Americans are increasingly foregoing cash for everyday transactions, with a recent Pew Research Center survey revealing that 42% of U.S. adults report never using cash for purchases in a typical week. This marks a substantial increase from 2015, when only 24% of adults reported the same.
The trend toward cashless transactions is particularly pronounced among higher-income households and younger demographics. Among adults in households earning $100,000 or more annually, 58% stated they make no regular purchases with cash. Similarly, 51% of adults under 30 reported never using cash, a figure that decreases with age, dropping to 37% among those aged 50-64 and 33% for individuals 65 and older.
Conversely, individuals in lower-income brackets continue to show a greater reliance on cash. Approximately a quarter of those earning less than $30,000 per year use cash for all or almost all of their typical weekly purchases. This demographic stands in contrast to the 12% of all U.S. adults who reported using cash almost exclusively for their typical weekly purchases, a 50% decrease from 2015.
Despite the decline in cash usage for transactions, a significant portion of Americans still carry physical currency. Nearly half of respondents (46%) indicated they always or most of the time carry bills on them, though 26% of these individuals admitted to never using cash for their day-to-day purchases.
The survey was conducted by Pew Research Center between May 26 and June 1, 2026. The findings highlight a notable shift in consumer behavior over the past decade, with digital and card-based payments becoming more prevalent across the United States.