets, dresses and tuxes, haircuts, shoes, jewelry, makeup, manicures, corsages, tanning, transportation, dinner, […] image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/30722809-prom-2-1.webp --- # High school proms are getting extremely expensive ![Zachary Crockett](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/T0349TRN7-U5GGDAW13-43b2931e538b-512.jpeg?width=48&height=48&name=T0349TRN7-U5GGDAW13-43b2931e538b-512.jpeg) [Zachary Crockett](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/zachary-crockett) [Zachary Crockett Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/zzcrockett) Published: June 30, 2020 Updated: October 12, 2023 *Ahhhh, prom*,* *that fairy tale night of limos, glamour, dancing, buckets of fresh [pig blood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(1976_film)), and — a TON of cash. According to the most recent data (compiled by Visa in 2015), the average prom attendee [spends $919](https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/19/your-money/prom-season-here-and-it-can-cost-families-pretty-penny) on the likes of tickets, dresses and tuxes, haircuts, shoes, jewelry, makeup, manicures, corsages, tanning, transportation, dinner, and post-prom activities. ![High school proms are getting extremely expensive](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/30722809-prom-2-1.webp?width=595&height=400&name=30722809-prom-2-1.webp) ![](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/774052382-prom-1.webp?width=600&height=463&name=774052382-prom-1.webp) The tradition began more than a [century ago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prom) as a simple “night of firsts,” and started to evolve into an elaborate affair in the 1950s, when American families found themselves flush with disposable income. Today, prom is a veritable money-pit. The average middle-income family [spends $234k](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-prom-is-becoming-a-cheap-er-date-1524229200) raising a kid (0 to 17); at $919, prom represents about 0.4% of this entire 17-year cost. These [rising](http://money.com/money/longform/teens-are-spending-way-more-on-prom-than-their-parents-did-heres-where-the-money-goes/) costs have drawn [criticism](https://twitter.com/dosomething/status/1120673841716649984) that prom isn’t accessible to everyone. Though for many, it never has been: Until 2013, a handful of proms were [still segregated](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/yes-there-are-still-segregated-proms-in-the-21st-century) — and in some states, gay couples have been [banned from attending prom](http://www.newnownext.com/lesbian-couple-banned-prom-texas/05/2018/) altogether. ## Follow us on social media Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Zachary Crockett", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/zachary-crockett" }, "datePublished" : "2020-06-30T08:19:25.000Z", "headline" : "High school proms are getting extremely expensive", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/30722809-prom-2-1.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/high-school-proms-are-getting-extremely-expensive", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Zachary Crockett", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/zachary-crockett" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-12T01:03:20+0000", "datePublished" : "2020-06-30T08:19:25+0000", "headline" : "High school proms are getting extremely expensive", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/30722809-prom-2-1.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```