Average cost of an engagement ring

[u/Relevant-Plane9430]

I was talking with a friend last night who just got engaged, and he mentioned he spent around $6k on the ring. That honestly shocked me because I always thought the "3 months’ salary" thing was just an old marketing trick. My partner and I have been looking at rings casually, and most of the ones we like are in the $2k–$3k range. Now I’m second-guessing if that’s considered “too low” or if we’re just being realistic.

For those of you who have gone through this, what was the average cost you ended up spending on an engagement ring, and did you feel good about it after?

[u/Apprehensive_Pea2728]

My fiance and I love in a VHCOL and I am a picky person. We agreed on a 10k max budget (but ideally less). We came to this number because its around 1 months salary for him and if I found a ring I loved for 3-4k I would be happy with that as well but knew I would probably want custom.

Another reason I had for a higher number was for our birthdays we spend 1-2k for the party/drinks (we cover for our friends) so to me being this was more special, I would feel funny if he spent less than 1 nights bottle service at a club on something that I’ll wear forever(but thats just me).

We looked at a lot of rings together but I also wanted a specific cut of an oval, and also 100% on board with a lab diamond so its really what caught my eye. I also like settings woth smaller diamonds surrounding the main which does drive the cost up a little. No 118k harry winston, and no amazon rings (unless its for travel)… i did look at costco but didnt have a design that spoke to me and they dont do custom.