According to a survey among Chinese consumers in July 2021, 94 percent of respondents from China's fourth- and fifth-tier cities believed it is not good to live paycheck to paycheck, slightly higher than those in larger cities. Among surveyed first-tier city residents, eight percent of respondents thought that there was nothing wrong with having no savings.

This statistic shows the share of rural Americans who could not afford an unexpected expense in 2019, by income. During the survey, 54 percent of rural Americans who had an income of 25,000 U.S. dollars to 50,000 U.S. dollars reported that they would not be able to pay off an unexpected expense of 1,000 U.S. dollars right away.

In a survey conducted in Australia in 2021, over half of the respondents with an annual household income of between 20,001 and 40,000 Australian dollars indicated that they live paycheck to paycheck. Generally, households with higher annual incomes were less likely to live paycheck to paycheck, with the exception of households earning 20,000 Australian dollars or less, who were slightly less likely than those earning between 20,001 and 40,000 Australian dollars to live paycheck to paycheck.

According to a survey, 37 percent of members of Generation Z lived paycheck to paycheck. This figure amounted to 34 percent for Millennials.

This statistic shows the total personal income in the United States from 1990 to 2023. The data are in current U.S. dollars not adjusted for inflation or deflation. According to the BEA, personal income is the income that is received by persons from all sources. It is calculated as the sum of wage and salary disbursements, supplements to wages and salaries, proprietors' income with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments, rental income of persons with capital consumption adjustment, personal dividend income, personal interest income, and personal current transfer receipts, less contributions for government social insurance. Personal income increased to about 23 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023.Personal income Personal income in the United States has risen steadily over the last decades from 5.07 trillion U.S. dollars in 1991 to 23 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. Personal income includes all earnings including wages, investments, and other sources. Personal income also varied widely across the U.S., where those living in the District of Columbia, on the higher scale, earned an average of 96,873 U.S. dollars per capita and on the lower end of the spectrum, people in Mississippi earned 45,438 U.S. dollars per capita. In the District of Columbia, disposable income averaged some 81,193 U.S. dollars. In total, California earned the most personal income followed by Texas, receiving three trillion U.S. dollars and 1.76 trillion U.S. dollars, respectively. Income tends to vary widely between demographics in the United States. Those with higher education levels tend to earn more money. However, only 25.7 percent of persons with a disability that had a Bachelor's degree or higher were employed in 2020. The Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability programs provide monetary benefits to the disabled and certain family members.

Estimates of the number and proportion of UK employee jobs with hourly pay below the living wage, by region, work geography, local authority and Parliamentary constituency, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

This statistic shows the median household income in the United States from 1990 to 2023 in 2023 U.S. dollars. The median household income was 80,610 U.S. dollars in 2023, an increase from the previous year. Household incomeThe median household income depicts the income of households, including the income of the householder and all other individuals aged 15 years or over living in the household. Income includes wages and salaries, unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support payments received, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely. The median household income in the United States varies from state to state. In 2020, the median household income was 86,725 U.S. dollars in Massachusetts, while the median household income in Mississippi was approximately 44,966 U.S. dollars at that time. Household income is also used to determine the poverty line in the United States. In 2021, about 11.6 percent of the U.S. population was living in poverty. The child poverty rate, which represents people under the age of 18 living in poverty, has been growing steadily over the first decade since the turn of the century, from 16.2 percent of the children living below the poverty line in year 2000 to 22 percent in 2010. In 2021, it had lowered to 15.3 percent. The state with the widest gap between the rich and the poor was New York, with a Gini coefficient score of 0.51 in 2019. The Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality and a score of one indicates a society where one person would have all the money and all other people have nothing.

There is more to housing affordability than the rent or mortgage you pay. Transportation costs are the second-biggest budget item for most families, but it can be difficult for people to fully factor transportation costs into decisions about where to live and work. The Location Affordability Index (LAI) is a user-friendly source of standardized data at the neighborhood (census tract) level on combined housing and transportation costs to help consumers, policymakers, and developers make more informed decisions about where to live, work, and invest. Compare eight household profiles (see table below) —which vary by household income, size, and number of commuters—and see the impact of the built environment on affordability in a given location while holding household demographics constant.*$11,880 for a single person household in 2016 according to US Dept. of Health and Human Services: https://aspe.hhs.gov/computations-2016-poverty-guidelinesThis layer is symbolized by the percentage of housing and transportation costs as a percentage of income for the Median-Income Family profile, but the costs as a percentage of income for all household profiles are listed in the pop-up:Also available is a gallery of 8 web maps (one for each household profile) all symbolized the same way for easy comparison: Median-Income Family, Very Low-Income Individual, Working Individual, Single Professional, Retired Couple, Single-Parent Family, Moderate-Income Family, and Dual-Professional Family.An accompanying story map provides side-by-side comparisons and additional context.--Variables used in HUD's calculations include 24 measures such as people per household, average number of rooms per housing unit, monthly housing costs (mortgage/rent as well as utility and maintenance expenses), average number of cars per household, median commute distance, vehicle miles traveled per year, percent of trips taken on transit, street connectivity and walkability (measured by block density), and many more.To learn more about the Location Affordability Index (v.3) visit: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/location-affordability-index/. There you will find some background and an FAQ page, which includes the question:"Manhattan, San Francisco, and downtown Boston are some of the most expensive places to live in the country, yet the LAI shows them as affordable for the typical regional household. Why?" These areas have some of the lowest transportation costs in the country, which helps offset the high cost of housing. The area median income (AMI) in these regions is also high, so when costs are shown as a percent of income for the typical regional household these neighborhoods appear affordable; however, they are generally unaffordable to households earning less than the AMI.Date of Coverage: 2012-2016 Date Released: March 2019Date Downloaded from HUD Open Data: 4/18/19Further Documentation:LAI Version 3 Data and MethodologyLAI Version 3 Technical Documentation_**The documentation below is in reference to this items placement in the NM Supply Chain Data Hub. The documentation is of use to understanding the source of this item, and how to reproduce it for updates**

Title: Location Affordability Index - NMCDC Copy

Summary: This layer contains the Location Affordability Index from U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - standardized household, housing, and transportation cost estimates by census tract for 8 household profiles.

Notes: This map is copied from source map: https://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=de341c1338c5447da400c4e8c51ae1f6, created by dianaclavery_uo, and identified in Living Atlas.

Prepared by: dianaclavery_uo, copied by EMcRae_NMCDC

Source: This map is copied from source map: https://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=de341c1338c5447da400c4e8c51ae1f6, created by dianaclavery_uo, and identified in Living Atlas. Check the source documentation or other details above for more information about data sources.

Feature Service: https://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=447a461f048845979f30a2478b9e65bb

UID: 73

Data Requested: Family income spent on basic need

Method of Acquisition: Search for Location Affordability Index in the Living Atlas. Make a copy of most recent map available. To update this map, copy the most recent map available. In a new tab, open the AGOL Assistant Portal tool and use the functions in the portal to copy the new maps JSON, and paste it over the old map (this map with item id

Date Acquired: Map copied on May 10, 2022

Priority rank as Identified in 2022 (scale of 1 being the highest priority, to 11 being the lowest priority): 6

Tags: PENDING

Between 2018 and 2022, people in households in the ‘other’, Asian and black ethnic groups were the most likely to be in persistent low income, both before and after housing costs, out of all ethnic groups.

More than half of the respondents in a global survey were at least slightly struggling with paying for basic needs as of September 2022. The single commodity that most people were struggling with was energy and utilities, followed by food. On the other hand, fewest were affected by credit card repayments. Rising inflation rates have seen cost of living surge in 2022, which has especially affected energy and certain types of food.

In total, about 59.9 percent of U.S. households paid income tax in 2022. The remaining 40.1 percent of households paid no individual income tax. In that same year, about 47.1 percent of U.S. households with an income between 40,000 and 50,000 U.S. dollars paid no individual income taxes.

Average hourly and weekly wage rate, and median hourly and weekly wage rate by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), type of work, gender, and age group.

The statistic shows the results of a survey about the types of people using the internet to pay bills in the past year in Malaysia in 2018, by type of population. In the period surveyed, the lowest share of people, about 18 percent, claiming to have used the internet to pay bills in the past year was among people living in rural areas of Malaysia.

The timeline presents data on pay TV penetration rate in Latin America from 2010 to 2019. In 2018, 55.39 percent of people living in TV households in Latin America had access to pay TV services. The industry generated 19.5 billion U.S. dollars in revenues in Latin America in 2017. Largest pay TV operator in the region (based on subscriber count) was DirecTV/Sky, followed by America Movil. Telefonica had 4.62 million pay TV subscribers in December 2017.

In April 2025, 23 percent of households in Great Britain reported that they could not afford an unexpected expense of 850 British pounds. In the same month, approximately 72 percent of people reported rising living costs relative to the previous month.

In March 2025, inflation amounted to 2.4 percent, while wages grew by 4.3 percent. The inflation rate has not exceeded the rate of wage growth since January 2023. Inflation in 2022 The high rates of inflation in 2022 meant that the real terms value of American wages took a hit. Many Americans report feelings of concern over the economy and a worsening of their financial situation. The inflation situation in the United States is one that was experienced globally in 2022, mainly due to COVID-19 related supply chain constraints and disruption due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The monthly inflation rate for the U.S. reached a 40-year high in June 2022 at 9.1 percent, and annual inflation for 2022 reached eight percent. Without appropriate wage increases, Americans will continue to see a decline in their purchasing power. Wages in the U.S. Despite the level of wage growth reaching 6.7 percent in the summer of 2022, it has not been enough to curb the impact of even higher inflation rates. The federally mandated minimum wage in the United States has not increased since 2009, meaning that individuals working minimum wage jobs have taken a real terms pay cut for the last twelve years. There are discrepancies between states - the minimum wage in California can be as high as 15.50 U.S. dollars per hour, while a business in Oklahoma may be as low as two U.S. dollars per hour. However, even the higher wage rates in states like California and Washington may be lacking - one analysis found that if minimum wage had kept up with productivity, the minimum hourly wage in the U.S. should have been 22.88 dollars per hour in 2021. Additionally, the impact of decreased purchasing power due to inflation will impact different parts of society in different ways with stark contrast in average wages due to both gender and race.

In 2023 the poverty rate in the United States was highest among people between 18 and 24, with a rate of 16 percent for male Americans and a rate of 21 percent for female Americans. The lowest poverty rate for both men and women was for those aged between 45 and 54. What is the poverty line? The poverty line is a metric used by the U.S. Census Bureau to define poverty in the United States. It is a specific income level that is considered to be the bare minimum a person or family needs to meet their basic needs. If a family’s annual pre-tax income is below this income level, then they are considered impoverished. The poverty guideline for a family of four in 2021 was 26,500 U.S. dollars. Living below the poverty line According to the most recent data, almost one-fifth of African Americans in the United States live below the poverty line; the most out of any ethnic group. Additionally, over 7.42 million families in the U.S. live in poverty – a figure that has held mostly steady since 1990, outside the 2008 financial crisis which threw 9.52 million families into poverty by 2012. The poverty gender gap Wage inequality has been an ongoing discussion in U.S. discourse for many years now. The poverty gap for women is most pronounced during their child-bearing years, shrinks, and then grows again in old age. While progress has been made on the gender pay gap over the last 30 years, there are still significant disparities, even in occupations that predominantly employ men. Additionally, women are often having to spend more time attending to child and household duties than men.

In 2023, the median hourly earnings of wage and salary workers in the United States was 19.24 U.S. dollars. This is an increase from 1979, when median hourly earnings were at 4.44 U.S. dollars. Hourly Workers The United States national minimum wage is 7.25 U.S. dollars per hour, which has been the minimum wage since 2009. However, each state has the agency to set their state minimum wage. Furthermore, some cities are able to create their minimum wage. Many argue that the minimum wage is too low and should be raised, because it is not considered a living wage. There has been a movement to raise the minimum wage to 15 U.S. dollars per hour, called “Fight for 15” which began in the early 2010s. While there has been no movement at the federal level, some states have moved to increase their minimum wages, with at least three states and the District of Columbia setting minimum wage rates at or above 15 dollars per hour. More recently, some proponents of increasing the minimum wage say that 15 dollars is too low, and lawmakers should strive toward a higher goal, especially given that a 2021 analysis found that the minimum wage in the U.S. should be 22.88 U.S. dollars if it grew at the same rate as economic productivity. Salary Workers On the other hand, salary workers in the United States do not get paid on an hourly basis. The median weekly earnings of salary workers have significantly increased since 1979. Asian salary workers had the highest hourly earnings in the U.S. in 2021. Among female salary workers, those ages 45 to 54 years old had the highest median hourly earnings in 2021, likewise for male salary workers.

Watching live sports on cable was the main reason that has kept Americans from getting rid of cable as of 2022, according to 19.5 percent of respondents to a survey. Second common factor was watching live entertainment events, such as the award shows, with around 11.7 percent of people interviewed.

After a steep decline, starting in 2010 and culminating in the bottom value of 19,939 euros, average annual wages in Portugal increased to unprecedented figures. By 2021, the mean wage per year of work was 21,717 euros, despite the more than 200-euro drop that followed in 2022. By 2023, annual wages rose to 22,006 euros. The salary increase is not enough to tackle living expenses The surge in salaries is even more evident when considering minimum annual wages. Following a period of stagnation between 2011 and 2014, the Portuguese minimum annual salary has been on a hike, reaching 11,480 euros by 2024. This rise is relevant when considering the impact of growing inflation on the prices of goods and services, as it restores some purchasing power to workers. Nevertheless, 50 percent of Portuguese people stated, in 2023, that their professional income was mostly not enough to face up to living expenses. Youngsters and women struggle the most when it comes to unemployment and salary amounts The unemployment rate in the country was at six percent in the second quarter of 2024, having decreased from the previous quarter. People between 16 and 24 years of age were the most affected by unemployment, with shares of 22 percent in the same quarter. Women followed as the second most impacted by this social issue. The gender gap is also notorious when it comes to wages. In 2022, women’s average monthly salaries were over 13 percent lower than the salaries of their male counterparts, which impairs women in the tackling of the rising cost of living.