Lower-Income Families Have Less Cushion after Expenses

A data visualization of how much after-tax income U.S. households in each income quintile have left after annual expenditures.

What the data compares

The page uses BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data to compare income, spending, and leftover cushion across five income groups.

Lower-income households already report spending far less, yet their remaining cushion can be zero or negative while higher-income groups retain a wider margin.

Why cushion matters

A small or negative cushion means less room for emergencies, rent shocks, medical bills, saving, investing, or recovering from mistakes.

The page makes the gap visible as both dollar amounts and percentages so the tradeoff is understandable before interacting with the charts.