25 Fascinating Credit Card vs. Cash Spending Statistics

Consumers have plenty of options when it comes to paying for things. Cash and credit cards are the two most popular payment methods, and both of them come with their share of benefits. 

Whether you reach for a stack of bills or whip out your credit card to complete a transaction often depends on your personal preferences and which option is most convenient for that particular purchase.

Advances in technology have also introduced new forms of payment that people in the past probably never dreamed of. If you’d told me 30 years ago that I could one day pay for things using a watch attached to a digital wallet, I’d have thought you’d read too many science fiction novels.

Even as new forms of payments emerge, consumers continue to reach for their wallets and produce cash or a credit card to pay. But do they still use those payment methods as much as they once did?

Let’s examine the facts of the matter. Here are 25 fascinating statistics that reveal how consumers’ cash and credit card usage has evolved.

Many of the activities we immerse ourselves in each day involve a financial transaction. Perhaps it’s the pastry you grab from the bakery on your way to the office every morning, or the box of chocolate cupcakes you purchased to make that birthday celebration a little sweeter. Do you typically use cash to complete these transactions?

If your answer to that question is a resounding no, don’t worry — you’re not an outlier. As of 2024, American consumers, on average, use cash to pay in only 14% of the transactions they make — down from 20% in 2020.¹

It’s no secret that cash usage is declining in the U.S., but some consumers may wonder if the decreasing use of greenbacks is due to societal trends that will reverse at some point in the near future.

Well, most Americans don’t think so, and they aren’t particularly worried about it. Evidence comes from a 2024 survey in which 71% of respondents said they’re basically unconcerned about a potential move to an entirely cashless system.

If anything, the trend away from cash seems to be gathering steam as new generations of consumers enter the economy. In fact, more than a quarter of respondents (28%) said they actually felt awkward when using cash, as if pulling out paper and coins was a sign of being behind the times.

That attitude is even more pervasive among younger consumers, with 49% of those 18-34 years old reporting social anxiety associated with using cash.

What’s more, Americans are finding fewer reasons to use cash. Almost a third (31%) reported they paid with cash fewer times than a year ago, continuing a steady movement toward digital commerce.²

Cash Usage Over the Past Year	Percentage
Stayed the same	53%
Decreased	31%
Increased	15%

As people use cash less frequently, the need for ATMs has also decreased. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see that only 5% of respondents in a 2024 survey said they most often used an ATM to manage their bank account.³

It actually makes sense that some  — albeit a small number — still use ATMs for banking. But the supply of ATMs has also shrunk to align with consumer demand. Data from 2024 reports 450,000 ATMs currently operating in the U.S. — and that only an estimated 12.8% of households even used an ATM in 2024.⁴

Cash enthusiasts may be disappointed by some of these statistics, but take heart — there is hope for cash on the horizon. And that glimmer of hope shines from the wallets of members of Gen Z. 

Gen Zers, or zoomers as they’re sometimes called, were born between 1997 and 2012. That means that many of them are beginning to wield their purchasing power as they complete their education and embark on their careers.

Zoomers turn to cash more often than members of other generations. One explanation for their use of cash is the practice of cash stuffing, which is a budgeting strategy that requires consumers to set aside cash at the beginning of every month and assign it to spending categories. 

For Gen Zers who’ve used cash stuffing as a budgeting strategy, 70% report that it’s helped them lower their overall spending each month, one survey suggests.

For example, a cash-stuffing proponent could set aside $200 for entertainment expenses during the month of March. Once that money is depleted, they know they’ve spent their allotted amount on entertainment that month. Nearly 30% of surveyed Gen Zers said they have used the cash-stuffing approach to budgeting.⁵

Roughly one-quarter (23%) of Gen Zers report using cash for the majority of the purchases they make. And they’re using cash for a variety of types of transactions, including clothing, groceries, and nonessential purchases like coffee and takeout food.

In the study, conducted by The Harris Poll, Gen Z respondents said they prefer to use cash instead of other forms of payment because it helps them budget their money. Gen Zers also said using cash when shopping requires them to be more thoughtful about their purchases.⁵

I feel compelled to add that many people, including myself, don’t consider coffee nonessential, despite this study’s results.

Credit cards allow us to buy something today and pay for it later, and some cards allow cardholders to earn rewards for making purchases with their cards.

If you lose your credit card, you can promptly call your credit card company and order a new one. But if you lose a stack of money, large or small, your options for replacing it are few and far between.

For these reasons, it’s no surprise that 81% of adult consumers in the U.S. own a credit card, according to the latest Fed data. Interestingly, that figure is down a point from the previous year and three points from its high of 84% in the pandemic year of 2021.⁶

People who earn a relatively high income may look for more ways to spend their money than those who earn less. And the more you spend, the more it can help you financially when you use a credit card.

The numbers bear out those common-sense observations. Only 46% of adults in the U.S. with an income less than $25,000 own a credit card, according to the latest figures from the Federal Reserve.

Well, more than half of those relatively low earners (55%) said they carried a balance from month to month at least once during the previous year, indicating they’re paying for the privilege of sustaining their indebtedness in interest.

As income levels rise, so does the likelihood of owning a credit card. Almost all adults earning more than $100,000 annually (97%) are cardholders. In that group, only 38% said they carried a balance from one month to the next at least once last year.⁶

Most people retire around 62, according to a 2025 survey.⁷ People who’ve spent the majority of their years toiling to earn a paycheck look forward to retirement as a time when they’ll be able to relax and maybe cross some activities off their bucket list.

Acquiring a credit card probably isn’t going to make many people’s bucket lists. But that hasn’t stopped people over the age of 60 from owning them at a higher rate than any other age group.

More than nine out of 10 Americans aged 60 and older (92%) owned a card in 2024, according to data from the Federal Reserve. But all signs point to most of them managing well: Only 36% carried a balance from one billing period to the next at least once during the previous year, meaning a strong majority kept interest payments to the absolute minimum.⁶

Age	Credit Card Ownership %	% of Cardholders Who Carried a Balance
18-29	63%	44%
30-44	79%	52%
45-59	86%	54%
60+	92%	36%

In 2023, the real median income of Asian households was $112,800. For some perspective on that figure, the next-highest median household income figure by any one ethnic group was more than 20% lower than that earned by Asian households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.⁸

Asian adults also have higher rates of credit card ownership than any other demographic group in the U.S. The vast majority (89%) of Asian adults own a credit card. Of those, only 25% report carrying over a monthly balance at least one month in the past year.⁶

Anyone who’s regularly used a credit card in the 21st century has probably noticed the transformation of the point-of-sale experience.

Customers used to hand their cards over to cashiers to complete their transactions. But now, they typically can complete a purchase without assistance, whether that means swiping, inserting, or tapping their card on a terminal.

It should come as no surprise that the convenience of paying with a credit card has contributed to a significant decline in cash use. Cash purchases accounted for approximately 15% of global transaction value in 2024 — a decline from 44% in 2014.

But many consumers retain at least some use for cash. After its precipitous fall from 2014 to 2024, experts predict cash use to continue to decline by only about 2% annually through 2030.⁹

After a long day of shopping, reaching the register can feel like crossing the finish line. You’ve endured the traffic while traveling to your shopping destination. You’ve braved the crowded corridors of shoppers and in-store displays to pick your items.

Now that you’ve finished shopping, you expect a quick and easy purchase experience. Using cash can prolong a point-of-sale transaction — you must first count and hand the register attendant the money, and then wait for your change. Using a credit card for the transaction eliminates the need to handle cash at all.

That’s why credit cards are the leading payment method at the point of sale in the U.S., accounting for 35% of all transactions.¹

In-person shopping requires you to complete a number of tasks before you even get to your shopping destination. You have to make sure your car is full of gas, you know which stores you need to visit, and ensure you’re dressed to spend time among your fellow shoppers. And, oh yeah, don’t forget to bring your wallet.

But consumers who engage in mobile shopping can purchase goods and services from businesses around the world from the comfort of their own couch — or anywhere on earth. Completing an online transaction requires just two primary elements: an internet-connected device and a payment method.

Many people these days pay through convenient mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Wallet. How they fund those transactions is a matter of choice, with 27% of 2024 global survey respondents citing debit cards, 23% credit cards, and 6% prepaid cards.

However, 35% choose to fund their digital wallets through a direct hookup with their bank account.

That number varies significantly from country to country. In Australia and the U.S., for example, 70% of people fund their wallets with cards. But in less card-centric nations such as Thailand, for example, that number is only 25%.⁹

The lack of teleportation solutions means that cash payments aren’t well-suited for online purchases. Until science catches up with science fiction, consumers will have to rely on digital methods, not special effects, to complete purchases they make online.

For a long time, that meant transacting directly through credit cards, but digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Wallet increasingly serve as intermediaries. While credit cards still accounted for 31% of the value of U.S. eCommerce transactions in 2024, experts expect that figure to plummet to 22% by 2030.

The rise in use and merchant acceptance of payments originating from digital wallets is what’s causing the shift. Digital wallets will even play an increasingly significant payment role right at the point of sale, according to experts, accounting for an expected 30% of U.S. transaction value by 2030.⁹

Physical wallets are kind of like Trapper Keepers for adults. They allow us to store money, payment cards, and other important items, such as our driver’s license and insurance cards, in one convenient case or pouch.

Now, digital wallets can store the payment details associated with your credit cards, debit cards, and gift cards. Digital wallets are growing in popularity in the U.S. and internationally.

The value of digital wallet transactions across the globe in 2023 was $9 trillion, a figure that’s expected to grow to more than $16 trillion in the coming years. Nearly two-thirds, or 65%, of adults in the U.S. have used a digital wallet recently.⁴

If you walk up to someone on the street in a U.S. town and ask if they’ve ever used a digital wallet, odds are they’ll say they have. Of course, they may first wonder why a stranger is asking about their payment preferences.

But 53% of American consumers responding to a 2023 survey said they used digital wallets more frequently than all other forms of payment, with an additional 11% reporting they used them just as often.¹⁰

Much of this article has covered how forms of payment other than cash are rising in popularity while the good old dollar slinks off into the sunset. But that’s not to say that there isn’t still a lot of cash in circulation today.

It’s hard to imagine one billion pieces of paper, let alone 55.4 billion, but that’s how many pieces of U.S. paper money are in circulation today.¹¹

Here’s a look at the steady rise of U.S. one-dollar $1 and $100 notes in circulation since the COVID-19 pandemic:

Year	$1 notes (billions)	$100 notes (billions)	Total (billions)
2024	14.9	19.2	55.4
2023	14.5	18.9	54.6
2022	14.3	18.5	54.1
2021	14.0	17.7	53.2
2020	13.1	16.4	50.3

To put that figure into perspective, consider this — you could spend $1 million every day for the rest of your life and still not come close to spending all the American cash in circulation.

Something about the phrase “cashless society” sounds intimidating, like a dystopian future where people have to pay for goods and services using bar codes that have been tattooed on their arms. 

But cashless doesn’t mean moneyless, and the quality of the experience your financial provider offers can go a long way toward making the transition from the simplicity of the cash-based past to the complexity of the digital present and future.

In other words, it pays to choose your providers carefully. Depending on the customer, that may pertain not only to the online and mobile experience they provide but also to service in branches.

Fortunately, a recent survey from the American Bankers Association measured 42% of respondents rating their primary financial provider as excellent, with another 34% ranking them as very good.

In addition, 41% ranked overall banking access as excellent, while 44% strongly agreed that bank innovations and technology improvements made financial access easier for Americans.¹²

Credit card usage has grown in recent years. For each year from 2016 to 2021, either cash or debit cards topped credit cards as the most popular method of payment in the U.S. But something started to change in 2022.

That year, credit cards took over the top spot in a consumer’s preferences for payments, a trend that continued in 2023. In 2024, credit cards accounted for 35% of all payment transactions (see item 11 above), compared to 30% for debit cards.

Interestingly, however, credit cards claimed a higher share of transaction value for purchases but a lower value for bill payments. Credit card purchase transactions comprised 40% of total transaction volume in 2024, but 41% of total transaction value. In contrast, total credit card bill-pay volume for credit cards was 15%, while bill-pay value was only 8%.¹

These results suggest consumers wisely use credit cards for discretionary spending while reserving other payment forms to pay for needed items.

Payment Category	Credit Card % of Total
Purchase volume	40%
Purchase value	41%
Bill-pay volume	15%
Bill-pay value	8%

One attractive feature of credit cards is that they allow you to purchase an item today and pay for it later. Credit cards are also useful for accommodating impulse purchases — which could be a good or bad thing, depending on your point of view.

Credit-card-carrying consumers don’t need to worry about having enough cash in their wallets to complete a transaction. For smaller purchases, carrying cash is less of a concern. That’s why 70% of all cash payments were for less than $25, according to 2024 Federal Reserve data.

People use cash to complete those small transactions an average of five times per month, debit cards six times a month, and credit cards six times a month.¹³ Cash is hanging on when purchase amounts are small.

To those who aren’t ready to completely give up on cash, the question looms: Exactly how much cash should you carry around with you? 

The answer to that question depends on factors such as the cost of living in your region and your ability to access other payment methods.

On average, Americans carry $67 in cash with them daily. There are considerable differences in the amount of cash individuals of various age groups carry. Grandchildren take note: The older you are, the more likely you’re carrying a wad of cash.¹³

Age Range	Average Daily Cash
18-24	$28
25-34	$46
35-44	$41
45-54	$56
55-64	$85
65+	$109

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in many changes, including the measures we take to safeguard ourselves against communicable diseases. People’s strategies for keeping cash on hand also changed during the height of the pandemic.

In 2019, consumers kept an average of $241 in their homes, offices, or vehicles. That figure soared to $408 in 2021 and $418 in 2022. As we move away from the pandemic, cash holdings have decreased year over year.

In 2023, consumers stored $369 in their homes, offices, or vehicles on average, and that number dropped to $306 in 2024. Time will tell whether we continue to decrease our cash holdings to levels last seen before the pandemic.¹³

One of the reasons you may prefer using your credit card over cash is that credit cards can allow you to earn rewards on everyday purchases. That’s where the two heroes of our story, cash and credit cards, team up.

The most popular type of credit card consumers seek is one that allows them to earn cash back on purchases. Over the past year, well more than half (61%) of consumers surveyed in 2024 redeemed rewards for cash back or gift cards.¹⁴

Here’s a look at the features of card rewards that consumers deemed their favorites:

Rewards Type	% Preferred
Cash back	50%
Travel points/miles	9%
Widely accepted	9%
Low interest	8%
Low fees	5%
Travel perks	4%

Cash back cards are far more popular lately than other types of cards consumers can acquire, including retail credit cards and secured cards.

Every little bit helps, but most consumers who redeem cash back rewards do not receive that much back. In fact, 39% of 2024 U.S. survey respondents said they received cash back of $300 or less in the past year.

Another 22% used their rewards card or cards wisely enough to reap returns of $300 or more. But for most, the pickings were even slimmer.

Only 11% redeemed rewards for a free hotel stay and 10% for a free flight. A small minority (5%) did something else with their rewards, and a whopping 23% redeemed no rewards at all.¹⁴

It just goes to show that playing the rewards game can require the diligence of a sports star but perhaps with little of the glory.

The sheer number of credit card transactions made each year is staggering, but when you break it down per consumer, the numbers seem routine. According to the Federal Reserve, consumers made a total of 48 monthly payments on average in 2024, including bills, purchases, and person-to-person (P2P) payments.¹³

Of those, 17 were credit card payments. Here is a look at how monthly payment methods broke down among American consumers in 2024:

Payment Method	Average Total Payments
Credit card	17
Debit card	14
Cash	7
ACH	6
Other	4
Check	2

As other types of payments, including account-to-account solutions, gain in popularity, it’ll be interesting to see if credit card transactions continue to increase in number in the coming years.

If you’ve ever made a purchase at a department store, you’ve probably had a store attendant ask if you want to sign up for the store’s credit card. Retailers issue private-label cards to build customer loyalty by allowing cardholders to earn benefits for using them.

But the use of these types of cards is on the decline, according to 2024 survey data. While 1.81% of consumers in 2022 used their private-label store cards up to four times in the past 30 days, that percentage dropped to 1.69% in 2023 and 1.47% in 2024.

That means the number of frequent store-card users fell by almost 20%.¹⁵ That may not sound like a big drop, but it signals the continuing rise of credit cards redeemable nearly everywhere at the expense of private-label options that lock you into one retailer (or group of stores).

Your age, income level, or even the type of transaction you’re performing can influence your decision to use cash or a credit card, and preferences differ from person to person.

Though each has its benefits, cash and credit cards remain viable spending tools for consumers in the U.S. and around the world. These statistics regarding credit card versus cash spending habits showcase a financial world in constant transformation, always toward the goal of increasing efficiency and consumer satisfaction.

¹ https://www.atlantafed.org/banking-and-payments/consumer-payments/survey-and-diary-of-consumer-payment-choice
² https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240723681844/en/New-Marqeta-Research-Americans-Are-Happy-To-Swap-Physical-Wallets-for-Mobile-Phones-Contactless-Payment-Use-Trails-Key-Global-Markets
³ https://www.aba.com/about-us/press-room/press-releases/consumer-survey-banking-methods-2024
⁴ https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/cashless-statistics
⁵ https://www.creditkarma.com/about/commentary/cash-is-king-for-gen-z-as-cash-stuffing-trend-catches-on
⁶ https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/report-economic-well-being-us-households.htm
⁷ https://www.ebri.org/retirement/retirement-confidence-survey
⁸ https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/09/household-income-race-hispanic.html
⁹ https://www.worldpay.com/en/global-payments-report
¹⁰ https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/digital-wallets-payment-apps
¹¹ https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_currcircvolume.htm
¹² https://www.aba.com/about-us/press-room/press-releases/consumer-survey-banking-methods-2024
¹³ https://www.frbservices.org/binaries/content/assets/crsocms/news/research/2025-diary-of-consumer-payment-choice.pdf
¹⁴ https://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/news/credit-card-rewards-survey
¹⁵ https://www.freedoniagroup.com/press-releases/new-packaged-facts-report-finds-private-label-credit-card-issuers-and-partners-uncertain-as-strategi