Americans Increasingly Not Using Or Carrying Cash

Americans are increasingly not using or even carrying cash, with a Pew Research Center poll finding that about 30% of Americans say they don’t make any purchases with cash in a typical week, up from 25% in 2015. Another survey by U.S. Bank found that 50% said they carry cash less than half of the time when they are out, and when they do, 76% said they have less than $50 and nearly half said they have less than $20. Millennials are unsurprisingly most likely to be using credit, debit or digital payments, through apps like Venmo and Apple Pay, instead of cash. Income also plays a role, with adults who have a household income of over $75,000 more than twice as likely as those making less than $30,000 to say they don’t make any purchases using cash in a typical week. Despite the trendline moving away from cash, it’s still the most used method of payment in the country, making up 31% of all consumer transactions, more than credit, debit, digital or checks.