More than a third of Americans earning at least $250,000 annually say they are living paycheck to paycheck, underscoring how inflation is taking a bigger bite out of Americans’ budgets at all ends of the pay spectrum.
Some 36% of households taking in nearly four times the median U.S. salary devote nearly all of their income to household expenses, according to a survey by industry publication Pymnts.com and LendingClub.
It’s particularly true among
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The $250,000-plus income bracket roughly represents the top 5% of earners in the country, according to US Census Bureau
Living paycheck-to-paycheck doesn’t necessarily mean hardship, and LendingClub makes the distinction between those can pay their bills easily and those who can’t. Only a fraction of high earners — roughly one in ten — reported issues covering all their household expenses in April, according to the survey.
Housing expenses, which typically take up large chunks of the budgets of wealthier people, have skyrocketed during the pandemic. For example in Orange County, California, a top-tier home cost $1.7 million in April, up from $1.2 million in February 2020, based on Zillow Group Inc. data. A mortgage on that house, assuming a 20% down payment, would cost about $100,000 per year. That’s 40% of a $250,000 annual pre-tax income.
Top earners, even those struggling to pay the bills, are of course much better off than the rest of the nation, which is facing soaring prices for everything from
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Among all consumers surveyed, 61.3% reported living paycheck-to-paycheck in April, a 9 percentage-point increase from a year earlier, LendingClub said in its report.
To finance their lifestyles, higher-income households are more likely to put expenses on credit cards — but also more likely to be able to pay off their balance in full. US consumer borrowing soared in March by the most on record as credit-card balances ballooned and non-revolving credit jumped, highlighting the combined impact of solid
