Cash vs Credit Card Spending Statistics (2026): Latest Trends

Highlights. Cash is now used in only 11% of in-store transactions in the United States.

83% of shoppers prefer to pay with cards over cash.
216.3 million Americans (81% of adults) have a credit card account in their name.
Shoppers spend up to 4x as much when they pay with credit cards instead of cash.
Consumers are 2.5x as likely to use credit cards rather than cash for any given transaction.
71% of nationwide retail sales dollars are from credit card transactions.

Grouped Bar Graph: Nationwide In-Store Retail Sales, credit card and cash sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Statista

Credit Card vs. Cash Statistics

Consumers are most likely to use cards at gas stations and general merchandise stores.

At brick-and-mortar stores, consumers used credit cards for $2.88 trillion in purchases in 2024.
Credit cards are used in 40% of in-store transactions.
U.S. consumers spent $791.3 billion in cash in 2024.
Americans made an estimated $5.42 trillion in credit card purchases out of a total $8.39 trillion in 2024 retail and food service spending.
In 2024, Americans spent an estimated $5.064 trillion in purchases (equivalent to 82.5% of card purchases) through the 10 largest credit card issuers in the U.S.
The average credit card transaction in the U.S. is for $108.30.
76% of cash payments are made at locations that also accept credit cards.

The average consumer makes 17 credit card payments and 7 cash payments per month.

U.S. consumers use credit cards to pay for 70.6% of all retail purchases (in-store and online).
38% of consumers prefer to use credit cards rather than cash or debit for in-person payments; 17% prefer to use cash.
88% of consumers use credit cards, and 83% use cash monthly.
29% of cash payments are made by consumers who prefer to pay using credit cards.
Only 5% of credit card payments are made by consumers who prefer paying in cash.

In-Store Retail Payment Methods according to Statista

Consumers use cash more frequently for purchases under $25 than for larger purchases.

Use of cash for in-store retail purchases declined 26.7% from 2019 to 2024.
All consumer cash payments declined 46.2% from 2019 to 2024.
71% of the average consumer’s cash payments are for transactions under $25.
Consumers aged 55 and older pay for 19% of their purchases in cash, making them the age group most likely to do so.
In 2024, 79% of Americans carried cash, with an average of $67 in their wallets each day.
Americans withdrew $730 billion from ATMs in 2021; the average withdrawal was $198.
Total consumer dollars withdrawn from ATMs declined 3.95% from 2015 to 2021 (from $760 billion), but the average amount withdrawn increased 35.6% (from $146).
Consumers aged 50+ are 3x more likely to carry cash “just in case” than those aged 18 to 49 years.

Grouped Bar Graph: Nationwide In-Store Retail Payment Methods in credit and cash according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Statista

The most widely used U.S. charge card processors are Visa and Mastercard.

Consumers are 5.26% more likely to prefer debit cards over credit cards for in-person payments.
Debit cards are used in 30% of in-store transactions.
Compared to credit cards, Visa- and Mastercard-holding consumers spend 21.6% more through debit transactions than they do via credit cards.
Consumers charged a total of $3.64 trillion to their Mastercard credit cards in FY 2024.
Mastercard processed a cumulative $4.87 trillion on consumer debit and prepaid cards.
Consumers charged a total of $5.31 trillion to their Visa credit cards in FY 2024.
Visa processed $6.02 trillion in consumer debit transactions.

These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.