The 2018 report on the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (DCPC) was the fourth Diary study conducted by the Federal Reserve. A demographically-representative sample of approximately 2,800 individuals participated in the Diary in October 2017. Findings from the 2017 DCPC show:
Cash continues to be the most frequently used payment instrument, representing
30 percent of all transactions and 55 percent of transactions under $10.
While online shopping continues to grow, 77 percent of payments were made in-person.1 For these in-person payments, cash accounted for 39 percent of the volume.
Survey respondents between 18 to 25 years of age and those 45 years and older use cash approximately 34 percent of the time to pay for transactions.
In 2017, consumers held more cash on average than their 2015 and 2016 counterparts, though the difference was not statistically significant.
Consumers continue to use cash predominantly for smaller value transactions, with cash being used for 55 percent of payments under $10 and for 32 percent of payments between $10 and $24.99. Because the majority of reported transactions were below $25 in value, cash was the most used instrument overall. Debit and credit cards were generally used for larger transactions, with the average debit and credit transaction being $46 and $67, respectively. For purchases between $10 and $24.99, debit cards were used 34 percent of the time.
Interestingly, 2017 represents the first year debit was used at a higher rate than cash within this price range.
Participants reported making approximately three quarters of all payments in-person and, for those payments, cash was used approximately 39 percent of the time. For the one quarter of payments that took place not-in-person — payments for which the use of cash is not an option — 75 percent were bill payments. The data shows that, on average, 90 percent of non-bill payments continue to be made in-person.
Individuals between 18 and 25 made approximately 24 payments per month, with debit cards comprising 12 of those payments and cash making up 8 of the 24 total payments. While debit was the most used instrument for the younger cohort, the share of cash use was the same for individuals 18 to 24 and 45 and older at 34 percent. Individuals aged 25 to 44 used cash for approximately 10 transactions per month, which equated to about 25 percent of payments for this age group.
Finally, the average daily value of cash held by consumers continued to increase in 2017 at $59 per person compared to $57 in 2016 and $51 in 2015, although these findings were not statistically significant.
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