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A growing number of Americans earning six-figure salaries are worried about paying their monthly bills, according to a new survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
The survey shows that more than 30% of respondents earning between $100,000 and $149,999 are worried about making ends meet within the next six months. This marks a sharp increase from a year ago, when 21.3% of individuals in that income bracket expressed concern about making ends meet.
At the same time, about 32.5% of individuals earning more than $150,000 are worried about being able to pay their bills, which also marks an increase from the 21.7% figure reported a year ago.
Interestingly, those wealthiest Americans are actually more concerned about their finances than many individuals who are making less money. About 29.8% of individuals earning between $40,000 and $69,999 said they are worried, up from 23.9% last year.
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Customers shop at a supermarket in Foster City, California, on September 13, 2023. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua via Getty Images / Getty Images)
However, consumers making less than $40,000 are the most worried, with about 40% worried about making ends meet, according to the survey.
By many measures, the economy is healthy. The labor market continues to move at a solid but moderate pace employers adding 272000 new workers in May. Job openings remain high and the unemployment rate is mostly stable at 4%.
But Americans are also grappling with the highest interest rates in two decades and chronically high inflation that has made the cost of everyday necessities like groceries, rent and gas much more expensive.
While inflation has fallen sharply from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022, it remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. And when compared to January 2021, a little money the inflation crisis beganprices are almost 20%.
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Many families have yet to see material relief. Food prices have risen more than 21% since the start of 2021 and housing costs have risen 18.37%, according to FOX Business calculations. Meanwhile, energy prices have increased by 38.4%.
Price increases are particularly devastating for lower-income Americans because they tend to spend more of their already stretched wages on necessities and, therefore, have less flexibility to whereas money.
The typical American household had to pay $227 more per month in March to buy the same goods and services as it did a year ago because of still high inflation. Americans pay an average of $784 more each month compared to the same time two years ago and $1,069 more than three years ago.
As they spend more on everyday goods, Americans are burning through their savings and are increasingly turning to credit cards to cover those basic expenses.
A window sign at a vacation supply company in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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The latest findings come amid growing pessimism among American households about their financial situation under President Biden.
A recent poll released by Gallup found that Americans are less optimistic about the state of the country the american economy than they have been in recent months, and only 38% of voters trust Biden to recommend or do the right thing about the economy. By comparison, in 2020, about 47% of respondents said they trusted former President Trump to do the right thing about the economy.
“Biden’s subpar rating could have significant electoral implications as not only does he have the lowest economic rating of any president seeking re-election since Gallup began tracking it in 2001, but independents trust his opponent more than him,” Gallup said.