Nearly Half of Americans Say They Are Currently Living Paycheck to Paycheck; Survey Finds Other Worries, as Well

ST. LOUIS–Some 70% of Americans have lived paycheck to paycheck at some point during the pandemic, and nearly half (48%) are living paycheck to paycheck right now, according to a new survey.

The survey, released by Real Estate Witch, a unit of Clever, said the financial strains are coming as rental rates have leapt 17.8% over just this past year, and Americans have quit their jobs in droves, willingly taking pay cuts and leaving behind 10.9 million unfilled jobs in December.

Real Estate Witch surveyed 1,000 Americans about their financial struggles during the pandemic and their expectations for the year ahead, and said it found households are stretched thin, with limited savings to cushion their spending.

“Two years since the onset of the pandemic, most Americans have bleak outlooks on the housing market, as many have delayed their plans to sell or buy, and interest rates are climbing once again,” the company said in releasing its findings.

The Key Findings

Among the survey findings:

• 90% of Americans say they’re stressed about pandemic-related issues, and 32% are even more stressed about the pandemic than they were last year.
  
  
• 70% of Americans have lived paycheck to paycheck at some point during the pandemic, including 48% who are living paycheck to paycheck currently.
  
  
• 50% of those currently living with the effects of long COVID are also presently living paycheck to paycheck.
  
  
• 71% of families still have not recovered financially from the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  
• 52% of parents believe it will take up to five years for their finances to recover, while one-in-seven don’t believe their finances will ever recover.
  
  
• 80% of parents who have children under 18 are struggling to balance work and disrupted schooling, and 22% worry that it’s hurting their chances of earning a raise or promotion.
  
  
• More than one-quarter (29%) of parents living with long COVID say childcare responsibilities have limited their chances of earning a raise or promotion.
  
  
• Two in five Americans (41%) have no emergency savings, and 40% believe they will run out of savings in 2022.
  
  
• 75% of Americans have non-mortgage debt, and of those, 41% are stressed about their current financial situation.
  
  
• Only 22% believe they can pay off their debt within a year.
  
  
• Renters are 53% more likely than homeowners to say they are financially worse off than before the pandemic – 34% of renters have missed a rent payment, while 28% of homeowners have missed a mortgage payment within the last year.
  
  
• But both renters and homeowners are more likely to miss payments than they were last year. Renters are 31% more likely to miss a monthly rent payment than last year. Homeowners are 16% more likely to miss a monthly mortgage payment than last year.
  
  
• Two years into the pandemic, Americans are 78% more pessimistic about the housing market than they were almost a year ago.
  
  
• Only 44% say now is a good time to buy a home, compared to 69% in April 2021.
  
  
• 2022 home buyers are apprehensive: 40% of those who planned to buy a home in 2022 say they are holding off on that purchase indefinitely due to the pandemic.
  
  
• Last year, 65% of homeowners postponed their plans to list, but only 21% of homeowners say they’ve delayed their plans this year – a 68% decrease from 2021.

For the full report, go here.