The percentage of Americans just scraping by financially is rising as wage growth slows and inflation flares, Bank of America finds.

A growing share of lower-income Americans are struggling to get by financially as their wages fail to keep up with inflation, according to a recent analysis.

Roughly 29% of lower-income households are living paycheck to paycheck, up slightly from 2024 and from 27.1% in 2023, data from the Bank of America Institute shows. The financial firm defines that as spending more than 95% of household income on necessities such as housing, gasoline, groceries, utility bills and internet service.

In 2025, nearly a quarter of all U.S. households lived paycheck to paycheck, Bank of America estimates.

  • Zorque@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    When you’ve got rent to pay and mouths to feed, and paychecks dont arrive for another week (or more), sometimes it’s a necessity. And when emergencies arrive (as happens more and more often) people at this financial level generally dont have the “rainy day” fund to lean on.

    This is not exclusively a personal issue, it is mainly a systemic one. Sure, many people could do with some better financial literacy and personal responsibility… but that’s nowhere near the epidemic of parasitic opportunists eager to squeeze dry every person they can. The desperate being the easiest to exploit, in most cases.

    • BombOmOm@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      3 days ago

      paychecks dont arrive for another week (or more), sometimes it’s a necessity

      Absolutely. And then when the bill comes in six weeks, pay the balance.

      Credit card use is fine, carrying a balance on credit cards is what eviscerates your finances.

      • Zorque@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        And more bills come in to pay in that six weeks. And mouths still need feed and heads still need roofing.

        “Just pay the balance” is great advice… if you actually have the money to do so. Most people in these situations don’t. Which is why they’re in that position in the first place. Suggesting otherwise is exceedingly out of touch with reality.