What is personal savings rate?

The personal savings rate is the percentage of disposable personal income that households save rather than spend on consumption. Published monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, it measures the financial buffer between income and expenditure. It was 3.8% in September 2026. From 2015 through 2019 it averaged 6.14%. The American Distress Index tracks it as a core Safety Net & Buffer signal.

Photo of Ross Kilburn

Updated

Data from

Key facts

  • The personal savings rate was 3.8% in September 2026, down from 5.1% a year earlier. It averaged 6.14% from 2015 through 2019 and was 31.8% in April 2020, when lockdowns cut spending and stimulus payments raised income.
  • The BEA calculates the rate as (Disposable Personal Income - Personal Outlays) / Disposable Personal Income × 100. It measures the flow of new savings, not the stock of existing savings, meaning a low positive rate still records new saving and doesn't by itself signal depletion.
  • The American Distress Index uses the savings rate as the input to its Safety Net & Buffer domain — it shows how much room households have left between income and spending.
  • The savings rate measures the flow of new saving each month, not the savings already in the bank — a low rate means little new cushion is being built, not that households have no savings.
  • The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco estimated that households built up about $2.1 trillion in excess savings during the pandemic and had spent it down by early 2024.

Related data

How Is the Personal Savings Rate Calculated?

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) publishes the personal savings rate monthly as part of the Personal Income and Outlays report. The formula is straightforward:

  • Disposable Personal Income (DPI): Total personal income minus personal current taxes
  • Personal Outlays: Personal consumption expenditures + personal interest payments + personal current transfer payments
  • Personal Saving: DPI minus Personal Outlays
  • Savings Rate: Personal Saving / DPI × 100

An important nuance: the savings rate measures the flow of new savings from current income, not the total stock of savings in bank accounts. A household with $100,000 in savings and a 0% savings rate is spending as much as its after-tax income, which doesn't necessarily use up that $100,000.

Why Is the Current Rate a Concern?

The post-pandemic savings trajectory tells a clear story of buffer depletion:

  • Pre-pandemic (2015-2019): Average 6.14%. Modest but stable buffer accumulation.
  • Pandemic surge (April 2020): 31.8%. Lockdowns reduced spending while stimulus payments boosted income. Households accumulated an estimated $2.1 trillion in 'excess savings.'
  • Rapid depletion (2021-2024): The rate fell sharply as spending resumed and inflation eroded purchasing power. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco estimated the excess savings were gone by early 2024.
  • Latest (September 2026): 3.8%.

The rate is one national total divided by another, not what a typical household saves. It says nothing about how saving is spread: some households save a lot and many save nothing.

How the ADI Uses the Savings Rate

The American Distress Index gives its Safety Net & Buffer domain equal weight with the other four and reads the savings rate alongside current measures of debt burden and delinquency. The mechanism connecting low savings to payment stress is intuitive:

  1. Savings decline first: Households absorb cost increases and income disruptions by reducing savings
  2. Credit utilization rises: When savings are insufficient, households turn to credit cards and revolving debt
  3. Delinquency follows: When both savings and credit capacity are exhausted, payments are missed

The savings rate and delinquency both deteriorated during the 2005-2008 period. That historical sequence is context, not a family-v1 lead model or a forecast of current debt performance.

Limitations of the Savings Rate

The aggregate savings rate has important limitations:

  • It's an average: High earners with substantial savings pull the rate up, masking the fact that many lower-income households have negative savings rates (spending more than they earn).
  • It excludes capital gains: The BEA measure doesn't count investment gains or home price appreciation as income or savings, understating the wealth of stock and home owners.
  • It's revised frequently: Early estimates are often revised, sometimes by 2 percentage points or more, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis's annual update rewrites recent years. The ADI averages the three monthly readings in each quarter.

The latest monthly figure, how it compares with earlier years and the emergency-savings surveys are on Savings Rate Statistics.

Questions about personal savings rate

What is a healthy personal savings rate?

Advisors often recommend saving 15-20% of gross income (including employer contributions). The national rate was 3.8% in September 2026, but that is not comparable: it is a share of after-tax income nationwide, not one household's saving from its paycheck. From 1959 through 2025 the rate averaged 8.44%; from 2015 through 2019 it averaged 6.14%.

Why did the savings rate spike during COVID?

Two forces coincided: spending plummeted as lockdowns closed businesses and canceled travel/entertainment, while income surged from stimulus payments ($1,200 + $600 + $1,400 per person), enhanced unemployment benefits ($600/week extra), and PPP funds. The rate was 31.8% in April 2020.

What happened to the excess pandemic savings?

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco estimated that about $2.1 trillion in excess savings built up during 2020-2021 and was spent down by early 2024. The post-2020 rise in consumer prices, resumed spending, and student loan repayment restart all reduced that buffer.

Does a low savings rate mean a recession is coming?

Not directly. A persistently low savings rate means the national flow of new saving is low. It doesn't by itself show whether households have built up savings or how bad future delinquency and default will be.

How does the personal savings rate connect to the ADI?

The savings rate is a primary input to the ADI's Safety Net & Buffer domain. It tracks the flow of new savings as a share of current disposable income. A low positive rate still adds saving nationally, and it doesn't by itself show that households are vulnerable or that delinquency will follow.

Related terms

  • Emergency FundCash savings reserved for unexpected expenses. Guidelines recommend 3-6 months of essential expenses. Most Americans fall far short.
  • Financial DistressDifficulty meeting financial obligations with available income and resources.
  • Debt Service RatioRequired minimum debt payments as a percentage of disposable personal income. 11.11% in Q2 2026, about one in every nine dollars of after-tax income.
  • 401(k)An employer-sponsored retirement savings plan in which employees can contribute part of their pay.
  • Hardship WithdrawalAn early, non-repayable withdrawal from a 401(k) for an immediate financial need. Income tax generally applies, and an additional 10% tax may apply unless an exception does.
  • Living Paycheck to PaycheckHaving little or no money left after monthly expenses, with no savings buffer between paychecks.
  • Retirement Savings GapThe difference between what Americans have saved for retirement and what they'll need. Estimated aggregate shortfall: $3.68 trillion. Median working-age household: only $3,000 saved.
  • Housing Cost BurdenSpending more than 30% of household income on housing costs, a measure the Census Bureau uses; more than 50% is severely cost burdened.

Sources and method

The card shows the Bureau of Economic Analysis personal saving rate as a share of disposable personal income. The card and chart read the stored series, print at its published precision and provide exact plotted values in the downloadable CSV.

We write with assistance from AI tools. Figures come from the data and sources named on this page.