The Great Print Drought: How America Lost Its Love of Printing (And What the Data Says About Where We're Headed)
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A CastleInk.com Data Study | Source: Google Trends (US), 2004–2025
We sell printer ink for a living. So it might seem strange that we're publishing a study about how much less of it people are using. But we think transparency matters — and the data we found tells a story that's surprising, a little sad, and, for anyone who still relies on their printer, quietly reassuring.
Introduction: Something Happened to Printing
Cast your mind back to 2004. Google was barely six years old. The iPhone didn't exist. "Going paperless" was a buzzword that mostly lived in corporate PowerPoint decks. And if you needed to print something — a boarding pass, a school report, a recipe, a map — you just… printed it.
At some point between then and now, something changed. We started emailing instead of posting. Boarding passes moved to our phones. Classrooms went digital. Offices finally did go paperless, or close enough. And quietly, without anyone making a big announcement, people stopped thinking about printers quite as much.
We wanted to know exactly how much things had changed. So we pulled over two decades of Google search data — 264 months of it — and tracked three of the most important search terms in the printing world: "printer," "ink cartridge," and "printer ink." What we found was more dramatic than we expected, and a lot more nuanced.
Part One: The Numbers Don't Lie — "Printer" Searches Have More Than Halved
Google Trends measures search interest on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 represents the peak search volume for a given term over the period analysed. It doesn't give you raw search numbers, but it does give you something arguably more useful: a clear picture of relative interest over time.
When we tracked the term "printer" in the United States from January 2004 to the end of 2025, the trend line is unmistakable. In 2004, the annual average search interest score for "printer" was 78.9 out of 100. By 2019 — just before the pandemic changed everything — that figure had fallen to 35.0. That's a decline of 55.6% in 15 years. More than half the search interest in printers, gone.
Source: Google Trends — "printer" (United States, 2004–2026)
Here's how that decline played out year by year:
| Year | Search Interest (Annual Avg, 0–100) | Change vs Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 78.9 | — |
| 2005 | 69.4 | −12% |
| 2006 | 59.0 | −15% |
| 2007 | 54.7 | −7% |
| 2008 | 50.8 | −7% |
| 2009 | 48.8 | −4% |
| 2010 | 45.2 | −7% |
| 2011 | 44.7 | −1% |
| 2012 | 40.2 | −10% |
| 2013 | 40.9 | +2% |
| 2014 | 40.4 | −1% |
| 2015 | 39.7 | −2% |
| 2016 | 36.4 | −8% |
| 2017 | 36.4 | 0% |
| 2018 | 35.8 | −2% |
| 2019 | 35.0 | −2% ← Pre-COVID low |
| 2020 | 44.7 | +28% ← COVID spike |
| 2021 | 43.0 | −4% |
| 2022 | 41.7 | −3% |
| 2023 | 40.9 | −2% |
| 2024 | 41.0 | +0.2% |
| 2025 | 47.0 | +15% |
Source: Google Trends (United States), monthly data aggregated to annual averages.
The steepest falls came in the early years — between 2004 and 2008, interest dropped by more than a third. This was the era of the smartphone and the digital camera: two technologies that, perhaps more than any others, quietly made the printer feel optional. Why print your photos when you can share them on Facebook? Why print your documents when you can attach them to an email?
The decline then slowed, settling into a long, gradual drift downward through the 2010s. By 2017 and 2018, the annual scores were barely moving. And then something unexpected happened.
Part Two: COVID Gave Printers a Second Life — But Only Briefly
In March 2020, offices closed. Schools closed. Parents suddenly found themselves homeschooling, working from home, printing permission slips and worksheets and work contracts on kitchen tables. For one extraordinary year, the printer became essential again.
The data captures this perfectly. In January 2020, "printer" had a search score of 40. By April 2020 — the height of the first lockdown — it had jumped to 48. By August 2020 it reached 51. That represented a 34% surge from the January 2020 baseline, the biggest single-year jump in the entire 21-year dataset.
For a moment, it looked like printers might be back. They weren't. By 2022, interest had settled back to 39–41 — almost exactly where it had been before the pandemic. The COVID printer boom was real, but it was a spike, not a recovery. People dusted off their printers when they had no choice. When life normalised, so did their printing habits.
There is, however, a more optimistic reading of the recent data. In 2025, the annual average climbed to 47 — the highest it has been since 2013. Whether this represents a genuine renewed interest in home printing, the growing popularity of 3D printing, or simply post-pandemic normalisation is hard to say. But after two decades of near-unbroken decline, a score of 47 in 2025 is notable.
Part Three: Ink Cartridge Searches Tell a Sadder Story
If the "printer" trend is the story of a technology slowly fading from the centre of daily life, the story of "ink cartridge" is the story of a product category quietly becoming invisible. In 2004, "ink cartridge" had an annual average search score of 57.1. By 2024, that had fallen to 29.9 — a decline of 47.6%.
Source: Google Trends — "ink cartridge" (United States, 2004–2026)
| Year | Search Interest (Annual Avg) |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 57.1 |
| 2007 | 48.4 |
| 2010 | 47.1 |
| 2013 | 43.1 |
| 2016 | 38.1 |
| 2019 | 33.5 |
| 2020 | 43.8 |
| 2021 | 38.6 |
| 2022 | 32.1 |
| 2023 | 30.9 |
| 2024 | 29.9 |
| 2025 | 31.3 |
Source: Google Trends (United States)
The COVID bump is visible here too — "ink cartridge" scored 43.8 in 2020, its best year since 2013 — but the retreat afterwards was steep. By 2022 it was at 32.1, lower than its pre-pandemic floor. By 2024, it was approaching its all-time low. It suggests that when people think about printing supplies today, they increasingly don't use the word "cartridge" at all. The terminology of printing is changing, and search data is picking that up.
Part Four: The Surprising Story — "Printer Ink" Has Barely Changed at All
Here is where the data becomes genuinely fascinating. While both "printer" and "ink cartridge" have fallen sharply since 2004, a third term — "printer ink" — has barely moved.
Source: Google Trends — "printer ink" (United States, 2004–2026)
| Year | Search Interest (Annual Avg) |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 66.3 |
| 2007 | 53.0 |
| 2010 | 53.0 |
| 2013 | 52.9 |
| 2016 | 54.3 |
| 2019 | 55.8 |
| 2020 | 76.3 |
| 2021 | 68.7 |
| 2022 | 64.5 |
| 2023 | 61.5 |
| 2024 | 60.6 |
| 2025 | 64.9 |
Source: Google Trends (United States)
Between 2004 and 2019, "printer ink" declined by only 15.8% — compared to 55.6% for "printer" and 41.3% for "ink cartridge" over the same period. By 2025, it was only 2% below its 2004 level. Effectively flat across two decades.
And during COVID? The surge was the most dramatic of the three terms: a 36.7% jump in annual average search interest between 2019 and 2020, peaking at 76.3. As of 2025, it remains at 64.9 — well above where it was a decade ago.
What this data tells us is something we instinctively understand but rarely say out loud: people haven't stopped using ink. They've stopped shopping for printers. The considered, exploratory search behaviour around buying or researching printers has collapsed. But the urgent, transactional need to find ink — right now, for a printer they already own — is as alive as it has ever been.
Part Five: Where in America Still Cares Most About Printing?
Google Trends also reveals which US states show the highest relative search interest for each term. The results reveal a consistent and surprising pattern.
Source: Google Trends Regional Data (United States)
| Rank | "Printer" searches | "Ink cartridge" searches | "Printer ink" searches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyoming (100) | New York (100) | West Virginia (100) |
| 2 | Montana (87) | Idaho (91) | Montana (98) |
| 3 | Utah (82) | Montana (85) | Wyoming (96) |
| 4 | Idaho (80) | Wyoming (81) | Alabama (94) |
| 5 | Alaska (80) | Oregon (81) | Idaho (94) |
Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho appear in the top five for every single term. One possible explanation: in areas with weaker digital infrastructure and communities where physical paperwork remains more common — legal documents, land registry forms, agricultural records — the printer has never gone away. In the cities, the paperless revolution happened. In rural America, it's still pending.
Part Six: What Surging Related Searches Tell Us About the Future
One of the most telling sections of the Google Trends data for "printer" is the "Related Queries — Rising" section, which shows what searches are growing fastest in connection with the term. The top five rising queries in 2025 are:
- hp envy (breakout — explosive growth)
- hp envy printer (breakout)
- best 3D printer (breakout)
- 3D printer filament (breakout)
- ecotank printer (breakout)
Two things jump out. First, the explosive growth of 3D printing searches — the word "printer" is being reclaimed by an entirely different technology. Strip out 3D printing interest and the traditional inkjet/laser printer story looks bleaker still. Second, the appearance of "ecotank printer" signals a real consumer trend: people are actively looking for printers that don't rely on traditional cartridges. The frustration with expensive ink is reshaping what people buy. This is one of the strongest arguments for compatible ink: if the cost of running a conventional printer is driving people toward different hardware, affordable alternatives matter more than ever.
The Print Paradox: What This All Means
The data tells a story with two very different chapters. Chapter one is the slow, undeniable decline of printing as a default behaviour. From 2004 to 2019, search interest in "printer" fell by more than half. The smartphone, the cloud, the digital office — they all played a part. Printing went from being the automatic answer to being one option among many.
Chapter two is the stubborn persistence of need. Despite all of that, "printer ink" searches in 2025 are almost identical to where they were in 2004. When people need to print, they need to print. The use case hasn't disappeared — it's just become more specific. We print less, but when we print, it matters: the mortgage document, the school play programme, the medical prescription, the passport photo, the birthday banner.
And that specificity is precisely why the cost and quality of your ink matters more, not less, than it used to. Every page you print now is probably a page that needed printing. Every cartridge that runs dry at 11pm before a morning interview is a small domestic crisis.
People may have stopped browsing for printers. But they haven't stopped needing ink.
Methodology & Data Sources
All data in this study is drawn from Google Trends (trends.google.com), filtered to United States web search results, covering the period January 2004 to December 2025. Annual averages are calculated from monthly index scores. Google Trends normalises data to a 0–100 scale, where 100 represents the highest point of search interest over the period analysed. Data does not represent absolute search volumes, but relative interest over time.
The three search terms — "printer," "ink cartridge," and "printer ink" — were each run as separate queries to ensure accurate individual trend lines. Regional data reflects each state's search interest relative to total searches from that state, adjusted for population.
Direct links to all source data:
- Google Trends: "printer" — United States, 2004–2026
- Google Trends: "ink cartridge" — United States, 2004–2026
- Google Trends: "printer ink" — United States, 2004–2026
This study was conducted by CastleInk.com and is free to reproduce with attribution and a link back to this page.
About CastleInk
CastleInk supplies compatible printer ink and toner cartridges for all major printer brands — at a fraction of the price of the originals. We believe that high-quality printing shouldn't cost a fortune, and that everyone who still needs to print deserves affordable, reliable ink.
If the Great Print Drought has taught us anything, it's that printing is no longer something we do mindlessly. Every page counts. Make sure your ink does too.