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What percentage of American adults say their finances always or often control their life?

25.9% of American adults say their finances always or often control their life - about 26 in every 100, or 3 in 10. That is the figure published by the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking for 2025.

0 in 100100 in 100
25.9

Where this number comes from

Survey
Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking
What it measured
SHED 2025 item B1_b (“My finances control my life - How often do each of these statements apply to you?”), counting responses 1=Always, 2=Often. Computed from the Federal Reserve's public-use microdata with its post-stratification weight WEIGHT. The public file has no design variables or replicate weights, so the standard error follows the Fed's documented design effect: SE = √(deff · p(1−p)/n), deff = 1.144 (the Fed's 1.14, or the Kish design effect of these weights if larger); unweighted n = 12,934.
Population
U.S. adults aged 18 and over
Year
2025
95% confidence interval
25.09% to 26.71% (derived from the published standard error)

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, public-use data (doi:10.17016/datasets.002). Percentages computed here, with attribution.. See the source data

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