In America, 83% of people have used cash in the past 30 days (CT, 2020)

calendar iconNov 19, 2020

Source

The statistic comes from the February 2020 Health of Cash Study, independently produced by Javelin Strategy and Research and sponsored by CardTronics.

This fifth annual examination of U.S. consumer payment habits provides an in-depth analysis of daily usage, bill payment, remittance and P2P activity. It takes a holistic look at where and how cash usages is changing in America.

Excerpts from the study

The 2019 market size for consumer-based cash payments reached $1.33 trillion. Cash payments made by consumers fall into four main categories, each of varying sizes:

  • Cash payments to buy goods or services: $447 billion
  • Cash transfers: $440 billion
  • Cash bill payments: $268 billion
  • Cash P2P: $165 billion

Cash is the most used payment method. Eight in ten consumers (83%) say they have used cash for a purchase or a bill payment in the past 30 days.

Cash usage is about choice, not an aversion to digital payments. The more often consumers use cash, the more likely they are to make payments overall, using a variety of payment methods.

Consumers do not want cashless stores, they want the choice to use cash. Eight in 10 (82%) of consumers feel it is important that merchants allow cash payments.

Cash users can be defined in four ways

Where do consumers get cash? Considering the value consumers place on using cash, having access to cash when desired is even more important. 73% of consumers have withdrawn cash in some way in the past 30 days (e.g. ATM, branch, cash back at a store). Considering this is a level on par with online banking usage in the past 30 days (76%) and higher than mobile banking usage in the past 30 days (51%), investment in cash access channels needs to remain a priority.

Download the study

Last Updated: Nov 23, 2020