Difficulty paying bills exceeds pandemic high in US census survey
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The number of Americans that find difficulty in paying bills exceeds the number of suffering citizens during the 2020 pandemic.
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Difficulty paying bills tops pandemic high in US census survey.
The proportion of Americans who report having difficulty paying their expenses has surpassed its 2020 pandemic peak, highlighting the financial toll of rising costs, according to a US Census Bureau survey.
In a poll conducted in late June and early July, four out of ten adults indicated that it has been somewhat or very difficult to fund normal family expenses. This is the largest number since the Census began asking about the topic in August 2020.
It suggests that over 90 million families are struggling, an increase from almost 60 million a year ago.
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When the Census first posed the issue two years ago, one-third of respondents said they had difficulty paying their regular household costs. After the government's epidemic relief expired and inflation took hold, the share began to rise again approximately a year ago.
Millions of households with student loans will face an additional monthly expenditure on September 1 when a Covid moratorium on servicing the debt expires.
According to the poll, financial stress has increased significantly in all of the country's major metropolitan areas. In Dallas, for example, the proportion of respondents reporting difficulties paying bills increased from 27.9% to around 45.9% a year ago. In Detroit, the share increased by nearly 20 percentage points.
A report by the New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli revealed that one in eight residents delayed payments on utility bills as of March. More than 1.2 million customers statewide owed $1.8 billion, with New York City and Long Island residents accounting for a 68% total.
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The average amount owing by residents in the state has more than doubled in two years, rising from $768 in March 2020 to $1,467 in March.
“The pandemic’s effects continue to be felt in multiple aspects of life, including the elevated number of New Yorkers who continue to have trouble paying their utility bills,” DiNapoli said in the report.
According to the most recent Census data, more than one-third of households cut or skipped spending on fundamental home requirements like medicine or food to pay an energy bill.
One in every five households kept their home at a temperature that felt hazardous or unhealthy for at least one month, and a similar proportion has been unable to pay all or part of an energy payment.
