What Does It Take To Feel Financially Secure? Americans Share Their Answers

What would make Americans feel financially secure?

There’s no single magic number. When asked what annual income would make Americans feel secure, the most common answer is $50,000 to $74,999 — but only 20% of respondents choose it. Questions about (excluding home equity and retirement) show the same lack of consensus: A plurality (15%) says having under $1,000 is enough to feel secure, but nearly as many people say they would need $10,000 to $24,999 (13%).

What people agree on more is how they define financial security. More than half of the respondents (51%) say financial security means not living paycheck to paycheck, ahead of being debt-free (40%) or owning a home (19%). (Respondents could choose more than one answer.)

Here are some of the most common definitions of financial security we gathered:

“To our clients, being financially secure isn’t a number,” said Mitch McNeil, a wealth management advisor at Northwestern Mutual in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. “It’s a feeling. To know you don’t have to worry about money, and you have sufficient assets to cover your lifestyle goals today and into your retirement years.”

That may be why so few people can pin down their number with real confidence. Only 20% say they know exactly what it would take to feel financially secure, while 57% say they only have a rough idea. About one in four people say they don’t know or haven’t thought about it.

Currently, about four in 10 people describe themselves as at least somewhat financially insecure, while 60% say they are at least somewhat financially secure.

Martin Lynch, the president of the Financial Counseling Association of America, said financial security comes from getting expenses under control. “For most clients of credit counseling agencies, financial security comes from knowing that for the first time in a long time, they’re able to cover all their expenses every month,” he said.

Why don’t Americans feel financially secure?

Nearly half (46%) of working-age Americans name cost of living as the biggest reason people struggle to feel secure — about four times the next most common answer, debt (12%).

Here’s how the full list of obstacles breaks down:

The pressure doesn’t land the same way for everyone. Women are far more likely than men to have $0 saved (24% vs. 15%) and to describe themselves as financially insecure (23% vs. 14%).

High income doesn’t guarantee peace of mind, either. Only 30% of respondents earning $200,000 or more consider themselves financially secure (though a majority, 61%, say they are "somewhat" secure).

Andi Wrenn, a financial counselor in Raleigh, North Carolina, sees cost-of-living pressures showing up in small, everyday decisions, even among clients who are otherwise financially healthy. “The cost of goods has increased so much over the last couple of years,” she said. “It’s impacting all income levels.”

She pointed to a client on a solid financial regimen who now has to plan how many times a month the family can afford to eat out, since even fast food costs close to what food at a favorite sit-down restaurant costs.

There is more optimism about financial security in some generations than others. About 84% of Generation Z individuals (18- to 29-year-olds in our survey) think they will “probably” or “definitely” be financially secure at some point in their lives — by far the highest percentage of any generation.

Income matters more than debt or homeownership

When respondents were asked what would make the biggest difference to their financial security, the most popular response was making enough money. Over one-third (34%) cited earning enough to comfortably cover expenses and save, ahead of paying off debt (23%) and owning a home (17%).

Even amid rising costs and shaky consumer confidence, many Americans haven’t given up on achieving financial security. Nearly 71% believe they’ll “probably” or “definitely” get there.

The chart below shows what people think would make the biggest difference to their financial security:

Where is financial security most (and least) achievable?

A dollar stretches further in some states than others, and that difference can make financial security feel a lot closer or a lot further away, depending on where you live.

To find out how far it stretches, ConsumerAffairs researched each state’s cost-of-living-adjusted median household income and household debt per capita. We also compared the income figures with the income most commonly chosen in our survey as the minimum needed to feel financially secure ($62,000).

Below is a snapshot of how the states stack up, including the best and worst five:

See how every state in between compares on the map below:

Kansas is the state where financial security is most achievable. It has a median cost-of-living-adjusted income of $98,750. This means that a household earning the median income in Kansas has roughly the same purchasing power as a household earning $98,750 in an average-cost area. This is fourth highest in the U.S. and about 59% above the survey’s $62,000 financial security benchmark. The average debt balance ($46,720) is sixth lowest nationally.

Financial security is most difficult to reach in Hawaii. The adjusted median income is $53,103, the lowest in the U.S. and the only income below the $62,000 financial security benchmark. Average debt is almost $83,500, fourth highest in the country.

Tips for building financial security

Financial experts say that financial security is built through a handful of consistent habits practiced long enough that they become second nature.

Here are four habits experts recommend:

• Build an emergency fund before anything else. You don’t need a huge amount — just enough to cover a few months of expenses if something goes wrong. Aim to save at least 10% of your income, with a long-term goal of 20% or more, said Bruce Maginn, a partner at Solomon Financial, an advisory firm in Carmel, Indiana.
• Increase income where you can, but budget the extra money on purpose. A raise that gets absorbed into daily spending doesn’t move the needle. McNeil, of Northwestern Mutual, said he has clients split any pay increase three ways: a third to savings or investments, a third to lifestyle and a third to other spending (e.g., debt reduction, charity).
• Pay down high-interest debt, and keep a paid-off card open. “15% of your FICO score comes from the average age of your credit accounts,” Lynch, the FCAA president, said. Keeping accounts open will help your credit score.
• Be patient with long-term financial goals. Lynch said even clients on debt management plans, who get interest rate breaks most people can’t access on their own, take 40 to 42 months, on average, to pay their balances to zero. Other goals, like saving for a house, often require similar patience.

Finally, remember that real progress rarely looks like much in the moment. It’s only obvious looking back.

Methodology

ConsumerAffairs surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 to 64 via Pollfish to better understand what financial security looks like today. Results were poststratified by characteristics like age and gender to better reflect the U.S. population.

To determine where financial security is most and least achievable, the ConsumerAffairs Research Team created a state-level index measuring two factors: cost-of-living-adjusted median household income and each state's per-capita household debt.

Each state received a score from zero to 100 based on two weighted factors:

• Median household income, adjusted for cost of living (60 points): Median household income was adjusted using each state’s cost of living index. The resulting dollar figure represents the equivalent income a typical household would need in a location with average U.S. living costs to have the same purchasing power. For example, although Alabama’s actual median income is $65,560, its lower cost of living means that income has the same purchasing power as $73,995 in a location with average U.S. living costs. Income data is from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (2024), and cost of living data is from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (2025).
• Per-capita household debt (40 points): This is the average household debt per person in each state. Data comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2025).

For each metric, states scored from zero to 100. The state with the highest adjusted median income and lowest average debt scored 100 points, and other states received proportional scores.

These rankings are intended to compare the relative attainability of financial security across states and shouldn't be interpreted as predictions of any individual's financial outlook.

Because this survey focuses on working-age adults (ages 18 to 64), generational comparisons use the following age ranges: Gen Z (18 to 29), millennials (30-45), Gen X (46 to 61) and baby boomers (62 to 64). As a result, baby boomer findings represent people from 62 to 64 rather than the full generational cohort.

Reference policy

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Questions?

For questions about the data or if you'd like to set up an interview, please contact dedens@consumeraffairs.com.