Source: FRED: PSAVERT (Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Data through: August 2026 · updated Sep 30 · Updates: Monthly · Next: Oct 29
MThe three bars show the last 3 months for this indicator, oldest left to newest right. Bar height reflects each reading relative to the other two — the tallest is the highest of the three, the shortest the lowest.
Historical context: Currently in the 8th percentile historically — near historically low levels.
What this means right now: Households are saving a modest share of their income. They are spending most of what they earn, but not eating into savings.
Personal Savings Rate · Monthly · 1959–2026
NBER recessions
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Monthly values
Personal Savings Rate — the last 12 months
Every month's reading, with the band the heatmap gives it. The chart above shows the same series in full.
Month
Value
Band
Aug 2026
4.1%
Within normal range
Jul 2026
4.6%
Within normal range
Jun 2026
4.4%
Within normal range
May 2026
4.4%
Within normal range
Apr 2026
4.4%
Within normal range
Mar 2026
5.1%
Healthy reading
Month-end readings of the same series the chart shows, from personal_savings. Values are the current record, not point-in-time: a month that has since been revised shows its revised value.
What is the Savings Rate?
The Personal Savings Rate is the share of after-tax income that Americans set aside rather than spend. A high rate means households are building a cushion; a low rate means they are spending nearly all they earn, and may be drawing down savings or borrowing.
It matters because consumer spending is about 70% of the US economy, and the savings rate says how much room that spending has. Very low readings have been rare: between 1959 and 2025 the rate dipped below 3% only 3 times — in late 2001, in 2005–08 and in mid-2022. Only one recession followed, and it came three years after the 2005 dip began (January 2008). A year after each dip began, spending was growing more slowly than before — sharply so after 2022, when real retail sales went from growing (+0.4%) to shrinking (−1.9%). A high savings rate is the cushion that carries spending through a downturn.
Limitations: it jumps around from month to month and is often revised. It is a national average, which hides the gap between high earners who save a lot and lower-income households who save nothing or less. And it cannot tell fearful saving from confident saving.
How We Color-Code the Savings Rate
Our heatmap colors this indicator against historically significant thresholds:
Below 2.0%
Almost nothing saved — households spending everything they earn, with no cushion for a shock
2.0% – 3.5%
Low savings — households stretched, with little set aside
3.5% – 5.0%
Modest savings — households spending most of what they earn; a thin cushion
5.0% – 8.0%
Above-trend savings — households setting aside a solid share of income
Above 8.0%
Healthy savings — households building a lasting cushion
Historical Extremes — What Happened Next?
When this indicator reaches extreme levels, history shows consistent patterns:
Apr 2020COVID stimulus savings surge
31.8%
The highest savings rate in the record — stimulus payments arrived while lockdowns removed much of what there was to spend on. The rate stayed above 8% through August 2021 and fell below 3% in April 2022.
Jul 2005Pre-GFC savings trough
1.4%
The lowest savings rate in the record — households were spending nearly everything they earned and drawing on home equity. The 2008 recession began 30 months later.
Dec 2012Fiscal cliff uncertainty
10.9%
A brief jump caused by tax timing, not thrift: high earners took income early, in 2012, ahead of expected 2013 tax increases, which lifted the measured savings rate for a few months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a low savings rate concerning?
Because it leaves no room for error. Households spending 96–97% of their income have nothing set aside for a car repair, a medical bill or a lost job, so any of those forces an immediate cut in spending. When millions of households are in that position at once, consumer spending — about 70% of the economy — can fall sharply. That is what happened in 2008: in 2005–07 the rate had run between 1.4% and 3.3%, and the recession began 30 months after the July 2005 low.
What happened to the COVID excess savings?
The $1,200–$1,400 stimulus checks of 2020–2021 arrived while lockdowns left little to spend on, and households built up an estimated $2+ trillion more in savings than they normally would have. That cushion paid for the spending boom of 2021–2023. By 2024 most estimates said it had largely been spent down, one reason spending growth slowed.
How does the savings rate affect inflation?
When households save less, they spend more, and more spending chasing the same goods pushes prices up. The plunge in the savings rate after COVID, as households spent their built-up cushions, added to the demand behind the 2021–2023 inflation surge. When saving rises, spending cools and so does that pressure.
Is the current savings rate sustainable?
At 4.1% in Aug 2026, the rate is well below its long-run average of 8–9%, which means households are keeping less in reserve than they used to. Whether that lasts depends on incomes, jobs and debt. While incomes grow and jobs are plentiful, households can keep spending at a low savings rate; a recession or a drop in income is what exposes the thin cushion.
How is the savings rate calculated?
Take what people earn, subtract taxes and everything they spend, and divide what is left by their after-tax income. The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes it monthly in the Personal Income and Outlays report. It measures saving out of this month's income, not wealth: a household with a 0% savings rate can still be rich if it is living off investment returns.