Research and reports

Report on the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) industry in the United States, focusing on consumer and marketplace impacts.

This data spotlight shares findings on the state of financial well-being in 2020 and how it has changed over time, with an emphasis on the negative impact among certain demographics and U.S. adults with lower financial well-being.

New analysis in our Making Ends Meet series looks at financial security by examining how much consumers have in emergency savings and their financial profiles.

The 2021 Financial Literacy Annual Report details the CFPB’s financial literacy strategy and activities to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Overall, this report describes the CFPB’s efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers’ financial lives.

New analysis in our Making Ends Meet series shows consumers’ finances improved during the pandemic as pandemic policies protected consumers.

A new analysis investigating the financial conditions of renters and homeowners before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report provides a foundational set of benchmarks of the financial well-being of Hispanics ages 18 and older in the United States in 2018, as measured by the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale, that practitioners and researchers can use in their work.

A new analysis examines the early impact of COVID-19 on consumers’ finances, finding that, in general, they were more able to stay on top of finances in June 2020 than June 2019.

The 2020 Financial Literacy Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau details the Bureau’s financial literacy activities and strategy to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Overall, this report describes the Bureau’s efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers’ financial lives.

The 2019 Financial Literacy Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau details the Bureau's financial literacy activities and strategy to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Overall, this report describes the Bureau's efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers' financial lives.

This report provides the first state-by-state description of the financial well-being of adults in the United States, as measured by the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale.  

This report provides results from the CFPB 2019 Tax Time Saving Cohort and information on how the receipt of a tax refund is a unique opportunity for many taxpayers to Start Small and Save Up.

The CFPB researched the childhood origins of financial capability and well-being to identify those roots and to find promising practices and strategies to support their development.

This research brief is intended to help stakeholders understand how the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) financial literacy data about the U.S. may be used to identify effective approaches to financial education and better define the metrics for success.

This report presents results from a joint research study between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Credit Karma. The purpose of the study is to examine how consumers’ subjective financial well-being relates to objective measures of consumers’ financial health, specifically, consumers’ credit report characteristics. The study also seeks to relate consumers’ subjective financial well-being to consumers’ engagement with financial information through educational tools. 

A large study exploring tax-time saving found that early messaging and small incentives were effective at encouraging some customers to save using a savings feature on their prepaid card.

This research brief explores the factors that are associated with financial well-being for veterans. It relies on data from the Bureau’s National Financial Well-Being Survey to examine the distribution of financial well-being scores for veterans in the United States.

This report lays out key unanswered research questions in youth financial education identified by a range of stakeholders.

This report is designed to help education policymakers, program leaders, financial educators, and academic researchers make evidence-informed policy, programming and resourcing decisions in school-based financial education.

This report explores the factors that are associated with the financial well-being of older Americans. It relies on data from the National Financial Well-Being Survey to examine the distribution of financial well-being scores for adults ages 62 and older in the United States.

The 2018 Financial Literacy Annual Report is a statutorily mandated report to Congress on the Bureau’s activities and strategy to improve the financial capability and well-being of consumers. 

The Bureau held a forum on child savings accounts. We produced a report on the forum so that you can learn more about how states and communities are offering opportunities for families to save for post-secondary education.

The Bureau led a research effort to develop a “scale” to measure financial skill. This guide describes the research behind the Financial Skill Scale and provides detailed steps for using the scale. 

The Bureau conducted a study to analyze the associations between financial capability factors (i.e., financial knowledge, skill, and behavior), financial situation, and financial well-being. This report summarizes the results of the study and show evidence of a pathway to financial well-being.

The Building Blocks Measurement Guide provides a means of assessing young people’s progress toward acquiring the foundations of financial capability.