Only 21% of Consumers Created a Budget Last Year

Consumers in the United States may be strapped, but not everyone feels the same financial strain. The difference often comes down to how they budget.

The June edition of PYMNTS Intelligence’s Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report, “Consumers Say They Want Budgeting Tools but Aren’t Using Them,” finds that the ways U.S. consumers manage their money says almost as much about their peace of mind as how much they earn.

PYMNTS Intelligence surveyed 2,040 U.S. consumers in May and found that nearly 7 in 10 of them live paycheck to paycheck. The tools they use to track spending divide them into three distinct financial personas that not only reflect income and age, but also reveal contrasts in confidence, control and comfort with money.

Most reporting about financial stress focuses on inflation or wages. The overlooked story here is behavioral. Consumers’ financial well-being often depends on their relationships with their own budgets, or their avoidance of them.

Financial Personas Revealed by Budgeting Approaches

According to the report, the three types of budgeters are:

Advanced Budgeters (37%): These consumers use specialized apps such as Quicken Simplifi or Credit Karma’s budgeting tools. Even though many of them live paycheck to paycheck, 47% describe themselves as financially comfortable. Among those struggling to pay bills, 53% still report they’re comfortable. That’s several times higher than other groups. They tend to be younger and higher-income, as 45% earn more than $100,000 a year, and more than half of Generation Z consumers fall into this category.

Basic Budgeters (44%): This group relies on simpler bank apps or spreadsheets to manage bills and spending. Only 34% say they feel financially comfortable. They are more likely to be middle-income households using automatic bill pay or basic dashboards without advanced analytics or alerts. For them, budgeting is largely a record-keeping exercise, not a daily habit.

Non-Budgeters (19%):  Nearly 1 in 5 consumers fall into this group, and their approach is as hands-off as it sounds. They use no digital tools and often underestimate the impact of small spending decisions. Roughly 39% feel comfortable with their finances. That’s slightly better than basic budgeters, but this likely reflects higher income or lower complexity, and not better discipline.

The data indicates that advanced budgeting doesn’t necessarily eliminate stress; it confronts it. By forcing users to track expenses closely, advanced tools create more visibility, and sometimes discomfort. But that discomfort may be productive. As the report says, “Knowledge is power, but not necessarily comforting.”

Daily budget reminders also make a difference. Consumers who receive daily nudges from budgeting apps are far more likely to feel comfortable at 54% than those who receive fewer or none. However, just 14% of consumers use daily reminders at all. That’s a sign that even the most advanced tools can’t help if they’re left idle.

Other findings point to the limited reach of budgeting overall. Only 21% of consumers created or updated a budget last year, and just 6.8% said it was their most effective financial management method. Instead, many resorted to cutting discretionary purchases, delaying major buys or dipping into savings. It’s reactive rather than proactive behavior that does little to reduce long-term stress.

The takeaway from this edition of the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report is that money anxiety isn’t just about how much comes in, but how actively it’s managed. Advanced budgeters, who are often young, tech-savvy and more engaged, seem to have found that the best defense against financial stress isn’t necessarily earning more. It’s knowing exactly where the money goes.