More Americans now say they spend more than they make, and the number is climbing fast. A quarter of U.S. adults, 26%, told researchers in the latest National Financial Capability Study that their spending outpaces their income, up sharply from the 18% to 20% range seen in prior years. That single data point, paired with other survey findings on bill paying and financial anxiety, points to a household balance sheet under real pressure.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority runs this study every three years, and the 2024 edition, released in the summer of 2025, surveyed more than 25,500 adults, roughly 500 from every state plus Washington, D.C. That sample size gives the jump from the high teens to 26% real statistical weight. It is not noise. It is a structural shift in how households are managing cash flow.
What Is Driving Americans to Spend More Than They Make
FINRA Foundation President Gerri Walsh framed the shift as a reversal after more than a decade of steady gains in financial resilience. Her read: households in the middle of the income distribution are struggling even though their paychecks have held steady. Costs, not income shocks, are the driver. That distinction matters for anyone trying to diagnose the problem, because it points to inflation and price levels rather than job losses or wage cuts as the proximate cause.
Northwestern Mutual's Planning and Progress study, a separate survey of more than 4,600 adults conducted in January 2025, backs up that framing. About 52% of respondents said their expenses are rising faster than their income. Nearly two thirds named inflation the single biggest threat to their finances this year, and 44% called it the largest obstacle standing between them and financial security. Two independently run surveys landing on a similar inflation centered narrative strengthens the signal.
Bill Paying Difficulty Reverses a Decade of Progress
The FINRA data on bill paying tells a similar story of eroding cushion. In the 2021 edition of the same study, 54% of respondents said they found it
