Middle- and Lower-Income Americans See Faster Wealth Depletion: Report

High credit stress and a smaller financial cushion of lower-income households poses an economic threat, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said.

A customer shops at a Safeway store in San Francisco on June 11, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Middle- and lower-income Americans accumulated less wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic than their upper-income counterparts and are now running out of disposable wealth faster, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco report.

Beginning in 2020, American households accumulated more liquid assets—cash, checking, and savings accounts, and money market funds—than they would have if the COVID-19 pandemic had not happened, the Aug. 12 report said.