Difficulty Paying Usual Expenses Was 21.3% in August 2026: Household Financial Health
21.3% of adults said their household found it somewhat or very difficult to pay usual expenses over the last two months, in the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (collection ending Aug 3, 2026). 18.3% of adults paid less or skipped other debts or monthly bills at least once in the prior 12 months (Q3 2026, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia LIFE Survey), and 31% of households were Financially Healthy (2026, Financial Health Network).
How Many Americans Are Struggling Financially?
21.3% of U.S. adults in housing units said their household found it somewhat or very difficult to pay usual expenses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse questions, now asked in its Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (collection ending Aug 3, 2026). In the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's LIFE Survey, 18.3% of adults said they paid less or skipped other debts or monthly bills at least once in the prior 12 months (Q3 2026), about the same as the 19.2% a year earlier. The Financial Health Network put 31% of households in its Financially Healthy tier (2026); the other 69% were Coping or Vulnerable.
These are different organizations asking different questions of different groups: adults, households, people counted on one night, and people enrolled in a program. None of them tracks the same people, so they can't be added up or read as one trend. Each section below gives one measure with its own source, date, and limits.
Key Statistics at a Glance
The American Distress Index currently reads 47.0 (Typical). The composite itself sits higher than 44% of all published quarters since 2005. The seven measures on this page are context, not index inputs. They don't establish an order in which households run short of savings, fall behind on bills, or lose housing or coverage, and they don't confirm the index. For measures of saving, hardship withdrawals, and debt payments, see the financial hardship statistics roundup.
How Many Adults Find Usual Household Expenses Hard to Pay?
Census asks adults how difficult it has been for their household to pay usual household expenses, such as food, rent or mortgage, car payments, and medical bills. The share answering "somewhat difficult" or "very difficult" is the number below; "a little difficult" isn't counted. The share is our calculation from Census's published counts.
The reading is 21.3% for the collection ending Aug 3, 2026. The survey behind it has changed twice. The Household Pulse Survey, which ran through September 2024, asked about the last seven days. Its successor asks about the last two months, and in March 2026 Census moved it to a fresh cross-sectional sample. Readings from the three designs aren't comparable. On the earlier survey, the share held between 35.7% and 41.2% across 2023 and 2024. Census asks no reason, so the survey can't say why expenses were hard to pay. For price measures, see housing, cost of living, and grocery prices.
Household Pulse Survey: Adults Reporting Difficulty Paying Usual Expenses, 2020–2024
Source: Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey (August 2020–September 2024; last-seven-days question). Later readings use a different survey design and are not shown on this line.
Full data: Difficulty paying usual household expenses (The Pinch)
How Many Adults Are Paying Less or Skipping Bills?
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's LIFE (Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations) Survey, which began with a January 2023 wave, asks whether respondents used any listed coping strategy at least once in the prior 12 months to help afford monthly bill payments. This series is one specific response option: paying less or skipping other debts or monthly bills. Respondents could select one or more listed coping strategies.
The latest reading is 18.3% (Q3 2026), about the same as the 19.2% a year earlier. The survey is fielded quarterly, but the response window remains the prior 12 months; the reading is not a monthly or quarterly missed-payment rate, and it doesn't say which bills. The Pulse Survey and LIFE Survey use different questions and recall windows, so their values provide separate context rather than interchangeable measures.
LIFE Prior-12-Month Bill-Payment Coping Strategy (Quarterly Readings)
Source: Philadelphia Federal Reserve LIFE Survey (quarterly waves from January 2023). Not seasonally adjusted.
Full data: Paying less or skipping bills, Philadelphia Fed LIFE (The Skip Rate)
What Share of Households Are Financially Healthy?
The Financial Health Network's annual Pulse survey scores households from 0 to 100 on eight questions about spending, saving, borrowing, and planning. A score of 80 or more is Financially Healthy. In the 2026 survey, 31% of households were in that tier, the same as in the 2025 survey.
The other 69% were Financially Coping (40 to 79) or Financially Vulnerable (below 40). Through 2022 the survey was weighted to adults; from 2023 it samples one financial decision-maker per household, so the earlier bars in the chart measure a different unit and aren't compared with later ones.
Share Classified as 'Financially Healthy' (Annual)
Source: Financial Health Network Pulse survey (eight-question FinHealth Score). Shares of adults through 2022; shares of households from 2023. The two are not comparable.
Full data: Financial Health Score
What Share of U.S. Households Were Food Insecure?
USDA's Economic Research Service reports that 13.7% of U.S. households were food insecure at some point in 2024, about the same as the 13.5% in 2023. Food insecure means the household didn't have enough money or other resources to be sure of enough food for everyone at some time in the year. It is not a count of people who went hungry.
ERS doesn't attribute the level or its changes to any one cause, program, or price. 2024 is the latest USDA figure: USDA has announced it will not publish future reports from this survey. The SNAP and food assistance statistics page shows program participation and food prices as separate measures.
U.S. Household Food Insecurity Rate (Annual)
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, Household Food Security in the United States (annual). U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced no further reports; 2024 is the latest year.
Full data: Household Food Insecurity Rate
How Many People Were Counted as Homeless?
HUD's Point-in-Time count recorded 745,652 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2025, down 3.3% from 771,480 in 2024. It is the second-highest count since HUD began the national series in 2007.
The count covers people in emergency shelters, transitional housing, safe havens, and unsheltered places on that one night. It leaves out people who are doubled up or couch-surfing. Local areas count in different ways, and HUD says unsheltered homelessness could be larger than reported, so part of any year-to-year change can come from counting rather than from more or fewer people becoming homeless. The count does not say why.
Annual Point-in-Time Homelessness Count (HUD)
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Annual Homeless Assessment Report, Point-in-Time Count (one night in January, annual). There is no 2021 bar: HUD waived that year's unsheltered street count because of the pandemic, so 2021 has no full national count.
Full data: Annual Homelessness Assessment (PIT Count)
How Many People Are Enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP?
CMS reported about 73.2 million people enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP in the 50 states and DC as of June 2026, down from 77.8 million a year earlier (June 2025). It is the lowest count since April 2020. It counts everyone enrolled on the last day of the month, so a change is a net change: people who left minus people who joined or came back. It doesn't show how many people lost coverage, or what coverage people had after leaving.
Medicaid / CHIP Enrollment (Millions)
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicaid and CHIP Performance Indicator data, preliminary monthly totals.
Banking access is a separate measure. In FDIC's 2023 survey, 4.2% of U.S. households had no one with a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union, little changed from 4.5% in 2021. It is the lowest estimate in any survey since 2011. See the unbanked household rate for the full series.
Full data: Medicaid / CHIP Enrollment
Why These Measures Stay Separate
Difficulty paying expenses, paying less or skipping bills, the Financially Healthy share, food insecurity, homelessness counts, unbanked households, and Medicaid enrollment are distinct measures. The American Distress Index tracks its own domains without assigning a fixed sequence or causal path among these.
The Census Bureau, the Philadelphia Fed, the Financial Health Network, USDA, HUD, FDIC, and CMS each measure a different group in a different way. When several of them move the same way, that's worth noting, but it doesn't show the same households are affected or explain why.
Read more: "The Two-Economy Problem" — a dated analysis of what averages can hide →Data Sources and Methodology
CPI measurement basis: Every CPI reading and historical comparison on this page uses its source-owned basis unless explicitly identified otherwise: Cumulative percent change since January 2020 computed from the seasonally adjusted BLS Food-at-Home CPI (CUSR0000SAF11); seasonally adjusted values may be revised.
Census Bureau Household Pulse Questions
Now asked in the Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey, an experimental Census data product. Adults aged 18 and older in housing units answer for their household. Collections run in alternate months, and tables post weeks to months after fieldwork. The earlier Household Pulse Survey ran from 2020 to September 2024. Census Household Pulse data.
Philadelphia Fed LIFE Survey
Quarterly online survey of U.S. adults, drawn from YouGov's opt-in panel and weighted by the Philadelphia Fed's Consumer Finance Institute. This series is one item on its list of coping strategies used in the prior 12 months. Philadelphia Fed LIFE Survey data.
Financial Health Network
Annual spring Pulse survey, drawn from USC's Understanding America Study internet panel, scoring households on eight questions across spending, saving, borrowing, and planning. Fielded annually since 2018; weighted to households from 2023. FHN Pulse survey.
USDA, HUD, CMS, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Food insecurity from USDA's Economic Research Service (annual December survey; USDA has announced no further reports after 2024). Homelessness from HUD's Annual Homeless Assessment Report (one-night January count). Medicaid and CHIP enrollment from CMS monthly data. Unbanked rate from FDIC's biennial National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Americans report difficulty paying household expenses?
21.3% of adults in housing units said their household found it "somewhat difficult" or "very difficult" to pay usual household expenses over the last two months, in the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (collection ending Aug 3, 2026). The share is our calculation from Census's published counts. The Household Pulse Survey that ran through September 2024 asked about the last seven days, and in March 2026 Census moved the newer survey to a fresh sample, so the current reading is not comparable with earlier ones. On the older survey, the share held between 35.7% and 41.2% across 2023 and 2024. Census asks no reason, so neither figure says why households found expenses hard to pay.
What percentage of adults used the LIFE bill-payment coping strategy?
18.3% of adults reported paying less or skipping other debts or monthly bills at least once in the prior 12 months to help afford monthly bill payments, according to the Philadelphia Fed's LIFE Survey (Q3 2026), about the same as the 19.2% a year earlier. Respondents could select one or more listed coping strategies. The quarterly survey date does not shorten the question's prior-12-month recall window, and the item is not a missed-payment or delinquency rate.
What does 'financially healthy' mean?
The Financial Health Network scores households from 0 to 100 on eight survey questions about spending, saving, borrowing, and planning. A score of 80 or more is "Financially Healthy," 40 to 79 is "Financially Coping," and below 40 is "Financially Vulnerable." In the 2026 survey, 31% of households scored as Financially Healthy, the same as in the 2025 survey; the other 69% were Coping or Vulnerable. Before 2023 the survey was weighted to adults rather than households, so earlier years are not compared with later ones.
Is homelessness increasing in the United States?
HUD's Point-in-Time count found 745,652 people experiencing homelessness on one night in January 2025, down 3.3% from 771,480 in 2024. It is the second-highest count since HUD began the national series in 2007. It is a one-night count of people in shelters, transitional housing, or unsheltered places, not a count over the whole year. HUD notes that counting methods vary across local areas, so part of any year-to-year change can come from how the count was done.
How many people are enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP?
CMS reported about 73.2 million people enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP in the 50 states and DC as of June 2026, down from 77.8 million a year earlier (June 2025). It is the lowest count since April 2020. It is a count of everyone enrolled on the last day of the month, so a change is a net change. A lower count doesn't show who lost coverage or became uninsured, because CMS doesn't track what coverage people had after leaving. Counts of people disenrolled at renewal, such as KFF's, measure something different.
How does household financial health connect to the American Distress Index?
The American Distress Index currently reads 47.0 (Typical). The composite itself sits higher than 44% of all published quarters since 2005. The seven measures on this page are not index inputs. They come from different producers, populations, and questions, and they do not show that a change in the index's domains caused a change in any of them, or the reverse.