Low-income older households had little capacity to cope with financial shocks even before the COVID-19 pandemic and recession: Share of working households ages 55–64 that are financially fragile, by income group, 1992–2018
| Year | Bottom 50% | 50th–90th percentile | Top 10% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 35.0% | 20.5% | 13.8% |
| 1994 | 33.3% | 17.7% | 15.2% |
| 1996 | 36.0% | 19.5% | 15.0% |
| 1998 | 37.9% | 20.0% | 11.1% |
| 2000 | 37.9% | 22.1% | 11.0% |
| 2002 | 36.3% | 21.1% | 14.7% |
| 2004 | 41.1% | 25.4% | 15.2% |
| 2006 | 44.6% | 24.2% | 10.8% |
| 2008 | 44.6% | 31.0% | 16.4% |
| 2010 | 51.1% | 34.1% | 18.0% |
| 2012 | 49.1% | 35.6% | 19.5% |
| 2014 | 51.0% | 32.3% | 16.9% |
| 2016 | 50.1% | 31.0% | 15.3% |
| 2018 | 54.2% | 29.6% | 15.6% |
Notes: A household is deemed financially fragile if it exceeds at least one of four thresholds: a home mortgage loan-to-value ratio above 80%; a ratio of nonhousing debt to liquid assets above 50%; less than three months’ worth of income in liquid assets; or rent exceeding 30% of income. Sample includes households with at least one working member and one member age 55–64. For married and partnered households, income percentiles are determined based on total household income divided by 1.7 to account for the fact that living expenses for couples are higher than—but less than double—the expenses of single householders.
Source: Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA) analysis of Health and Retirement Study (HRS) microdata (RAND and University of Michigan 1992–2018).