Even top-earning Americans say they're living paycheck to paycheck (2024)

A majority of Americans say they are living paycheck to paycheck — including high earners.

As of January, 62% of U.S. consumers said they lived paycheck to paycheck, including 48% who earn more than $100,000 annually, and 36% of those annually earning more than $200,000, according to a recent report by data and analytics platform PYMNTS.

The reasons for living paycheck to paycheck are different between the different earnings levels. While low-income consumers cited insufficient income as the top factor, high-income consumers reported that family expenses are the top reason they live paycheck to paycheck, followed by non-essential spending.

Among the highest earners, millennials and people living in cities are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck.

High-income consumers are less likely to cut back on discretionary spending, even if prices are higher, compared with lower earners, Recreation, personal care, and everyday transactions comprise on average 28% of high earners’ budgets, according to PYMNTS’s survey of 4,285 U.S. consumers carried out between Jan. 9 and Jan. 16.

But 17% of these same high earners who make $200,000 annually and above said they have not saved consistently over the past year.

The impact of inflation

While housing costs make up a sizable portion of expenses for all groups, housing is a major pain point for lower income earners. Surging home prices and high mortgage rates have put a major strain on the housing market. In March, the median sale price of a home rose 4.8% from a year earlier to a record $420,321, according to Redfin data. And in all 50 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas, median home prices either rose or stayed flat in March — but none of them fell.

The average rate on a 30-year-fixed mortgage has remained above 7% for the past month.

Renters are doing only slightly better. The national median price of an apartment in March was $1,987, according to Rent.com’s latest Rent Report. Rental costs in March were 21.78%, or $373, higher than they were at the same time four years ago. Meanwhile, overall inflation has popped up 21% since January 2020, prior to the onset of the pandemic.

PYMNTS found that just 18% of wage earners overall said that their incomes have kept up with inflation, compared with 27% of high earners.

Wage increases have largely outpaced inflation in recent years, with real average hourly earnings climbing 4.2% year-over-year in March, compared with an annual pace of inflation of 3.5% that month.