Nearly a Quarter of Struggling Households Rely on a Single Income

The idea of households having a sole breadwinner seems almost quaint in 2022 given changes to workplace composition and the massive spike in costs over the past five decades. But new research found that this outlier condition is more widespread than many people think, leaving such households more vulnerable and to struggling to pay bills and related issues.

According to New Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report: Employment Edition, a PYMNTS and LendingClub collaboration and part of a long-running series, less than one-fifth (19%) of nearly 4,000 respondents said they are sole earners. However, 40% of respondents said their income “represented three-quarters or more of their households’ total earnings,” which can bring the same problems that single-income households encounter.

Unsurprisingly, the new data found households dependent on a single income more likely to identify as not only living paycheck to paycheck but struggling to meet expenses.

While a comparable number of those operating on single incomes (17%) said they are not living paycheck to paycheck, these households are still more likely to report affordability issues.

“Among paycheck-to-paycheck consumers, those with issues paying their bills are most likely to have only one income provider, at 23% — notably more than the 19% of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers living without difficulty,” the study stated. “Only 17% of consumers not living paycheck to paycheck identify themselves as the sole breadwinner. Close to 40% of consumers in all financial lifestyles carried more than 75% of their household income.”

Of those whose earnings represent the lion’s share of household income, nearly half (48.5%) are male; nearly four in 10 (38.4%) said they struggle to meet monthly expenses. Generation Xers are the largest grouping fitting this description at 43%, followed closely by baby boomers and seniors at 42.6%, according to the data.