Financial Health Pulse 2025: Financial Health Challenges Persist, Student Debt and Insurance Raise New Alarms
Lower-income, lower-wealth households saw modest gains in savings and debt manageability, while concerns rise over insurance adequacy and impacts from resumed student loan repayment.
Financial Health Pulse® 2025 U.S. Trends Report
Our 2025 report reveals a mixed picture: modest improvements in households’ financial health in the short term and deep disparities over the long term.
Pulse Trends 2025 Charts and Methodologies
Dive deeper into eight years of financial health trends and 2025 financial health disparities with interactive charts.
Pulse Spotlights
Pulse Spotlights offer quick, critical insights into emerging topics like inflation, AI, and natural disasters.
Pulse Points
Pulse Points are short research reports released multiple times a year as part of the Financial Health Pulse research initiative.
Pulse Points: Financial Health Differences Among Entrepreneurs
More people across the U.S. are starting businesses than ever before. What is the relationship between entrepreneurship and financial health?
What’s Holding Back Consumers From Using AI Financial Tools?
Financial institutions face multiple challenges driving customer adoption of AI financial tools.
Pulse Points: Main Gig or Side Hustle? Nontraditional Work and Financial Health
More than 1 in 10 working adults holds a nontraditional job. How is this growing and diverse sector of the American economy faring financially?
Pulse Points: Disparities in Credit Scores and Length of Credit History
How is credit history related to race and ethnicity, and what steps can financial service providers take to address credit health inequities?
Exploring the Link Between Housing and Healthcare Costs and Weather Events
Households that experienced a weather event were also more likely to face a range of unexpected housing- and health-related expenses.
Financial Health Pulse 2024: 70% of Americans Remain Financially Unhealthy as Day-to-Day Financial Health Weakens, Middle Income Households Hit Especially Hard
Latest report on America’s financial health reveals stark contradictions depending on whether a household has credit card debt or investments; middle income households see sharp drop in ability to manage debt.
Financial Health Pulse® 2024 U.S. Trends Report
Some households were more acutely affected by the past year’s economic forces than others, depending on their debts and assets held.
Financial Health Pulse Research 2024
In the seventh edition of the annual U.S. Trends Report, we find that key financial health indicators trended in opposite directions, while overall financial health held steady.
Pulse Points Summer 2024: The Financial Health of Foreign-Born Consumers
How does the financial health of foreign-born consumers compare with those born in the U.S., and how can we set immigrants up for financial success?
Pulse Points Spring 2024: Financial Health Challenges in Banking Deserts
What is the financial health of people in communities that lack banking services, and how can we reduce the number of banking deserts and improve trust?
Strategies To Encourage Credit Score Monitoring Among Young People
A significant portion of young adults don’t regularly check their credit scores, but financial institutions can help turn this trend around.
Even as Inflation Declines, People in the U.S. Seek Ways To Cope
A recent Financial Health Pulse® survey finds half of people in the U.S. are using four or more strategies to cope with inflation, such as relying on charities or food banks.
Financial Health Pulse 2023: Share of Financially Vulnerable Americans Grows to 17% of Population, Climbing to Pre-Pandemic Levels
Largest Pulse data collection finds growing financial health inequities based on race, ethnicity, and age.
Financial Health Pulse® 2023 U.S. Trends Report
After reaching a historic high in 2021, our 2023 U.S. Trends Report finds that the financial health of Americans has declined to pre-pandemic levels.
Financial Health Pulse Research 2023
After reaching a historic high in 2021, our 2023 U.S. Trends Report finds that the financial health of Americans has declined to pre-pandemic levels.
Pulse Points Summer 2023: Weathering Financial Setbacks From Natural Disasters
Severe weather can disrupt financial health, yet fewer than expected Americans living in disaster-prone areas carry residential insurance.
Pulse Points Spring 2023: Bracing for the End of Student Loan Forbearance
New analysis suggests that many borrowers anticipate difficulty restarting payments when forbearance likely ends this summer – but proposed policy changes could help.
Four Out of Five Americans Were Financially Unhealthy at Least Once Over Last Five Years
Novel five-year research uses proprietary Financial Health Pulse data, the nation’s benchmark measurement for finhealth, to provide a unique look at life events, income and other factors that most impact individual financial health over time.
Once Financially Unhealthy, Always Financially Unhealthy?
A five-year analysis of Financial Health Pulse® research shows two critical ways that Americans struggle with financial health.
New Financial Health Data Shows Vast Disparities Across Race and Ethnicity in Chicago
Black Cook County residents are almost twice as likely to be Financially Vulnerable than their counterparts nationally; Latinx residents are nearly one and a half times as likely.
Financial Health Pulse® 2022 Chicago Report
In our first report to focus on the Financial Health Network’s home city, we explore the realities of the financial lives of people in Chicago and neighboring Cook County suburbs.
New Financial Health Pulse Data Shows Correlation Between Cost of Gas and Consumption and the Impact of Price Increases on Financially Unhealthy
Top-line finding shows that as gas prices increased in 2022, overall consumption decreased and that the financially unhealthy often made smaller, more frequent purchases to fill up their tanks.
Pulse Points Fall 2022: Responses to Record-High Gas Prices
As gasoline prices reach all-time peaks, how are Americans adjusting their buying patterns to cope? Analysis of Financial Health Pulse® survey and transactional data suggests that increasing gas costs and consumers’ financial health status may affect how often they refuel and how much they spend per trip to the pump.
2022 Financial Health Pulse: Financial Health Drops for First Time in Five Years of Measurement
New data shows erosion of financial health gains from pandemic, led by significant declines in middle- and upper-income earners, black people and women.
Financial Health Pulse® 2022 U.S. Trends Report
Our 2022 U.S. Trends Report tells a far different story than prior years. Data from the nationally representative probability-based Pulse survey, fielded in April and May 2022, show that financial health declined for the first time in the project’s five-year history.
Financial Health Pulse Research 2022
2022 marked the five-year anniversary of the Financial Health Pulse® as a leading resource for insights on the financial well-being of people across America. This year also brought historic challenges to financial health, as the percentage of Financially Healthy people declined for the first time in Pulse’s five-year history.
Financial Health Pulse Research 2021
In the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers continued to face disruptions and impacts to their financial health. Through analysis of transaction and survey data, these reports and briefs explore trends around pandemic relief, emergency savings, medical and caregiving needs, and disparities among socioeconomic groups.
Financial Health Pulse Research 2020
2022 marked the five-year anniversary of the Financial Health Pulse as a leading resource for insights on the financial well-being of people across America. This year also brought historic challenges to financial health, as the percentage of Financially Healthy people declined for the first time in Pulse’s five-year history.
Financial Health Pulse Research 2019
Despite a strong year of economic growth, the financial health of Americans have not changed significantly since the past year. Through analysis of transaction and survey data, these reports and briefs highlight how a majority of Americans continue to struggle financially and remain unprepared for financial shocks.
Financial Health Pulse Research 2018
The first-ever Pulse report was designed as an annual benchmarking survey and financial data analysis that could provide recurring insights into the ever-changing nature of Americans’ financial health. Bringing together all aspects of a person’s financial advice via survey analysis, these reports and briefs tell a holistic story of the state of America's financial health.
When to Use Survey and Administrative Data for Financial Health Measurement: Lessons from the Financial Health Pulse
Combining survey and administrative data can offer more nuanced insights for financial institutions on customer needs and potential solutions.
Pulse Points: Savings Dwindled as Spending Increased in Q4 2021
Consumers spent more money on recreation and eating out during the 2021 holiday season than during the 2020 holiday season, but many remain vulnerable as government relief programs expire and inflation continues. This brief examines the factors that may shape financial health in the early months of 2022.
Financial Health Research: Expanding Our DEI Lens
As part of our DEI commitment, the Financial Health Network is updating our survey questions and analysis around ethnicity, gender, LGBTQIA+ status, and ability.
Pulse Points Fall 2021: How Families Are Using Child Tax Credits
New Pulse transactional data suggests that child tax credit payments have had a positive financial impact on recipients, particularly those who experienced hardship in the past.