Americans may have a worsening view of the economy, but their personal financial well-being hasn’t changed much last year in an annual survey by the Federal Reserve.
About 72% of adults were “doing at least OK financially” as of October 2023, little changed from 73% in 2022 but down from a 78% high in 2021, according to the central bank’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, published Tuesday.
The share of Americans who can cover a surprise expense of $400 using cash or equivalent was also little changed from the previous year — about two-thirds.
The share of adults who said they were worse off financially than a year earlier dropped to 31% from 35% in 2022 — when it reached the highest level since the question was first asked in 2014.
The Fed survey examines the financial situation of more than 11,000 adults and their families in the US. Since inflation surged to a 40-year high in mid-2021, households have been much more resilient than many economists had anticipated. But even as inflation receded last year, more and more started to struggle from the cumulative rise in costs of the previous two years.
Inflation continued to be the top financial concern in 2023, with a majority of people saying higher prices had made their financial situation worse.
The survey also shows a wide divergence among households. While close to half of respondents could cover a $2,000 expense, 18% of adults said the largest emergency cost they could handle right now using only savings was under $100, and 14% said they could afford an expense of $100 to $499. Seventeen percent of adults said they didn’t pay all their monthly bills in full in the month before the survey.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.