The financial well-being of U.S. households in 2024 was similar to two years earlier, with particular concerns about prices ongoing amid still-solid labor conditions, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in announcing results of its Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024 report.
The report, drawing from the Fed Board’s annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) conducted last October, examines the financial circumstances of U.S. adults and their families.
In the 2024 survey, 73% of adults reported doing okay or living comfortably financially – similar to the 72% seen in 2023 but down from a high of 78% in 2021.
The Fed said people’s perceptions of their local economy and the national economy continued to improve but remained pessimistic overall. For example, the Fed said, 29% of adults rated the national economy as “good” or “excellent” in 2024, up from 22% in 2023 but down from 50% in 2019.
Regarding prices, the Fed said 60% of adults said changes in the prices they paid compared with the prior year had made their financial situations worse, down from 65% in 2023. The Fed said 79% of adults reported dealing with higher prices by adjusting their behavior, with the most common response being a change in spending. This share was unchanged from 2023, but down slightly from 2022, the Fed said.
The share of adults who reported spending less than their income in the month before the survey rose to 51% from 48% in 2023, suggesting that more adults have margin in their budgets, the Fed said. Still, it said, this share was down from a high of 55% in 2020 and 2021.
At the time of the 2024 survey, 63% of adults said they would do so – unchanged from 2022 and 2023 but down from a high of 68% in 2021, the Fed said.
For the first time, the Fed ’s SHED also asked about consumers’ most recent experiences with financial fraud. Some findings:
- 21% of adults reported that they experienced financial fraud or scams involving their money, with 17% reporting fraud related to their credit card and 8% reporting another type of financial fraud.
- Among banked adults who experienced non-credit card-related fraud, 57% said the fraud involved their checking, saving, or money market account. Among that group, 63% lost money, and 32% said at least some of that money was not recovered.
- Adults age 45 and over were more likely than younger adults to experience financial fraud or scams, largely driven by their higher rates of experiencing credit card-related fraud. In contrast to differences by age, the incidence of financial fraud was similar by income, race and ethnicity, and gender.
The Fed reported that the total amount of non-credit-card fraud was an estimated $84 billion in 2024. With $21 billion of that recovered, consumers bore a net $63 billion loss directly.
Federal Reserve Board issues Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024 report
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