Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst
Americans are increasingly not using or even carrying cash, with a Pew Research Center poll finding that about 30 percent of Americans say they don’t make any purchases with cash in a typical week, up from 25 percent in 2015. Another survey by U.S. Bank found that 50 percent said they carry cash less than half of the time when they are out, and when they do, 76 percent 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 percent of all consumer transactions, more than credit, debit, digital or checks.
