Nearly a third of US adults are facing financial insecurity

Article by Sara Lebow | Mar 22, 2022

The percentage of US adults who lacked savings to cover a full month of basic expenses rose to 29.0% in January, due to rising inflation and income losses, among other factors. This figure had hovered just above one-fifth since June 2021, when states began terminating the expanded federal unemployment benefits that had helped many weather the pandemic.

Beyond the chart: Low-income households are facing even more financial insecurity. Among US adults earning less than $50,000 a year, 35% didn’t have enough saved for a month’s worth of basic expenses, per February polling by Morning Consult and Axios. What they have saved is shrinking, too, with inflation climbing at its fastest rate in four decades that month.