Here's why even Americans making more than $100,000 live paycheck to paycheck (2024)

FAQs

Why are more Americans living paycheck to paycheck? ›

Why the increase in spending? Respondents to our 2023 survey cited high monthly expenses—including rent or mortgage, insurance, utilities and more—as the primary cause of living paycheck to paycheck. Yet examining the data by generation highlights some age-related patterns.

Only 18% of individual Americans make more than $100,000 a year, according to 2023 data from careers website Zippia. About 34% of U.S. households earn more than $100,000 a year, according to Zippia.

As of May 2023, more than 1 in 5 Americans have no emergency savings. Nearly one in three (30 percent) people in 2023 had some emergency savings, but not enough to cover three months of expenses. This is up from 27 percent of people in 2022. Note: Not all percentages total 100 due to rounding.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent a painful shockwave through both the US and the global economy.

Living paycheck to paycheck by income

According to a recent PYMNTS report, as of November 2022, 76 percent of U.S. adults who make less than $50,000 are living paycheck to paycheck, compared to 65.9 percent of those making $50,000 to $100,000 and 47.1 percent making more than $100,000.

According to a recent GOBankingRates survey, over 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck at least some of the time, while nearly 50% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck all of the time.

According to the U.S. Census, only 15.3% of American households make more than $100,000 annually. A $100,000 salary can yield a monthly income of $8,333.33, a biweekly paycheck of $3,846.15, a weekly income of $1,923.08, and a daily income of $384.62 based on 260 working days per year.

Based on that figure, an annual income of $500,000 or more would make you rich. The Economic Policy Institute uses a different baseline to determine who constitutes the top 1% and the top 5%. For 2021, you're in the top 1% if you earn $819,324 or more each year. The top 5% of income earners make $335,891 per year.

Making $100,000 now is the equivalent of making $30,000 back then: middle class and not particularly comfortable. But this didn't happen overnight in 2021 or 2007.

How much does an average American have in a bank account? ›

The average American has $65,100 in savings — excluding retirement assets — according to Northwestern Mutual's 2023 Planning & Progress Study. That's a 5% increase over the $62,000 reported in 2022.

What are the average and median retirement savings? The average retirement savings for all families is $333,940, according to the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances. The median retirement savings for all families is $87,000. Taken on their own, those numbers aren't incredibly helpful.

Average debt levels in America, by generation

In 2024, the average debt crept up from $21,800 to $22,713, with 66% of respondents saying they hold at least some debt. Most of that debt stems from credit cards (28%) and auto loans (13%), roughly the same levels recorded by Northwestern Mutual in 2023.

After inflation, high interest rates, unattainable housing prices and other economic factors, 50 percent of U.S. adults say their overall personal financial situation is worse than it was in November 2020, according to October 2023 Bankrate polling.

Eight out of 10 adults in America have at least one credit card, and 48% of them carry a balance within a given year (meaning they don't pay their credit cards down to zero each month, so they have credit card debt). That's over 100 million people with this kind of debt.

A majority, 65%, say they live paycheck to paycheck, according to CNBC and SurveyMonkey's recent Your Money International Financial Security Survey, which polled 498 U.S. adults. That's a slight increase from last year's results, which found that 58% of Americans considered themselves to be living paycheck to paycheck.

78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Basically, that means almost 8 out of 10 people probably can't afford the home they're living in and the car they're driving. They might not even have the cash to cover the next emergency that pops up. Your income is your most important wealth-building tool.

9% of Americans have between $100,000 and $200,000 saved, and 4% have between $200,000 and $350,000 saved.

It can seep into every aspect of your life and manifest itself as generalized anxiety, guilt, panic attacks, or trouble sleeping at night. It can also wreak havoc on your marriage or partnership. But there are steps you can take to ease the anxiety and get moving in the right direction.