October 2024
Paycheck to paycheck: What, who, where and why?
Lower-income households and older generations appear to have higher shares of those living paycheck to paycheck.
Key takeaways
- Living 'paycheck to paycheck' is a nebulous term. We dig into it using Bank of America internal data to estimate the share of households with a high proportion of necessity spending (such as housing, food, childcare) relative to their total household income.
- According to our analysis, in 2024, around a quarter of all households fall into this camp, an increase from 2019. Naturally, lower-income households are more likely to struggle financially, but even some higher-income households appear to be spending nearly all they earn.
- Generationally, paycheck to paycheck proportions rise with age, while geographically some states in the South have the highest share of paycheck to paycheck households.
- It appears paycheck to paycheck households have significantly higher necessity spending than others, and somewhat lower incomes. Many of these spending pressures are likely unavoidable, as they relate to family and housing costs.
Read our full analysis for a more in-depth look at these trends.
