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Figure 1. Doing okay or living comfortably financially (by year)

Percent

Year	At least okay
2013	62
2014	65
2015	69
2016	70
2017	74
2018	75
2019	75
2020	75
2021	78
2022	73
2023	72
2024	73
2025	73

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 2. Doing okay or living comfortably financially (by year and education)

Percent

Year	Less than a high school degree	High school degree or GED	Some college/technical or associates degree	Bachelor's degree or more
2013	47	55	62	77
2014	42	60	62	77
2015	48	64	66	80
2016	46	64	68	82
2017	56	67	70	85
2018	49	68	73	87
2019	54	65	75	88
2020	45	67	72	89
2021	49	69	75	91
2022	49	62	71	88
2023	48	61	70	87
2024	47	62	70	87
2025	41	64	71	86

Note: Among all adults. Results differ slightly from previous reports because of adjustments to education coding.

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Figure 3. Doing okay or living comfortably financially (by year and race/ethnicity)

Percent

Year	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian
2013	65	53	56	75
2014	68	55	55	79
2015	71	61	63	75
2016	72	64	64	79
2017	77	65	66	78
2018	78	66	67	81
2019	79	65	66	85
2020	80	64	64	84
2021	81	68	71	88
2022	77	64	64	84
2023	76	68	61	82
2024	77	65	63	82
2025	79	60	62	82

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 4. Financial situation compared with 12 months prior (by year)

Percent

Year	Worse off	Better off
2014	21	29
2015	19	27
2016	17	27
2017	15	33
2018	13	31
2019	14	32
2020	24	25
2021	20	25
2022	35	19
2023	31	20
2024	29	23
2025	28	23

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 5. Financial challenges or concerns

Percent

Challenge/concern	2024	2025
Price increases
Minor concern	35	38
Major concern	56	53
Total	91	91
Retirement savings
Minor concern	39	40
Major concern	33	32
Total	73	72
Making ends meet
Minor concern	34	36
Major concern	27	27
Total	61	62
Housing costs or availability
Minor concern	29	30
Major concern	31	30
Total	60	61
Medical debt or affording medical care
Minor concern	33	34
Major concern	23	24
Total	56	58
Finding or keeping a job
Minor concern	23	24
Major concern	14	18
Total	37	42

Note: Among all adults. This question was only asked of a randomized half of the sample. “Student loans or education costs” not shown. Key identifies bars in order from top to bottom.

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Figure 6. Assessment of own financial well-being, local economy, and national economy (by year)

Percent

Year	Own finances (doing okay or living comfortably)	Local economy (good or excellent)	National economy (good or excellent)
2017	74	57	41
2018	75	64	51
2019	75	63	50
2020	75	43	26
2021	78	48	24
2022	73	38	18
2023	72	42	22
2024	73	46	29
2025	73	45	26

Note: Among all adults. The estimates for each of the series on the figure represent the two most favorable response choices. The four response options for own finances were "living comfortably," "doing okay," "just getting by," and "finding it difficult to get by." The response options for the local economy and the national economy were "good," "excellent," "fair," and "poor."

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Figure 7. Asking for and receiving a raise

Percent

Action	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Asked for a raise	14	18	12	15	21	21	20	17
Received a raise	44	49	36	48	54	55	52	50

Note: Among all workers.

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Figure 8. New jobs and separations (by year)

Percent

New jobs and separations	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Laid-off	4	3	3	14	7	5	6	6	7
Left a job voluntarily	7	8	9	7	9	11	9	9	8
Started a new job	12	13	13	12	13	15	14	14	13
Applied for a new job	21	21	22	21	20	23	22	23	23

Note: Among all adults. Layoffs from 2019 and earlier are not directly comparable with those from 2020 and after because of a change in the question format in 2020.

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Figure 9. Share of job changes with improved characteristics (by year)

Percent

Characteristic	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Pay or benefits	56	63	57	52	53
Opportunities for advancement	48	51	46	39	44
Interest in the work	53	55	53	47	47
Work-life balance	43	43	43	38	41
Overall	66	72	67	62	60

Note: Among adults who started a new job and had a different main job than a year ago.

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Figure 10. Amount of work done from home (by education)

Percent

Education	Some	All	Total
2024
High school degree or less	10	9	19
Some college/technical or associate degree	16	15	31
Bachelor's degree or more	34	26	60
2025
High school degree or less	11	10	21
Some college/technical or associate degree	19	13	32
Bachelor's degree or more	31	23	55

Note: Among workers. The key identifies bars in order from top to bottom.

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Figure 11. Perceptions of generative AI

Percent

Perception	AI users	All workers
Worried will replace job	22	20
Will improve career	48	20
Employer encourages	51	19
Enables new tasks	55	28
Improves quality	52	24
Saves time	81	44

Note: Among workers. Bars give the share of all workers and of workers who used AI who agreed with a statement summarized by the title. The other possible responses are "disagree" and "neither agree nor disagree." Key identifies bars in order from top to bottom.

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Figure 12. Reasons for retiring

Reason	Percent
Forced to retire or lack of available work	11
Didn't like the work	15
Care for family members	17
Health problem	28
Reached normal retirement age	41
Wanted to do other things or spend time with family	54

Note: Among retirees. Respondents could select multiple answers.

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Figure 13. Median childcare and housing payments (by hours of childcare used)

Dollars

Hours used	Median housing payment	Median childcare payment
20 or more hours per week	2,000	1,517
Any paid childcare	1,900	1,083
Note: Among adults with a positive value of the expense who pay for the specified amount of childcare. Housing costs are total monthly mortgage payments for homeowners and total monthly rents for renters. Weekly childcare costs are multiplied by 52/12 to obtain a monthly figure. Key identifies bars in order from top to bottom.

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Figure 14. Forms of childcare used (by family type and employment status)

Percent

Characteristic	Unpaid childcare	Paid childcare
Two parents, one working	37	11
Two parents, both working	46	36
Single parent, working	58	30

Note: Among adults living with their own children under age 13. Key identifies bars in order from top to bottom.

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Figure 15. Relationship to those you provide unpaid care for because of aging, disability, or illness

Relationship	Percent
Friend or neighbor	20
Another relative	28
An adult child	15
Spouse or partner	15
Parent, or spouse's or partner's parent	60

Note: Among adults who provided unpaid care for an adult because of aging, disability, or illness.

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Figure 16. Frequency of unpaid care (by recipient)

Percent

Relationship	Daily	Several days per week	Several days per month	Once a month or less
Friend or neighbor	17	37	34	12
Another relative	22	31	32	15
An adult child	40	28	21	11
Spouse or partner	57	21	13	8
Parent, or spouse's or partner's parent	32	30	29	10

Note: Among adults who provided unpaid care for an adult because of aging, disability, or illness. Key identifies bars in order from left to right.

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Figure 17. Varying income and related hardship (by family income)

Percent

Income	Varying income, causes hardship	Varying income, no hardship	Total
Less than $25,000	23	23	46
$25,000–$49,999	19	16	36
$50,000–$99,999	10	18	28
$100,000 or more	3	18	21
Overall	11	19	30

Note: Among all adults. Key identifies bars in order from left to right.

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Figure 18. Share with increases and decreases in monthly income and spending from 12 months earlier (by year)

Percent

Characteristic	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Total monthly income - Compared
Decreased	19	13	13	13	13	13
Increased	24	30	33	34	32	32
Total monthly spending - Compare
Decreased	22	12	10	9	10	11
Increased	20	25	40	38	37	35
Total monthly income - Compared
Decreased	19	13	13	13	13	13
Increased	24	30	33	34	32	32
Total monthly spending - Compare
Decreased	22	12	10	9	10	11
Increased	20	25	40	38	37	35

Note: Among all adults. Respondents could also say that their monthly income and spending were about the same as 12 months earlier (not shown). Key identifies bars in order from left to right.

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Figure 19. Changes in prices paid compared with last year made financial situation worse (by year)

Percent

Characteristic	2023	2024	2025
Much worse	19	17	14
Somewhat worse	45	43	44
Somewhat/much worse	65	60	58

Note: Among all adults. Key identifies bars in order from bottom to top.

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Figure 20. How often have money left over at end of month (by year)

Percent

Frequency	2017	2020	2024	2025
Always	23	25	23	22
Often	19	21	19	19
Sometimes	29	27	28	28
Rarely	19	17	18	18
Never	9	10	12	12

Note: Among all adults. Question was not asked in 2018–19 or 2021–23. Key identifies bars in order from left to right.

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Figure 21. Actions taken by people who struggled to pay bills in the prior month (by largest emergency expense could handle right now using only savings)

Percent

Action	Less than $500	$500 or more
Manage cash flow	55	67
Adjust timing of bill payments	55	32
Borrow or sell something	54	38
Other	11	12

Note: Among adults who did not pay all non-credit card bills or who had difficulty paying bills in the prior month. Respondents could select multiple answers. As discussed in the "Savings and Investments" section, this new version of the question about the amount of savings was asked of a randomized half sample. Key identifies bars in order from left to right.

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Figure 22. Skipped medical treatment because of cost (by year)

Year	Percent
2013	32
2014	31
2015	27
2016	25
2017	27
2018	24
2019	25
2020	23
2021	24
2022	28
2023	27
2024	28
2025	26

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 23. Amount paid for major unexpected expenses in the prior 12 months (by type of expense)

Percent

Expense	$1 to $499	$500 to $999	$1,000 to $1,999	$2,000 to $4,999	$5,000 or higher
A major vehicle repair or replacement	12	23	24	21	21
A major house or appliance repair	9	21	23	20	27
Unexpected major medical expense	17	22	21	24	16
A mobile phone or computer repair or replacement	39	31	24	5	1
Legal expenses, taxes, or fines	15	14	17	22	32
Other unexpected expenses	16	15	22	18	30
Increases in childcare or dependent expenses	27	23	22	12	16

Note: Among adults who had that type of major unexpected expense in the prior 12 months and who reported the amount. Key identifies bars in order from left to right.

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Figure 24. Would cover a $400 emergency expense completely using cash or its equivalent (by year)

Year	Percent
2013	50
2014	53
2015	54
2016	56
2017	59
2018	61
2019	63
2020	64
2021	68
2022	63
2023	63
2024	63
2025	63

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 25. Have savings to cover three months of expenses (by how often have money left over at end of the month)

Yes	Percent
Never have money left over	13
Rarely have money left over	26
Sometimes have money left over	52
Often have money left over	75
Always have money left over	86

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 26. View retirement savings plan as on track (by year)

Year	Percent
2017	38
2018	36
2019	37
2020	36
2021	40
2022	31
2023	34
2024	35
2025	35

Note: Among non-retirees.

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Figure 27. Unbanked rate (by year)

Percent

Year	Unbanked rate
2015	8
2016	7
2017	5
2018	6
2019	6
2020	5
2021	6
2022	6
2023	6
2024	6
2025	6

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 28. Use of nonbank check cashing or money orders (by bank account ownership)

Percent

Year	Unbanked	Banked
2019	47	15
2020	40	12
2021	35	12
2022	31	12
2023	33	12
2024	32	11
2025	28	11

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 29. Type of financial fraud

Percent

Type	2024	2025
Any financial fraud	21	20
Credit card fraud	17	16
Other type of financial fraud	8	8

Note: Among all adults. Key identifies bars in order from left to right.

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Figure 30. Credit outcomes and perceptions (by year)

Percent

Category	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Very confident credit card application would be approved	53	59	60	60	62	61	65	63	63	62	61
Applied for any type of credit	39	40	39	35	41	37	38	35	36	34	33
Denied credit or offered less (among those who applied)	33	31	32	31	31	31	28	30	32	33	33

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 31. Denied credit or approved for less than was requested (by year and race/ethnicity)

Percent

Year	White	Black	Hispanic
2015	26	53	48
2016	24	56	47
2017	24	53	45
2018	24	55	45
2019	24	57	40
2020	24	51	46
2021	22	46	37
2022	24	48	39
2023	27	48	42
2024	26	51	44
2025	25	54	46

Note: Among adults who applied for credit.

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Figure 32. Credit card ownership and usage (by year)

Percent

Year	Carried a balance (among credit card holders)	Has a credit card
2015	57	77
2016	54	79
2017	54	83
2018	53	81
2019	52	83
2020	49	83
2021	48	84
2022	48	82
2023	47	82
2024	46	81
2025	45	82

Note: Among all adults. "Carried a balance" reflects the share who carried a balance at least once in the past year.

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Figure 33. Use of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)

Percent

Year	Used BNPL	Paid late (among users)
2021	10	15
2022	12	17
2023	14	18
2024	15	24
2025	16	26

Note: Among all adults.

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Figure 34. Types of purchases made using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)

Type	Percent
Clothing or accessories	49
Electronics	32
Furniture or appliances	26
Groceries or food delivery	20
Travel expenses	19
Medical or veterinary procedures	8
Other	16

Note: Among adults who have used BNPL in the past year.

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Figure 35. Reasons for experiencing repayment difficulty

Reason	Percent
Affordability reason
My income was less than my expenses	48
I had unexpected expenses	36
I had an unexpected drop in income	20
Non-affordability
I didn’t want to make payments	16
Did not know payments were necessary or how to make them	11
Other	12

Note: Among student loan borrowers experiencing repayment difficulty. Key identifies bars in order from top to bottom.

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Figure 36. Behind on rent at some point in past year

Year	Percent
2021	17
2022	17
2023	19
2024	21
2025	23

Note: Among renters.

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Figure 37. Share with no homeowners insurance on primary residence (by census division)

Census division	Percent
New England	3
Mid-Atlantic	4
South Atlantic	7
East-North Central	6
East-South Central	11
West-North Central	6
West-South Central	11
Mountain	4
Pacific	6

Note: Among all homeowners.

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Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households (SHED)