Financial Health Pulse^® 2026 U.S. Trends Report: Stressors Mount and Vulnerability Returns

Last year’s gains in financial health proved fragile. The share of Financially Vulnerable U.S. households returned to the highest level recorded in Pulse data, while the share who were Financially Healthy remained largely unchanged. The result is a picture of both deeply entrenched financial challenges, as well as an early indication of new pressures on already stressed households.

• • The share of U.S. households who were Financially Vulnerable rose from 15% in 2025 to 17% in 2026, reversing the previous year’s decline.
  • The share of households who were Financially Healthy held steady at 31%, slightly higher than prior to the pandemic, but virtually unmoved for the fifth consecutive year. 

The ability to cover everyday expenses while setting money aside for the future is foundational to financial health. Yet in 2026, fewer households were spending less than their income, and on-time bill payment declined. 

• • The share of households spending less than their income fell from 49% to 47%, hovering near its lowest level since Pulse data collection began. 
  • Only 68% of households reported paying all their bills on time over the past 12 months, down 3 percentage points from 2025. 
  • Among low-income households, the share spending less than income fell from 35% to 31%, while the share paying all bills on time fell from 54% to 49%. 
  • Upper-income households remained about twice as likely to actively save compared with low-income households.

After easing slightly in 2025, household debt manageability worsened in 2026. The share of households reporting unmanageable debt reached its highest level in nine years, with student loan and auto loan borrowers facing particularly pronounced challenges. 

• • The share of households reporting having “a bit more” or “far more” debt than was manageable rose from 29% in 2025 to 31% in 2026. 
  • Among student loan borrowers in 2026, the share reporting unmanageable debt increased from 50% to 55%; among auto loan borrowers, it rose from 36% to 40%. 
  • Student loan borrowers also saw declines in spending relative to income and confidence in meeting long-term financial goals. 
  • Altogether, the share of student loan borrowers who were Financially Vulnerable rose from 21% to 27% in 2026, one of the largest increases observed this year among any population in this year’s data.

Households have become steadily less confident that their insurance coverage will protect them when they need it. Unlike other indicators, insurance confidence did not experience a “pandemic bump,” and has instead declined gradually over time.

• • Just 54% of households were at least somewhat confident their insurance would cover them in an emergency, the lowest level recorded since Pulse data collection began in 2018. 
  • Concerns about insurance coverage were fairly evenly spread across insurance types, although concerns about property insurance were slightly more common than concerns about health or life insurance.
  • Around 6 in 10 households who experienced an unexpected out-of-pocket medical expense or major change in their health over the past year reported feeling “mostly” or “very well” protected by their health insurance, compared with 7 in 10 households who did not experience these health events. 
  • Only 61% of renters with renters insurance reported feeling “mostly” or “very well” protected by their property insurance, compared with 79% of homeowners.

Recent inflation spikes have driven price increases above average wage increases for the first time in several years. Even before this most recent shock, prices for essentials have climbed faster than overall inflation over much of the last decade, with implications for household financial health. In 2026, Pulse data show that households struggling to afford essential goods and services were also much more likely to experience financial vulnerability. 

• • Only about 6 in 10 households were completely confident they could afford essentials such as food, utilities, housing, and transportation. 
  • Confidence was even lower for some major expenses: Less than a quarter of households paying or planning to pay for higher education were completely confident in their ability to afford it. 
  • Half of all Financially Vulnerable households reported a high level of financial stress, compared with 12% of Financially Coping and 2% of Financially Healthy households.
  • Overall, the share of consumers reporting that they felt a high level of financial stress increased from 13% to 16% between 2025 and 2026, returning to near pre-pandemic levels.