Find out what the Federal Reserve data is telling us about the state of finances in U.S. households. 

The last Federal Reserve Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, (SHED) was completed in 2021. This report examines the economic well-being and financial lives of U.S. adults and their families and provides the data in an interactive format. 

This report provides trend data from 2015-2021 on the health of households along these dimensions: 

• At Least Doing Okay Financially
• Doing Worse Off Financially
• Unexpected Expenses
• Has Emergency Savings
• Able to Pay Bills
• Has Bank Account

For example, here's the trend data for having a bank account, which has been pretty consistent at 94%. Note how the data can also be displayed using select demographics (education, ethnicity, metro/non-metro and parental status. 

Perfect for a jigsaw activity, you could have students select one of the six categories above (e.g., has emergency savings) and report back to the class by answering with these guiding questions:

• What has been the trend with your specific measure of household economics? Improving/worsening? How do you think the pandemic impacted it (started March 2020)? 
• What insights do you gain by looking at the data through the lens of select demographic categories? 
  • How do the figures differ by education, by race, by location? 
• How important do you think this factor is in gauging the health of a household's finances? Explain your answer. 

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Here's NGPF's Best of 2022: Interactives based on teacher preferences. 

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 More interactive Federal Reserve data in this NGPF Activity: Household Credit and Debt 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.