Millions of Americans are borrowing money or draining their savings to buy groceries, highlighting the financial strain many households face as the cost of living rises, new research has found.

More than a quarter of working-age adults who relied on credit cards to buy groceries were either unable to pay their balance in full or missed their minimum payment, according to the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. About one in 10 adults relied on so-called "buy now, pay later" loans to cover their groceries — of those, about a third missed a payment last year, the analysis found.

About 20% of working-age adults said they had tapped long-term savings that weren't intended for everyday expenses, such as an emergency fund, at least once in the last 12 months to pay for groceries, the researchers said.

"Families still need to eat. They will still need to pay for their basic needs," Kassandra Martinchek, a co-author of the study and public policy expert at the Urban Institute, told CBS News. "Now they have the additional burden of also needing to repay debt — it could constrain their ability to meet their basic needs in the future and get back on their financial feet."

Over the past five years, grocery prices have jumped 32%, making food affordability a top concern for many Americans, the Urban Institute said. The group's findings are based on a December survey of 7,500 adults ages 18-64.

The findings underscore the growing affordability pinch that many households are experiencing after five years of elevated inflation. In 2026, price increases have reaccelerated due to the Iran war, which has driven up energy costs and pushed consumer prices to their highest level in more than three years.

In a May CBS News poll, more than three-quarters of Americans said their incomes aren't keeping up with inflation. Recent inflation numbers have outpaced wage growth, meaning that many households are losing purchasing power.

Falling behind
More adults are using their credit cards to pay for groceries but failing to make the minimum payment to avoid interest charges, with the Urban Institute finding that the share rose by 1.6 percentage points since it last studied the issue in 2023. While that may seem small, it represents a jump in the number of people who are falling into financial distress after paying for everyday items, according to the group.

"What it means is that there are millions more people, when we look at the overall population of Americans, who are struggling to make that minimum payment when they're putting groceries on their credit card," Martinchek said. "And that feels meaningful because that financial pressure is affecting a lot of different families."

Missing a minimum payment can result in a late fee of up to $30 for the first offense, with penalties rising to $41 for each subsequent late payment, according to NerdWallet. Consumers can also face a penalty APR, which carries a higher interest rate of about 30%, compared with the average APR today of about 24%.

The increase in working-age Americans who aren't making their minimum payments "is obviously a more severe form of financial coping because it's also often associated with penalty interest rates or additional fees," Martincheck said. "It's ultimately a signal of deepening financial distress for families."

About 12% of low- and middle-income adults who used credit cards to pay for groceries missed a minimum payment last year, triple the rate for higher-income consumers, the study found. Lower-earning households were also about four times as likely to miss a buy now, pay later payment as higher-income households.

During the past year, enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, has fallen sharply following the Republicans' 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which introduced new work requirements.

About 37 million people were enrolled in SNAP as of March (the most recent data available), representing a decline of almost 5 million people from a year earlier.

"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," Martincheck said.

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