1 in 4 Americans Tapping Into Retirement Savings or Selling Assets to Meet Spending Needs
Analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data reveals many U.S. adults are sacrificing future savings to make ends meet. Learn which states and major cities are home to those struggling the most.
- More than a quarter (26.1%) of Americans are using money from savings – including retirement accounts – or are selling off assets in order to meet basic spending needs.
- Almost a third of adults in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming have sold assets or made withdrawals from savings to meet routine spending needs.
- 11.5% of Americans have recently had to borrow money from friends or family to cover spending needs.
Many U.S. adults are having to rely on other sources of funding in order to meet basic spending needs.
Our analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data reveals that more than a quarter of Americans have recently tapped into their savings or retirement funds or sold a possession or asset in order to meet monthly spending needs.
One in nine adults have recently borrowed money from a friend or family member in order to meet those same basic needs.
These findings are the result of our analysis of data gathered by the Census Bureau for a 30-day period in September and October of 2023, the most recent data publicly available.
The table below shows the percentage of adults in each state who used money from a savings or retirement account or sold a possession or asset in order to meet a spending need during the study period.
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Only in Washington, D.C. have fewer than one in five adults needed to make such a sacrifice in order to meet a spending need. In 36 states, at least one in four have recently made such a sacrifice.
Each of the top five states on the list, and six of the top seven, are located in close proximity in the western half of the United States.
Census data also includes the rates of such spending sacrifices in major metropolitan areas. The table below shows the percentage of adults in each of the 14 largest metro areas who have used money from savings, retirement or assets to meet a recent spending need.
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Of the 14 major U.S. cities, only the rates in San Francisco, Detroit, Miami and Seattle were higher than their respective statewide averages.
More than one in nine adults (11.5%) reported borrowing money from friends or family members during the 30-day study period in order to meet spending needs. The rate of borrowing soared to nearly one in five in the nation’s capital, nearly doubling the national average.
The table below shows the percentage of adults in each state who borrowed money from friends or family to meet spending needs during the 30-day period.
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While the District of Columbia had the lowest rate of residents who tapped into savings or retirement funds, its residents ranked first in borrowing from friends and family members. Louisiana (50th and fifth on these two lists, respectively), Mississippi (40th and seventh) and Tennessee (28th and eighth) showed similar tendencies.
Inversely, 30.3% of adults in Wyoming tapped into savings or sold an asset (fifth highest nationally), but only 7.9% borrowed from a friend or family member (47th). Maine (29.2% and 8.3%, respectively) and New Hampshire (27.1% and 6.3%) display similar trends.
Arizona ranked third and sixth in the two datasets, respectively, while Utah and Oklahoma also ranked in the top 10 for both categories.
Rhode Island ranked no higher than 45th in either category, showing a low rate of borrowing in either category.
The table below shows the rate of borrowing from friends and family for each of the 14 largest metropolitan areas.
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Post-COVID-19 inflation has taken a toll on Americans’ pocketbooks. In its 2023 Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households, the Federal Reserve noted:
- Nearly one in five people reported not being able to pay all of their bills in full.
- More than half of people had reduced the amount of money they were putting into savings.
- More than one out of three Americans would not be able to cover a $400 expense.
The data used for this report came from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, specifically Week 63 (Nov 8, 2023), the most recent data available.
