This Week in Five Stats — Mar 26, 2026
Get it in your inbox
This week's data covers two Americas. Guess which one is doing better.
Mar 26, 2026
The Top 20% of Earners Account for Nearly 60% of All U.S. Consumer Spending — Up From Around Half Two Decades Ago
A Moody's Analytics analysis cited this week by Bloomberg found that spending by the top 10% alone grew 62% between 2020 and 2025, while lower-income households flatlined or pulled back, making America's economic growth story — at its core — a story about a relatively small number of well-off people buying things. Economists call it K-shaped; the other 80% might call it something less polite.
Source: Moody's Analytics / Bloomberg
The Median First-Time Homebuyer Is Now 40 Years Old — a Record High, Up From 31 in 2014
The National Association of Realtors' annual buyer survey, back in the headlines this week, shows first-timers now represent just 21% of all home purchases — down from 40% in 2007, the lowest share since the Great Recession. Buying a home used to be how young Americans started their adult lives; now it's more often how they start their 40s.
Source: National Association of Realtors — 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
The Median Working-Age American Has Just $1,000 Saved for Retirement — Total, Not Per Year
A 2026 National Institute on Retirement Security report found the median working-age American has saved exactly $1,000 toward retirement — a figure that accounts for the roughly 60% of workers with no employer-sponsored plan who have saved nothing at all. At average U.S. household spending rates, $1,000 covers about a week of expenses, not a decades-long retirement.
Source: National Institute on Retirement Security — Retirement Insecurity 2026
401(k) Hardship Withdrawals Are Triple the Pre-Pandemic Rate — and Rising for the Sixth Straight Year
Vanguard's annual "How America Saves" report found a record 6% of plan participants tapped their retirement accounts for hardship reasons in 2025, up from 2% before the pandemic, with foreclosure prevention and medical bills as the top causes. The cruel part: average 401(k) balances rose 13% last year, so millions of Americans are raiding retirement accounts that are, on paper, doing just fine.
Source: Vanguard — How America Saves 2026
Three in Five New Dollar Tree Shoppers Now Earn More Than $100,000 a Year
Dollar Tree's CEO told analysts in January that the chain added 3 million new customers in Q4 — and 60% of them earned over $100,000, up from 50% the year prior. Shopping at Dollar Tree used to be a sign you needed to; now it might just mean you've been paying attention.
Source: Dollar Tree Q4 2025 Earnings / Retail Dive