A Look At What People Pawn

Everyone hits a rough financial stretch at some point in their life when you need a quick infusion of cash to fend off the wolf at the door. For many, that quick cash comes by way of the pawn shop. We’ve all heard about music and audio gems that have been found in an out of the way shop at an incredible deal, but those days are pretty much over as pawn shop owners increasingly are aware of the value of music gear. That said, it’s still a place where you’ll never know what you’ll find.

PawnGuru conducted a study of what people pawn, and not surprisingly, it differs from state to state and even city to city.

What Do People Pawn?

No surprisingly, electronics comes in first at 30.1%, while musical instruments and gear is only at 2.9%. Electronics consists of  personal computers, smartphones, gaming consoles, flat screen televisions, and anything else that people use to connect to the outside world today.

Here are the top 10 items and what they’re worth:

1. diamond ring – $446

2. macbook pro – $248

3. gun- $223

4. apple watch – $155

5. iphone 6 – $136

6. ring- $130

7. television – $110

8. iphone 6s – $108

9. playstation 4 – $104

10. ps4 – $104

Men and women also pawn different items. The top 5 for men are gun, vehicle, tools, musical instruments, and electronics, while for women it’s jewelry, designer wear and handbags, precious metals and stones, collectibles, and misc.

Everywhere Is Different But Somewhat The Same

It’s interesting to see what people in different states are most likely to pawn. In most states its a gun, but in California, Delaware, Louisiana, and New York it’s a luxury watch. Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota Wyoming and Washington State is precious metals and stones. Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania it’s antique collectibles.

If we look at what people pawn in various cities, musical gear comes out on top in Cleveland and San Diego. Baltimore, El Paso, Long Island, Los Angeles and Miami are all about luxury watches. Residents in Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Portland, St. Louis, Salt Lake City and San Jose pawn their precious metals and gems. For Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Midland, Montgomery, Nashville, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix its a gun.

It just goes to show that there are regional tastes in everything, including the pawn shop.