Released Friday (Oct, 9) the Fed’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) covers the years 2022 to 2025, a period in which the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of around 2.5% and the annual rate of change in the Consumer Price Index averaged 3.6%.
“Against this backdrop of moderate economic expansion and elevated inflation, the 2025 SCF indicates that while most families experienced moderate increases in income and net worth, an increasing subset of families appear to have been experiencing financial stress,” the report said.
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Incomes rose during that period for less well-off Americans, but those consumers did not increase their wealth. The lowest quarter of households saw their net worth decline by more than 50%, from $3,800 as of the last survey in 2022 to $1,700.
Median wealth for Black families, which had soared 60% in the 2022 survey, saw “a large decline” of 25%, the report said, arguing this “reinforced existing patterns of wealth inequality by family characteristics,” with rich families getting richer.
The report also saw indications of debt-related stress building as inflation and interest rates remained high.
“The share of families that reported being behind on loan payments sharply increased from about 12% to almost 20%,” the Fed reported, with the share of households using buy now, pay later services increasing from 7% to 12%.
Meanwhile, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research has found that household budget pressure doesn’t always translate to people making smaller purchases. As covered here last month, consumers dealing with cash shortages have instead begun shopping differently, “with greater use of online grocery channels and stronger preferences for certain merchants.”
According to the report “The New Checkout: Crimped Consumers Lean Into Online Retail and Digital Wallets,” consumers facing high levels of financial stress were 6 percentage points more likely than those dealing with low stress to have made their most recent grocery purchase online, 16% compared to 10%.
“Online shopping can function like a calculator beside the grocery cart, helping shoppers track the total as they add items,” PYMNTS wrote, noting that the research indicates that “digital discounts and convenience may also explain the difference, although financial strain doesn’t increase online shopping overall.”
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