Surveys have shown a huge percentage of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. For the last two years, prices of everything have been rising.
If you put those two facts together, something has to give. And apparently, it has. A new survey from doxo, a bill management app, shows 74% of Americans have changed their spending habits since inflation set in.
The company’s third annual How Americans Pay Their Bills Report reveals the vast majority of consumers – 85% – say they are just as or more worried about their ability to pay their household bills as they were last year.
The report also does a deep dive into consumers’ bill payment habits, reporting that the average household in America now spends $25,513 per year, or 34% of their income, on the most essential bills, such as rent, utilities and food.
‘Still reeling’
“While inflation has certainly cooled since its peak, Americans are still reeling from higher-than-average prices and adjusting their spending and saving where possible,” said Liz Powell, senior director of Insights at doxo.
“The impact of inflation has a direct, and in many cases lasting, impact on the overall financial health of American households and the ability or method in which they are able to pay their monthly bills.”
Among the report’s key findings, 82% of consumers say it is hard to stay on top of household bills due to the rising cost of groceries in the past year. Making that task even harder, 65% of Americans said they received no salary increase, or an increase of less than 1% over the past year.
Consumers say utility bills give them the most trouble, followed by payments for car insurance, cable and internet, mobile phones and health insurance.