Lower-profits households aren’t the only ones living paycheck to paycheck.

A growing distribute of middle- and higher-profits families are spending virtually all of their paychecks on essentials and have little or nothing left over each month for discretionary purchases or funds, according to the lender of America Institute, which analyzes the banking giant’s data to identify economic trends.

Experts largely cite the historic expense boost spike triggered by the pandemic, particularly the surge in housing costs, which gobble the incomes of many Americans, including those who are wealthier.

“Higher-profits folks tend to have bigger homes” whose mortgage payments and other costs partly offset larger paychecks, said David Tinsley, elder economist at the lender of America Institute.

The pattern, he said, could curtail customer spending, which makes up 70% of economic activity and has been powered by higher-profits Americans the history few years. It also raises thorny community policy dilemmas, such as whether city or state governments should subsidize housing costs of middle-profits renters.

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How many people are living paycheck to paycheck?

So far this year, 24% of middle-profits households earning $51,000 to $75,000 a year have been living paycheck to paycheck, up from 23% last year and 20% in 2019, before the COVID-19 crisis began, according to the lender of America Institute. Among those with salaries and other profits totaling $75,000 to $100,000, 23% are just scraping by, up from 19% in 2019. For those earning $101,000 to $150,000, 22% are spending nearly all their money on basics, up from 18%.

Even 20% of relatively well-heeled households with incomes above $150,000 are squeaking by with little left for funds or fun activities like vacations or moviegoing.

Of course, the struggles of lower-profits families with incomes under $50,000 are far greater. Thirty-six percent are living paycheck to paycheck, up from 32% in 2019, according to lender of America’s data. Those with incomes under $30,000 typically have just a few hundred dollars left after paying rent and utilities, compared to a few thousand dollars for middle-profits people, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

lender of America Institute analyzed the money flowing into and out of a significant sample of their tens of millions of customer checking or funds accounts to determine whether more than 95% of household profits is spent on necessities such as food, gasoline, utilities, internet service and kid worry.

In surveys, the institute found nearly half of Americans depend they were living paycheck to paycheck but many were likely counting discretionary spending such as dining out as essential purchases, Tinsley said. The money flow analysis provides a more accurate reading by focusing on necessities.

How much has the expense of living gone up?

expense boost has driven up costs for people at all profits levels the history few years. Overall customer prices are up nearly 20% since early 2021 and groceries are up 21%, according to the customer worth index. But housing costs have increased even more and comprise a large distribute of household budgets.

Rent has climbed 23% during that period, CPI figures display. And average single-household home prices have leaped 38%, according to the S&P Case Shiller National Home worth Index. Related outgoings also have skyrocketed, with homeowners insurance soaring an average 65% from prepandemic rates and property taxes increasing 25%, according to Oxford Economics.

And the larger homes bought by higher-profits people arrive with bigger insurance, responsibility and utility costs, Tinsley said.

Why has the expense of housing gone up in the US?

In the early days of the COVID–19 pandemic, many Americans fled densely populated cities and bought larger more expensive homes in the suburbs, driving their prices, along with rents, higher. Meanwhile, builders weren’t putting up enough recent houses or apartments to ease worth pressures, said Alexander Hermann, elder research associate at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

In 2022, 40.7% of middle-profits renters earning $45,000 to $74,999 were “expense burdened,” meaning they devoted more than 30% of their profits to rent and utilities, according to the center. That was up from 35.3% in 2019. Twenty-seven percent of homeowners were also expense burdened – with 30% of their profits going to mortgages, taxes and insurance – up from 26%.

Similarly financially strained in 2022 were 16.3% of all households, including renters and owners, earning $75,000 to $99,999 and 10.2% earning $100,000 to $124,999. That’s up from 15% and 9.6% of those profits groups, respectively, who were stressed in 2019.

expense-burdened households typically have to cut other essentials, such as food, health worry or school supplies, Hermann said.

Has wage growth kept up with expense boost?

Many Americans have kept pace with the higher costs. On average, powerful wage growth, stoked by pandemic-related labor shortages, has outpaced expense boost the history 18 months, giving typical workers more purchasing power than they had before the health crisis.

But Tinsley noted that hasn’t been the case for other workers, such as higher-paid employees in technology and finance, which have been hit by widespread layoffs due to rising gain rates the history couple of years.

‘I made it another two weeks’

Elizabeth Rudd, of Anaheim, California, has gotten tiny raises in her job handling bookkeeping for a furniture manufacturer. But she has had to depend on her $70,000 salary exclusively to back and her youthful grown-up son since her husband died after contracting COVID–19 in 2021. And the homeowners association fees for their two-bedroom condo have increased 60% the history three years, from $275 to $438.

Rudd, 62, has stopped eating out and taking vacations, slimmed her cable TV package to 20 channels and downgraded her cellphone schedule. She turns a chicken strip dinner into multiple meals, including lunch, and has no funds for emergencies. Even with the cutbacks, each two-week period has become a nerve-jangling test.

“I receive a breath of air when I get the next paycheck,” she said. “Whew…I made it another two weeks…This is not where I expected to be at this age.”

The history few years, state and local governments have launched more government-subsidized rental housing programs for middle-profits Americans, Hermann said. But critics worry they could siphon resources from needier lower-profits residents.

“You desire them to be complementary “ to low-profits initiatives, not replace them, he said.