WASHINGTON–The percentage of Americans who say they are doing “OK” didn’t change much in 2024 from two years earlier, according to the newly released  Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024 report from the Federal Reserve. 

The report is based on the Fed Board’s annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which was conducted last October, and examines the financial circumstances of U.S. adults and their families.

The  2024 survey found 73% of adults saying they are doing OK or living comfortably financially, nearly identical to the 72% who said the same thing in 2023. Both those figures are down from a high of 78% in 2021.

According to the Fed, Americans’ perceptions of their local economy and the national economy continued to improve, even as they remained pessimistic overall. The survey found 29% of adults rated the national economy as “good” or “excellent” in 2024, up from 22% in 2023. That’s down from 50% in 2019.

What About Prices?

Meanwhile, when it comes to prices, the Fed survey revealed 60% of adults said changes in the prices they paid compared with the prior year had made their financial situations worse, down from 65% in 2023. 

The Fed found 79% of adults reported dealing with higher prices by adjusting their behavior, with the most common response being a change in spending. That share was unchanged from 2023, but down slightly from 2022.

Additional Findings

Additional findings include:

• The share of adults who reported spending less than their income in the month before the survey rose to 51% from 48% in 2023, “suggesting that more adults have margin in their budgets,” the Fed said. That figure was down from a high of 55% in 2020 and 2021.
• At the time of the 2024 survey, 63% of adults said they would do so – unchanged from 2022 and 2023 but down from a high of 68% in 2021, the Fed said.

Fraud Findings

For the first time, the Fed said its survey also asked about consumers’ most recent experiences with financial fraud. The survey found:

• 21% of adults reported that they experienced financial fraud or scams involving their money, with 17% reporting fraud related to their credit card and 8% reporting another type of financial fraud.
• Among banked adults who experienced non-credit card-related fraud, 57% said the fraud involved their checking, saving, or money market account. Among that group, 63% lost money, and 32% said at least some of that money was not recovered.
• Adults age 45 and over were more likely than younger adults to experience financial fraud or scams, largely driven by their higher rates of experiencing credit card-related fraud. In contrast to differences by age, the incidence of financial fraud was similar by income, race and ethnicity, and gender.
• The Fed reported that the total amount of non-credit-card fraud was an estimated $84 billion in 2024. With $21 billion of that recovered, consumers bore a net $63 billion loss directly.