---
title: "Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck"
slug: the-squeeze
summary: "Nearly 24% of households in Bank of America's checking-account sample spend 95%+ of income on necessities"
category: "Savings"
unit: percent
frequency: annual
direction: higher_is_worse
latest_value: 24.0
latest_period: "2025"
trend: rising
last_updated: "2026-02-23T20:00:00Z"
source: "Bank of America Institute"
measurement_basis: "Bank of America Institute's estimate of the share of households in its own checking-account sample whose necessary spending exceeds 95 percent of income. The sample is households that have held a U.S. Bank of America checking account for at least a year, whose payment channels the bank can observe, and who appear to bank primarily with Bank of America; Bank of America does not publish its size, and it is not a sample of U.S. households. Bank of America publishes the current reading rounded to a whole percent and qualified with “nearly”, not as a decimal. The two earlier observations are read from the report's chart, which prints no value for either year. The most recent observation covers data through the third quarter of its publication year."
source_url: https://institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-insights/paycheck-to-paycheck.html
canonical_html: https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/
citation_apa: "Kilburn, R. (2026). Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/"
citation_chicago: "Kilburn, Ross. 2026. \"Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck.\" American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/."
citation_mla: "Kilburn, Ross. \"Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck.\" American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/."
---

# Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck

Also tracked as The Squeeze.

> Nearly 24% of households in Bank of America's checking-account sample spend 95%+ of income on necessities

## Current Reading

As of 2025, Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck is **24%** (rising — worsening for households).

Nearly 24% of households in Bank of America's checking-account sample spent more than 95% of their income on necessities in 2025. That is 0.3 percentage points higher than the report's figure for 2024. The sample is the bank's own long-standing checking customers, not a survey of the country.

## What Changed

- Nearly 24% of households in Bank of America's checking-account sample spent more than 95% of their income on necessities in 2025. That is 0.3 percentage points higher than the report's figure for 2024.
- The figure covers Bank of America's own checking customers, not all U.S. households, and years are compared only within one Bank of America report.

## Recent Values

| Period | Value |
|--------|-------|
| 2025 | 24% |
| 2024 | 23.7% |
| 2023 | 23% |

## Methodology

This indicator carries annual observations and is interpreted as higher values indicate worse household conditions. Source: Bank of America Institute.
Measurement basis: Bank of America Institute's estimate of the share of households in its own checking-account sample whose necessary spending exceeds 95 percent of income. The sample is households that have held a U.S. Bank of America checking account for at least a year, whose payment channels the bank can observe, and who appear to bank primarily with Bank of America; Bank of America does not publish its size, and it is not a sample of U.S. households. Bank of America publishes the current reading rounded to a whole percent and qualified with “nearly”, not as a decimal. The two earlier observations are read from the report's chart, which prints no value for either year. The most recent observation covers data through the third quarter of its publication year.
Automation: manual entry — updated by editorial team.

## Source

Bank of America Institute — [https://institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-insights/paycheck-to-paycheck.html](https://institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-insights/paycheck-to-paycheck.html)

Data retrieved: 2026-02-23T20:00:00Z

## Related Indicators

- [the-400-test](https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-400-test/)
- [the-buffer](https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-buffer/)

## Machine-Readable Endpoints

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

## Citation

**APA 7th**

    Kilburn, R. (2026). Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/

**Chicago (author-date)**

    Kilburn, Ross. 2026. "Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck." American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/.

**MLA 9th**

    Kilburn, Ross. "Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck." American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-squeeze/.

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.