Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s 2026 Retirement Survey and Insights Report, released on September 30, 2026, includes results for six household income bands, the highest being households earning more than $500,000 a year. In that band, 36.6% of respondents chose the description beginning “Primarily live paycheck to paycheck,” according to the report’s survey results. Fortune reported the figure on October 13, 2026.

The report is based on 5,106 people surveyed in July 2026: 3,612 working individuals and 1,494 retirees aged 45 to 75. Goldman Sachs said it developed key questions with the behavioral economics firm Escalent. Fortune, citing Census Bureau figures, put median US household income at a record $87,460 in 2025.

What respondents were asked

Respondents were asked how they would describe their financial situation and chose one of three descriptions. The 2026 wording was:

  • “Primarily live paycheck to paycheck: I struggle to save and find it difficult to make any progress on my long-term financial goals.”
  • “Moderate progress: I am able to save and make some progress toward my long-term goals beyond my living expenses.”
  • “Significant progress: I am able to make meaningful progress on both short-term and long-term financial goals.”

The results are self-reported answers to this question. They are not calculated from account balances, spending or tax records.

Results by household income

Share of respondents choosing the paycheck-to-paycheck description, as shown in the 2026 report’s chart, with the 2025 report’s figures in brackets:

  • Under $50,000: 60.8% (57%)
  • $50,000–$100,000: 34.0% (36%)
  • $100,000–$200,000: 22.2% (25%)
  • $200,000–$300,000: 24.9% (16%)
  • $300,000–$500,000: 34.2% (41%)
  • Above $500,000: 36.6% (40%)

The 36.6% figure for households above $500,000 is the second-highest in the 2026 results, behind the under-$50,000 band. The lowest share is in the $100,000–$200,000 band.

Goldman’s September 30 press release groups the 2026 results into three bands: 42% for households under $100,000, 23% for $100,000–$300,000 and 36% above $300,000. The report describes reported financial security as following a u-shaped pattern across income, peaking among households earning $100,000 to $300,000 and weakening above $300,000, in its words.

Other 2026 results for households above $500,000

The report also gives these figures for the above-$500,000 band, with the under-$50,000 band and the $200,000–$300,000 band in brackets for comparison:

  • Pay only the minimum on credit cards each month, or less: 46% (47%; 30%). The report’s text describes the pattern across income as “two-tailed.”
  • Had delayed a major financial goal despite being employed: 80% (78%; 52%). The goals listed in the survey include retirement savings, emergency savings, lowering debt, housing or home buying, family planning and education.
  • Had delayed retirement savings: 45% (34%; 25%).

The 2026 report lists the pressures cited by respondents above $300,000 as “more complex financial lives, higher lifestyle expectations, larger fixed commitments, and a wider gap between the retirement they envision and what they believe they have secured.” The 2025 report, in which the share above $300,000 was about 40%, said the result was “potentially illustrating the impact of lifestyle creep,” which it defined as “the phenomenon of luxuries becoming necessities to certain income cohorts.”

Other measures

Bank of America Institute, in a November 10, 2025 report, used a spending-based measure instead of a survey question. Using Bank of America deposit and spending data, it counted a household as living paycheck to paycheck if necessity spending exceeded 95% of income in the quarter. Necessity spending in its analysis includes housing, groceries, gasoline, utilities, insurance, childcare, vehicle costs and credit card payments, among other items. It estimated that nearly a quarter of all households (about 24%) met that definition in 2025, and that 29% of lower-income households did, up from 28.6% in 2024 and 27.1% in 2023. It reported almost no increase in the share of middle- and higher-income households. The report’s text does not give dollar thresholds for its income groups or a separate figure for households above $500,000.

An earlier survey by PYMNTS and LendingClub covered 4,048 US consumers. PYMNTS reported on June 10, 2022 that 36% of consumers earning $250,000 or more lived paycheck to paycheck in April 2022, of whom 24% said they did so comfortably and 12% with difficulty.

Sources and notes

Sources: Goldman Sachs Asset Management, 2026 Retirement Survey press release, the full 2026 report and 2025 report; Fortune, Steven John, October 13, 2026; Bank of America Institute, “Paycheck to paycheck: Slowing but growing,” November 10, 2025; PYMNTS, June 10, 2022. Notes: Lens read the sections of the two Goldman reports covering paycheck-to-paycheck results and did not read the full documents. The 2026 income-band figures were read from the chart in the full report and match those Fortune reported. The 2025 figures were read from the 2025 report’s chart in whole percentages; that report’s text gives 16% for $200,000–$300,000 and about 40% above $300,000, and its survey covered 5,102 people in July 2025. The 2026 chart does not state whether its base is all respondents or working respondents only; the 2025 chart is labeled “working,” and the question wording differs slightly between the two years. In the sections read, neither report gave the number of respondents in each income band, and fielding dates are given only as the month. The surveys and the Bank of America analysis define the term differently, use different income bands and cover different years, so their figures are not directly comparable. A repost of a LendingClub release was reported to give 33% for the 2022 survey where PYMNTS reported 36%; Lens did not read the original release. Bank of America’s figures come from its own customer data (households with a primary banking relationship at the bank), and the report’s chart values for higher-income households were not read. Thumbnail photo: “80 1 dollar bills in a homemade banknote strap” by BrayLockBoy via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped. Illustrative photo; it does not show the events described.

Image: Chart by Lens from Goldman Sachs Asset Management survey figures. Thumbnail photo by BrayLockBoy via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).