If you can check off just 1 of these 3 financial boxes, you’re doing better than 50% of the US — how do you stack up?

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It's easy, and fairly common, to feel like you're lagging behind everyone else when it comes to finances.

A survey from Navigator Research in 2025 found that 53% of Americans felt behind where they expected to be financially (1).

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Another 53% expressed uneasiness with their prospects for improving their personal financial situation, with a quarter also saying they felt "very" uneasy.

And while some economic indicators have improved since then, plenty of pressure remains on household budgets. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment rates in July 2026 were higher than a year earlier in 128 of the nation's 387 largest metropolitan areas, even as they were lower in 241 (2). Meanwhile, annual inflation stood at 3.4% in August 2026 (3).

All these pressures have meant that the threshold for landing in the top 50% by certain financial measures is surprisingly low; it no longer takes a six-figure salary or a massive investment portfolio to put yourself in a better financial position than a large share of the adult population.

In fact, if you can check off just one of the three boxes below, you're already doing better financially than half of our peers by some economic measures.

As of 2025, 57% of American adults said they were living paycheck to paycheck, according to MarketWatch Guides (4). And younger Americans were even more likely to find themselves in this position: 72% of Gen Z and 65% of millennials said they were living paycheck to paycheck.

"Living paycheck to paycheck means having little to no money remaining after paying for basic expenses such as rent and utilities," the MarketWatch report noted. "Someone living paycheck to paycheck would be at risk of not being able to pay bills or afford necessities if they missed a single payday."

In other words, if you can consistently have even a little money left over at the end of every month — whether by cutting expenses or increasing your income — you're already in a stronger position than many Americans.