Rising Prices Leave a Third of Consumers Saving Less

Americans are sorting themselves into distinct budgeting tribes, and not all are thriving. The latest PYMNTS Intelligence Paycheck to Paycheck 2025 report finds that while more consumers say they want to be saving more next year, the reality is that optimism often outpaces behavior.

A widening gap is emerging between those who build savings habits into their budgets, and those who merely hope they will.

The October report, based on a survey of 2,215 U.S. adults, finds that even households with solid balances are feeling the pinch.

Rising costs and “wishful thinking” about future savings have created a fragile layer of consumers. These consumers appear financially stable, until one unexpected bill proves otherwise. The data reveals that today’s financial landscape isn’t defined just by income or debt levels. It is also defined by budgeting identity: the disciplined savers, the precarious optimists, and the paycheck-to-paycheck strugglers trying to stay afloat.

These emerging personas illustrate how inflation, savings behavior, and psychology are reshaping financial stability:

• The Disciplined Saver: Roughly half of consumers who managed to save more than 30% of their income in the past six months say their ability to do so improved. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle in which higher balances enable even stronger financial discipline. They represent the minority of households for whom inflation hasn’t disrupted budgeting routines, effectively creating a class of “savings elites.”
• The Fragile Optimist: Fifty-two percent of all consumers expect to save more next year, yet only 24% actually increased their savings recently. Even among those not living paycheck to paycheck, 70% cite barriers to saving. This group lives on hope: confident in their future plans but with little evidence they’ll execute them. They are the ones redefining the middle of the financial spectrum: solvent but exposed.
• The Financially Exposed: Thirty-four percent of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers who struggle to pay their bills say they’ve been spending more than usual in the past six months, often on essentials rather than luxuries. Only 15% of them feel confident they could handle a $2,000 emergency. For this group, budgeting isn’t a discipline. It’s a juggling act dictated by rent, groceries and inflation anxiety.

Behind these personas lies a deeper story about uneven resilience. Even 31% of non-paycheck-to-paycheck households say inflation has eroded their ability to save. This is nearly matching the 38% who live paycheck to paycheck but manage their bills. In other words, the budgeting divide isn’t strictly about hardship but about mindset. It is about who adjusts their habits when costs rise, and who assumes tomorrow will be better.

Generational differences add another wrinkle.

The report highlights a “barbell effect” among baby boomers, with 44% holding more than $15,000 in non-liquid savings. More than one-third of them report none at all. It’s a snapshot of polarization that mirrors the national pattern: strong cushions at one end, empty accounts at the other.

Taken together, the findings suggest that financial stability in 2025 isn’t about whether Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, but how they think about money. The rise of the fragile optimist shows that confidence can’t substitute for discipline, and that wishful thinking, however well-intentioned, doesn’t balance a budget.

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