Cash Use Falls Back Slightly in the US

Results of the US Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC) and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (DCPC) have been published by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Boston and Federal Reserve Financial Services1. The DCPC, in which consumers record details of specific transactions (including dollar values) and their payment choices, was conducted in October 2025.

Key findings were:

• Compared to October 2024, the number of all payments decreased about one payment, to 47 on average per consumer per month and the average value per consumer per month fell from $6,867 per month to $6,656 per month.
• The shares of consumers who had paid with cash in the prior 30 days fell from 83% in 2024 to 81% in 2025.
• The number of cash payments for purchases continued to decline, from 6.7 per month to 6.4 per month, 14% of the total. The average spend was $57.6 per transaction, 8.5% of the total.
• For day-to-day purchases, cards were more than three-quarters of payments by number and more than two thirds by value. Credit cards accounted for more than a third of all payments and 19% by value.