2024 Household Financial Insecurity Report [LendingTree Study]

LendingTree -  2024 Household Financial Insecurity Report found that more than a third of Americans are struggling financially.

Using U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data to delve into the difficulties Americans face in paying for usual household expenses — like food, housing and medicine — we found that financial insecurity is up 6.7% compared to the same period in 2022, a figure that jumps to 25.0% among the youngest demographic studied (18 to 24). Here's what else we found. 

• More than 1 in 3 American households are financially insecure in 2024. 36.4% of households reported in April that they had a somewhat or very difficult time paying their usual household expenses in the past week. That’s up 6.7% from 34.1% during the same period in 2022.
• Americans ages 18 to 24 saw the biggest increase (25.0%) in difficulty paying expenses between 2022 and 2024. However, Americans 65 and older saw a 4.1% decrease in difficulty in this period.
• 31 states saw an increase in difficulty paying household expenses. Between 2022 and 2024, Washington (41.6%), Wyoming (33.4%) and Montana (30.7%) saw the most dramatic increases in difficulty.
• Alabama (43.9%), Mississippi (43.6%) and Nevada (42.2%) reported the highest level of difficulty paying usual household expenses in 2024.

You can check out our full report here: https://www.lendingtree.com/debt-consolidation/household-expenses-struggles-study/

LendingTree's chief credit analyst, Matt Schulz, had this to say:

"It’s troubling that 1 in 3 American households are financially insecure, but it shouldn’t be terribly surprising. The perfect storm of record debt, sky-high interest rates and stubborn inflation has resulted in many Americans’ financial margin of error shrinking to virtually zero.”