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Updated on Feb 29, 2024
Updates quarterly

Quarterly Survey of Household Emergency Expenses and Decisionmaking

Americans are more able to cover emergency expenses with cash, relying less on debt
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Share of U.S. adults who said they would pay for a $400 emergency expense in the ways above based on their current financial situation. Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Source: Morning Consult Economic Intelligence

Morning Consult surveys approximately 11,000 U.S. adults each quarter on their households’ capacity to absorb emergency expenses and related economic decisions. The first section of the survey replicates questions from the Dealing With Unexpected Expenses section of the Federal Reserve’s annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, which poses hypothetical questions on how consumers would respond to an emergency expense. The second section of Morning Consult’s survey focuses on actual outcomes reported by consumers who experienced emergency expenses, allowing for comparison between theoretical and observed behaviors.

With robust sample sizes, Morning Consult’s economic data can be analyzed by specific demographics, such as gender, generation, political party, income, race and more. Please contact [email protected] to learn more about our consumer spending coverage.

Key Takeaways

  • Following two consecutive quarters of declines, the share of adults who expect to pay with cash or equivalents for a $400 emergency expense increased 3 percentage points to 47% this quarter. Increases in expected cash payments comes from a corresponding decrease in consumers saying they would use some sort of debt to cover an emergency expense.

  • A decreasing reliance on debt and higher rates of cash payments suggests that U.S. adults have financial safety buffers that make them well prepared to handle unexpected expenses. Consumers could be beginning to feel the benefits from a tight labor market, decreasing inflation, and persistent wage growth.

  • High-income earners drove most of the increase in expected cash payments from the previous quarter. The share of high-income adults who said they would pay with cash increased 8 percentage points to 72%. The shares for middle- and low-income adults also increased, but less sharply by 3 and 1 percentage point respectively. High-income adults expect to pay for a $400 emergency expense with cash at more than double the rate as the lowest earners.

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Ability to Cover an Emergency Expense With Cash

Shares of U.S. adults who said their household would cover a $400 emergency expense using only cash and equivalent, by annual household income
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Source: Morning Consult Economic Intelligence

Download the expanded report

A companion quarterly report with more analysis on both the hypothetical $400 emergency expense as well as actual unexpected expenses that respondents faced is available for Morning Consult Pro subscribers.

Companion Research & Analysis

 U.S. Consumer Spending & Household Finances and Inflation & Price Pressures reports leverage our broader suite of Economic Intelligence data to analyze current and future trends in consumer spending, finances and price pressures.

Commercial Data Access

All data featured in this tracker derives from Morning Consult Economic Intelligence, our flagship commercial data product that tracks economic trends in 43 different countries.

Source of This Data

Methodology

The Morning Consult Quarterly Survey of Household Emergency Expenses and Decisionmaking relies on data collected through Morning Consult’s proprietary survey research capabilities. The interviews were conducted online from January 21- February 1, 2024, and the data is weighted to approximate a representative sample of U.S. adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region. Results from the full survey have a quarterly sample size of approximately 11,000 U.S. adults and an unweighted margin of error of +/- 1 percentage point.

“Cash and cash equivalent” includes paying with cash, with money in a checking/savings account or putting the expense on a credit card and paying it in full at the next statement. “Noncash equivalent” includes putting the expense on a credit card and paying it off over time, using money from a bank loan or line of credit, borrowing from a friend or family member, selling something, or using a payday loan, deposit advance or overdraft.

About Morning Consult

Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com.

Email [email protected] to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.

Sofia Baig
Economist

Sofia Baig is an economist at decision intelligence company Morning Consult, where she works on descriptive and predictive analysis that leverages Morning Consult’s proprietary high-frequency data. Previously, she worked for the Federal Reserve Board as a quantitative analyst, focusing on topics related to monetary policy and bank stress testing. She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Pomona College and a master’s degree in mathematics and statistics from Georgetown University.

Follow her on Twitter @_SofiaBaig_For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected]

Kayla Bruun
Senior Economist

Kayla Bruun is a senior economist at decision intelligence company Morning Consult, where she analyzes consumer spending, inflation and household finance trends, leveraging the company’s proprietary high-frequency data.

Prior to joining Morning Consult, Kayla was a key member of the corporate strategy team at telecommunications company SES, where she produced market intelligence and industry analysis of mobility markets. 

Kayla also served as an economist at IHS Markit, where she covered global services industries, provided price forecasts, produced written analyses and served as a subject-matter expert on client-facing consulting projects. 

Kayla earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Emory University and an MBA with a certificate in nonmarket strategy from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Follow her on Twitter @KaylaBruun. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected]