Understand how your CPC compares. Dive into benchmark data by industry, region, and campaign type
November 2024 - November 2025
Detailed observation of presented data
E-commerce CPC in the United States ran consistently above the global benchmark, peaking in late 2024 before easing through most of 2025 and then ticking up into the holiday period. The year’s main story is a steady normalization: a steep Q4 2024 premium, a broad cooldown from Q1 onward, and a narrow gap to global levels by November 2025. Volatility was front-loaded, with the sharpest swings concentrated between November and January, and calmer, lower-cost months from midsummer into early Q4.
This analysis is based on $3B worth of advertising data from our dataset, which provides strong directional benchmarks. This analysis explores ad performance trends for E-commerce in the United States compared to the global benchmark.
Across the 13-month window, United States E-commerce CPC averaged $1.31 per click, versus a $1.15 global average. The United States range was wide: a high of $1.80 in November 2024 and a low of $1.14 in October 2025. From start to finish, CPC fell from $1.80 to $1.21, a 33% year-over-year decline.
Momentum was most dramatic across the holidays and into Q1. CPC eased from $1.80 in November 2024 to $1.63 in December (−10%), then dropped another 19% into January ($1.33). After a brief lift in April ($1.36), costs slid again, reaching a summer corridor between $1.16 and $1.19 and bottoming in October at $1.14. November 2025 brought a seasonal rebound to $1.21, closing the year materially below the prior holiday’s peak.
Volatility averaged an absolute month-to-month move of roughly $0.08 in the United States, higher than the global benchmark’s ~$0.06. The largest single-month declines were December to January (−$0.30) and May to June (−$0.13). The calmest stretch was late winter into spring, with February and March nearly flat.
The pattern maps to familiar seasonality in Facebook Ads benchmarks: elevated costs through Q4, pronounced relief in Q1, and a gentle descent into late Q3/early Q4. In this dataset, the first half of 2025 (January–June) averaged $1.29, while July–November averaged $1.17, underscoring a softer back half. The trough arrived in October ($1.14) before a November lift to $1.21 that aligned with pre-holiday competition, albeit at a lower level than the prior year’s high.
Monthly rhythm was steady from July through October, with CPC confined to a tight $0.06 band — a contrast to the larger swings seen around the 2024 holiday period.
United States E-commerce CPC stayed above market most of the year, from a 23–27% premium in November–December 2024 to a tighter 8–11% premium through the summer and early fall of 2025. The gap narrowed steadily: +17% in January, +14–20% in February–May, +8–11% in July–October, and finally parity in November 2025 ($1.21 in both markets).
Globally, CPC fell from $1.46 in November 2024 to a low of $1.04 in September 2025 before rising to $1.21 in November. The global trend was smoother, down 17% year over year with smaller average monthly moves. By contrast, the United States started higher, declined more, and finished the period closely aligned with the global level.
In sum, Facebook Ads CPC benchmarks for E-commerce in the United States show a high-cost Q4 2024, a broad 2025 cooldown, lower volatility in the second half, and near-parity with the global benchmark by November 2025. Understanding CPC trends and country-specific ad costs helps frame E-commerce industry ad performance in the United States against global patterns.
Insights & analysis of Facebook advertising costs
Cost Per Click (CPC) is the amount advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their Facebook ad. In the E-commerce industry, Facebook ad costs can be varied, with peaks during holiday seasons and competitive product categories. For campaigns targeting United States, advertisers often face higher costs due to high competition and purchasing power. Different campaign objectives lead to varying costs based on how Facebook optimizes for your specific goals. The data shown represents median values across multiple campaigns, and individual results may vary based on ad quality, audience targeting, and campaign optimization.
We use the median CTR because the underlying distribution of click-through rates is highly skewed, with a small share of campaigns achieving extremely high CTRs. These outliers can inflate a simple average, making it less representative of what most advertisers actually experience. By using the median—which sits at the midpoint of all campaigns—we provide a more rigorous and realistic benchmark that reflects the true underlying data model and helps you set attainable performance expectations.
Note: This data represents industry median values and benchmarks. Your actual costs may vary based on specific targeting, ad creative quality, and campaign optimization.
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All data is sourced from over $3B in Facebook ad spend, collected across thousands of ad accounts that use Superads daily to analyze and improve their campaigns. Every data point is fully anonymized and aggregated—no individual advertiser is ever exposed.
This dataset updates frequently as new ad data flows in. It will only get bigger and better.
Late November (Thanksgiving & Black Friday weekend), December (Christmas), Back-to-school (July–September), Summer travel season (Memorial Day onwards)
CPM and CPC might rise around major holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day, especially in travel and entertainment. Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend triggers massive spikes in retail ad competition. December ad demand typically peaks—retail campaigns require significantly higher budgets. Back-to-school promotions drive increased competition. Juneteenth may see regional engagement rise.
CPC (Cost Per Click) is what you pay each time someone clicks on your ad, on any Facebook Ads placement. It's calculated by dividing your total spend by the number of clicks received. Facebook Ads lists Clicks, Link Clicks and Outbound Clicks separately. The former is the sum of all types of clicks (including, for example, clicks to your profile page, to a link or to a comment).
The truth is that varies, so play with our tool to get some benchmarks that are relevant to you. CPC values are highly dependent on the region, industry and campaign objective. The US is one of the most expensive markets.
Several factors affect CPC: your audience targeting, competition in your industry, ad relevance score, and creative performance. If your ad isn't getting engagement or relevance is low, CPC tends to spike.
CPC spikes usually happen because of increased competition in your target audience, seasonal trends (like holidays), poor ad relevance scores, or algorithm changes. Check if your audience targeting has become too narrow or if your creative is showing fatigue.
Yes, there's a noticeable difference between platforms. Mobile CPCs often run lower than desktop. How many times do check Instagram on your phone and how often do you open it in your computer? There's simply much more mobile inventory. Tip: segment your performance data by placement to understand where your clicks are coming from. Spoiler: it's likely all mobile.
For most businesses, optimizing for conversions will deliver much better ROI than focusing purely on CPC. A low CPC is meaningless if those clicks don't convert. However, if you're running awareness campaigns or some kind content promotion, CPC optimization might potentially make sense, although most experts have switched to conversion optimization by now.
Your specific audience targeting, creative quality, bidding strategy, and account history all influence your CPC. Industry averages provide a reference point, but your historical performance is a more reliable benchmark for setting expectations and measuring improvement.
Instagram CPCs are generally slightly higher due to stronger purchase intent and higher competition among advertisers. But it depends on the audience and creative.
Discover detailed cost benchmarks for different Facebook advertising metrics:
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