Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice
Reveals a comprehensive picture of the payment preferences and behaviors of US consumers. Includes detailed transaction data.
2024 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice
Kevin Foster, Claire Greene, and Joanna Stavins
May 2025
For 2024, the Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice found that compared to October 2023, there were statistically significant increases in the number of all payments (an increase of about two payments, or 6 percent, to 48 on average per consumer per month) and in the number of credit card or charge payments (also increased about two payments, to 17). The average value per consumer per month of all payments also increased significantly from $5,382 to $6,867 per month, up 28 percent. The average payment dollar value was $142, an increase of 21 percent from 2023.
Classification & Keywords
JEL Classifications: D12, D14, E42
Keywords: cash, checks, checking accounts, debit cards, credit cards, prepaid cards, electronic payments, payment preferences, unbanked, Survey of Consumer Payment Choice, Diary of Consumer Payment Choice
2024 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice
- Compared to October 2023, there were statistically significant increases in the number of all payments (increased about two payments, or 6 percent, to 48 on average per consumer per month) and in the number of credit card or charge payments (also increased about two payments, to 17).
- The average value per consumer per month of all payments also increased significantly from $5,382 to $6,867 per month, up 28 percent.
- The average payment dollar value was $142, an increase of 21 percent from 2023.
- Paying with cash in the prior 30 days declined from 87 percent of consumers in 2023 to 83 percent in 2024.
- Making a check payment in the prior 30 days declined from 40 percent of consumers to 35 percent.
Results
Public Use Data Sets
Day-level data sets:
Each row of these data sets contains one diary-day per respondent.
Individual-level data sets:
Each row of these data sets contains one respondent's observations.
Transaction-level data sets:
Each row of these data sets contains one transaction for its unit of observation.
Additional Resources
- Data Codebook
- Questionnaires: Recruitment Night before , and Days 1-3
- Weighting Information
Outside Resources
Send data questions to Survey Director Kevin Foster.
Downloads
2023 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.zip
2022 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.zip
2021 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.zip
2020 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.zip
Note
To see older Surveys and Diaries of Consumer Payment Choice, please see the archived material at Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER).
Zip File Contents
Results
- Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice Report.pdf
- SDCPC Tables (PDF)
- SDCPC Tables (XLSX)
- Tables of Standard Errors (PDF)
- Tables of Standard Errors (XLSX)
Public Use Data Sets
Day-level data sets:
Each row of these data sets contains one diary-day per respondent.
- CSV
- R
- Stata
Individual-level data sets:
Each row of these data sets contains one respondent's observations.
- CSV
- R
- Stata
Transaction-level data sets:
Each row of these data sets contains one transaction for its unit of observation.
- CSV
- R
- Stata
Additional Resources
- Data Codebook
- Questionnaires: Recruitment Night before, and Days 1-3
Outside Resources
Together, the Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice create a comprehensive picture of US consumers' payment preferences and behavior. The Survey and Diary fills a gap in knowledge about the role of consumers in the transformation of payments from paper to electronic. Payments data is collected in the context of cash holdings, checking account balances, credit card debt, and income receipt, among other variables. The Survey and Diary are representative surveys of US consumers; demographic data is included.
- Consumers report adoption of nine payment instruments, including cash.
- Daily in October, consumers report their use of the nine instruments, including dollar value of the payment, payee, location, and device use.
- Consumers rate instrument characteristics like security, cost, and convenience and state their preferences for particular situations (for example, bill pay).
For information on how the Atlanta Fed handles participant data from this survey, please refer to our online privacy policy.