by Sidnee Michelle
July 20, 2026
The findings come as grocery prices have climbed about 32% over the past five years.
Millions of Americans are turning to credit cards, buy-now-pay-later loans, and personal savings to pay for groceries as food prices continue to strain household budgets, The Street reports.
The nonprofit research organization’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, which polled more than 10,000 working-age adults nationwide, found that many consumers are increasingly relying on debt to cover everyday food purchases.
The findings come as grocery prices have climbed about 32% over the past five years, leaving many households with fewer options to absorb higher costs.
The Urban Institute found that 63% of working-age adults used a credit card to buy groceries during the previous year. While most paid their balances in full, 19.6% carried a balance while making at least the minimum payment, and 8.7% said they did not consistently make the minimum payment. That share increased from 7.1% two years earlier, according to the report.
The survey also found that nearly 10% of adults used buy-now, pay-later loans to purchase groceries. Among those borrowers, 34.8% missed at least one payment. About 20% of respondents also reported using savings intended for emergencies or other long-term financial goals to pay for groceries.
Lower- and moderate-income households were hit hardest. Approximately 12% missed a minimum credit card payment tied to grocery purchases, about three times the rate of higher-income households. They also were roughly four times more likely to miss a buy now, pay later payment, according to Fox Business.
“For low- and moderate-income families, [groceries are] a really big portion of their budget, and so when food prices increase, they have much less breathing room to accommodate that,” Kassandra Martinchek, a public policy expert at the Urban Institute and co-author of the report, said in the study.
The findings also coincide with broader financial pressures. A May CBS News poll found that more than three-quarters of Americans said their incomes were not keeping pace with inflation.
The Urban Institute warned that while credit and savings can provide temporary relief for families struggling to meet basic needs, prolonged reliance on those resources “may lead to financial instability if they have a hard time keeping up with debt or do not recover financially after drawing down savings.”
RELATED CONTENT: Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Will Impact Your Credit. Here’s What To Know
