The share of Americans who rely on cash for all or nearly all of their purchases has been cut in half over the past decade, and more than four in ten have now abandoned it at the register altogether.
Since 2015, the proportion of US adults who say they use cash for all or almost all of their purchases in a typical week has dropped from 24% to 12%. Meanwhile, 42% now say they don’t use cash for any purchases in a typical week, up from 24% in 2015, according to a 2026 Pew Research Center survey. The survey was conducted from May 26 to June 1, 2026.
A decade-long shift at the register
A Pew analysis published September 30 draws primarily on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s 2025 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, supplemented by data from a 2026 Pew Research Center survey. The 2026 Pew survey covered 9,750 US adults and was conducted among members of the Center’s American Trends Panel.
Together, the two reports paint a consistent picture: digital and card-based payments have become the default for most of the country.
Now in its tenth year, the national survey revealed that US consumer payment use remained largely consistent over the past three years. Cash remained the third-most-used payment instrument among consumers for the sixth year, with credit and debit cards accounting for two-thirds of all payments.
Cash accounted for an average of six payments per month, representing 14% of total payments.
In recent years, US consumers’ preferences for in-person payment methods have stabilized, though the survey also reveals noticeable shifts over the past decade. More consumers now say they prefer using credit cards in person (38% compared to 24% in 2016), nearly equal to the 40% who say they prefer debit.
Who still uses cash, and why
Households earning less than $25,000 per year and adults 55 and older relied more on cash than other cohorts.
Rural residents tended to use cash more than their urban and suburban counterparts, making an average of nine cash payments per month, compared with six for consumers in suburban and urban areas.
The share of total payments made with cash varied significantly by age, with younger cohorts using cash less than their older counterparts. That generational divide tracks closely with the broader adoption curve for mobile wallets and tap-to-pay technology, which have removed nearly every moment of physical friction from spending.
GCN has previously reported on how tap-to-pay dismantled the friction layers the brain once used to slow overspending, and the behavioral consequences of that shift.
Despite the volume decline, cash has not disappeared from wallets. Most consumers (76%) carried cash in their pocket, purse or wallet in 2025, with the average amount totaling $69, while nearly half (45%) stored an average of $364 in cash elsewhere for savings or emergency purposes.
Four out of five consumers used cash in the last 30 days, and 90% plan to continue using cash in the future.
Credit cards fill the gap
As cash has receded, credit card use has expanded steadily. Since 2015, Americans have overwhelmingly used three payment methods for their purchases: cash, credit cards and debit cards. But as cash has become a less common option, credit cards have gotten more popular, while debit card payments have stayed relatively steady.
The shift matters for household finances beyond the mechanics of how money changes hands. Research consistently finds that spending increases when payment is abstract. The further a transaction moves from physical currency, from cash to card to a stored credential tapped on a phone, the less psychological resistance buyers report at the moment of purchase.
Budgeting behavior responds to the gap
The payment-method shift has coincided with a renewed interest in deliberate budgeting, as consumers seek to impose structure on spending that cash once constrained automatically. Behavioral economists have long observed that as payment becomes easier and less visible, conscious countermeasures tend to follow.
Households navigating the balancing act between convenient digital spending and long-term financial goals, a pressure also evident in research on how Americans are adjusting discretionary restaurant spending, appear to be reaching for budgets as a substitute for the friction that cash once provided automatically.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta tracks the use of many payment methods in its annual Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, asking US adults to report on every transaction they made over a three-day period, including details about which payment method they used and how much they paid. Together with the Pew data, the two reports represent the most comprehensive annual snapshot of how Americans actually move money in everyday life. The directional story from both is the same: a country that once split evenly between cash users and card users a decade ago has tilted decisively toward cards, and the pace of that shift shows no sign of reversing.
