The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday issued its Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024 report, which examines the financial circumstances of U.S. adults and their families. Overall, the report shows that financial well-being was similar to the previous two years as concerns about prices persisted and labor market conditions remained solid.
The report draws from the Board's annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which was fielded in October 2024. It analyzes a wide variety of topics including financial well-being, handling expenses, employment, and gig work.
This year's report finds that 73 percent of adults reported either doing okay or living comfortably financially, similar to recent years but lower than a high of 78 percent in 2021. The share who would cover a $400 emergency expense using cash or its equivalent was also nearly unchanged from recent years at 63 percent.
Inflation and prices continued to be the top financial concern. A majority of adults said that changes in the prices they paid over the prior year had made their finances worse, but the share saying so declined from 2023. In response to higher prices, most people reported taking actions such as adjusting their spending.
Responses indicated that the labor market remained solid. Similar shares of people started new jobs in 2024 compared with 2023. Additionally, the shares of people who were laid off or voluntarily left a job were each unchanged from the prior year. Yet, the survey also found that job changes were less likely to lead to better jobs. In 2024, 62 percent of people who had a different job than a year earlier said that their new job was better overall, which was down from a peak of 72 percent in 2022 and 67 percent in 2023. When asked about specific job characteristics, job changers were less likely to say that pay and benefits, opportunities for advancement, interest in the work, and work-life balance were better in their new job.
“The financial well-being of American households and businesses is essential to our nation's overall economic vitality,” said Federal Reserve Board Governor Michael S. Barr. “It is critical for the Federal Reserve to understand the challenges households and businesses face as we work to promote a healthy economy and strong financial system.”
Survey results also highlighted the risk of financial fraud facing consumers. Twenty-one percent of adults experienced financial fraud in 2024, with credit card fraud as the most common type. The 8 percent of adults who experienced fraud not related to their credit card incurred an estimated $63 billion in total unrecovered losses.
The report, fact sheet, downloadable data, data visualizations, and a video summarizing the report's findings are available here.
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