Fewer Americans boosted emergency savings in 2025 as credit card debt climbed
Higher income households were more likely to grow their emergency savings, while many low-income Americans never had a fund at all
(InvestigateTV) — A recent Bankrate survey found Americans who ended last year with less in emergency savings were more likely to have increased their credit card debt. Among those who saw their emergency funds shrink, 39 percent reported higher balances on their cards.
Just 19 percent of Americans say they ended 2025 with a bigger emergency savings nest egg than they had at the start of last year.
Stephen Kates with Bankrate said that in a bumpy year, that number is at least a small positive. But he said it is mostly higher income Americans who fall into that group, people making $100,000 a year or more.
Eighteen percent of people told Bankrate they never had any emergency savings at all last year. That group typically skews toward lower income households.
“They are the ones who are struggling,” Kates said. “They are on the precipice of any kind of little bit of a hurdle becoming a crisis, going further into debt. Many of those people already have and are carrying debt.”
Kates said the survey found that income growth is a far better connector to someone having enough in their emergency savings. That means taking steps this year to increase your income may be the best way to build up a nest egg.
That could mean looking for a new job, developing a new skill set you can market, starting a side hustle or asking for a raise.
“We’re in a bit of tricky job market right now,” Kates said. “Hiring is very slow, but people can think about this in a long game. What are the skills you can build today that’s going to help you next year, in the next few years. You know can you pick up additional work or additional hours. Can you start to scope out what a new job might look like?”
He said to think of it as a long-term plan. How can you build skills now so you can reach a higher income threshold next year and in the years to come?
And while you work on that, make sure you are also paying down any large debts. Reducing what you owe can help free up money to put toward emergency savings in 2026.
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