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The amount of cash that Americans carry may surprise you. According to research from The Federal Reserve, in 2024 the average American carried $67 in cash on them at any given time and had $306 in cash stored somewhere else, likely at home.
Why carry cash anymore when there are plenty of electronic and digital options available? Americans have various reasons.
Key Takeaways
- The amount of cash Americans carry is decreasing, but still relatively high, at $67 in the pocket and $306 at home on average in 2024.
- The number of cash-based transactions per month has held steady despite non-cash options, implying that cash has staying power.
- Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests there are seven reasons people continue to carry cash, including anonymity in transactions and lack of middlemen.
Cashless Payment Methods Abound
Despite the proliferation of cashless payment options like Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle, to name just a few, cash remains a popular choice for Americans completing a purchase. It is the third most used method of payment, handled in 14% of transactions, behind credit cards (35%) and debit cards (30%).
The amount of cash Americans carry is decreasing. For example, in 2023, Americans carried an average of $74 in cash and had $369 stored at home. However, the number of payments per month for which Americans use cash (seven) has held steady, suggesting cash has staying power.
The Reasons Why Cash Is (Almost) King
“Interestingly, the decline in cash usage appears to have leveled off over the past four years. Some of that may be due to businesses passing credit card swipe fees on to customers or offering cash discounts,” explains Chris Motola, a financial analyst consultant to National Business Capital.
“Small transactions, in particular, tend to be poorly served by card-based transactions,” he adds. Americans keep cash on hand for a variety of reasons, including emergencies, tipping, budgeting, or habit.
Indeed, according to research by Oz Shy, Senior Policy Advisor and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, there are seven major reasons why Americans continue to carry cash:
- It doesn’t involve a charge for its use.
- It can be transferred back and forth between buyers and sellers.
- It allows for financial settlement without an intermediary.
- Its users remain anonymous.
- It works offline.
- It does not require a bank account.
- A large variety of merchants accepts it.
Uneven Usage
The desire to use cash is not felt uniformly by all Americans, though. For example, low-income Americans (making less than $25,000 per year) used cash for 24% of transactions and were twice as likely as Americans making over $100,000 per year to use cash.
Additionally, Americans 55 and older used cash for 19% of transactions, while Americans aged 25 to 54 only used cash in 10% of transactions.
This gap is likely to widen, with the number of mobile payments made by American consumers up from four payments per month in 2018 to eleven payments per month in 2024.
Cash Usage Among Nations
Gaps in the staying power of cash can also be seen on a global scale. According to Merchant Machine’s 2025 ranking of cash-reliant countries, cash was used for 78% of transactions in Romania, which won the number one slot.
Egypt, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, and Ukraine all used cash for over half of their transactions, too.
By contrast, only 2% of Norwegians used cash to complete transactions in 2024, making it one of the least cash-reliant societies.
The Bottom Line
The United States is becoming increasingly more reliant on electronic and digital payment options.
That doesn’t mean, however, that you need to give up your cold, hard cash. If you plan to use it to pay for goods and services or store economic value in the near future, then you have something in common with 90%of U.S. consumers.
