Skip to content

Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2025

Do a majority of Americans have less than $1,000 saved?

Keshav Srikant, Econofact
no

A Bankrate survey about Americans’ willingness to use their savings for an emergency expense did not show that a majority of Americans have less than $1,000 saved.

Instead, it found that about 40% of Americans would use their savings for an unexpected $1,000 emergency expense. The rest said they’d use a credit card (25%), reduce other spending (13%), borrow from family or friends (13%), take out a loan (5%), or something else (4%).

These individuals may have the savings to cover an emergency expense but feel reluctant to use them and choose a different means.

The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances found that in 2022, the median American household had $8,000 across all their financial accounts, meaning half had more and half had less. The survey did not ask about savings individually.

See a full discussion of this at Econofact

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

EconoFact is a non-partisan publication designed to bring key facts and incisive analysis to the national debate on economic and social policies. Launched in January 2017, it is written by leading academic economists from across the country who belong to the EconoFact Network. It is published by the Edward R. Murrow Center for a Digital World at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.