---
title: "Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency"
slug: the-safety-net
summary: "In Bankrate's 2026 report, 30% of U.S. adults said they would use savings to pay a $1,000 emergency."
category: "Savings"
unit: percent
frequency: annual
direction: not_applicable
latest_value: 30.0
latest_period: "2026"
trend: unknown
trend_suppressed: "series_break"
last_updated: "2026-08-14T08:07:30Z"
source: "Bankrate Emergency Savings Report"
source_url: https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/emergency-savings-report/
canonical_html: https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/
citation_apa: "Kilburn, R. (2026). Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/"
citation_chicago: "Kilburn, Ross. 2026. \"Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency.\" American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/."
citation_mla: "Kilburn, Ross. \"Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency.\" American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/."
---

# Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency

Also tracked as The Safety Net.

> In Bankrate's 2026 report, 30% of U.S. adults said they would use savings to pay a $1,000 emergency.

## Current Reading

As of 2026, Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency is **30%**.

## What Changed

- In Bankrate's 2026 report, 30% of U.S. adults said they would use savings to pay a $1,000 emergency.
- Readings from Bankrate's 2026 report on cannot be compared with earlier years: Bankrate added a new answer option and switched pollster and panel type.

## Recent Values

| Period | Value |
|--------|-------|
| 2026 | 30% |
| 2025 | 41% |
| 2024 | 44% |
| 2023 | 43% |
| 2022 | 44% |
| 2021 | 39% |

## Historical Context

This series is not comparable end to end, so no all-time extreme or long-run average is published for it. The source changed what it measures on the following date(s):

- 2023: Bankrate's January 2023 report was the first taken on the SSRS Opinion Panel, a probability-based panel answered mostly online, while earlier reports used SSRS's telephone survey, so readings before and after it were collected in different ways. Source: https://www.bankrate.com/f/102997/x/fca64133d1/2023-january-fsp-emergency-savings-press-release.pdf
- 2026: Bankrate’s 2026 report added a separate “regular income or cash flow” answer that earlier years did not offer, and moved from an SSRS probability panel to a YouGov non-probability online panel. Bankrate’s own 2026 net for savings plus income or cash flow is 47 percent — 30 percent from savings plus 17 percent from income or cash flow — and Bankrate does not describe it as comparable with earlier years. Source: https://www.bankrate.com/press-releases/just-30-of-americans-say-they-would-pay-an-emergency-expense-of-1000-from-savings/

Compare readings only within a single segment. Subtracting across one of these dates measures the change in method, not in household conditions.

## Methodology

This indicator carries annual observations and is interpreted as measuring something other than household condition, so neither end of the range reads as household distress. Source: Bankrate Emergency Savings Report.
Automation: manual entry — updated by editorial team.

## Source

Bankrate Emergency Savings Report — [https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/emergency-savings-report/](https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/emergency-savings-report/)

Data retrieved: 2026-08-14T08:07:30Z

## Related Indicators

- [the-buffer](https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-buffer/)
- [the-cannibalization-rate](https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-cannibalization-rate/)
- [the-squeeze](https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/)

## Machine-Readable Endpoints

- HTML page: https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/
- JSON: https://americandefault.org/api/indicators/the-safety-net.json
- CSV: https://americandefault.org/api/downloads/the-safety-net.csv
- BibTeX: https://americandefault.org/citations/the-safety-net.bib
- RIS: https://americandefault.org/citations/the-safety-net.ris

## Citation

**APA 7th**

    Kilburn, R. (2026). Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/

**Chicago (author-date)**

    Kilburn, Ross. 2026. "Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency." American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/.

**MLA 9th**

    Kilburn, Ross. "Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency." American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-safety-net/.

Use **American Default Research** as the institutional name in source lists, bibliographies, and press citations. **American Default** is the brand and URL form. **American Distress Index (ADI)** is the product name for the national composite score.