Right now, furloughed workers in the D.C. area and beyond are in a critical period involving their last guaranteed paycheck.
Most furloughed employees received a partial paycheck on Friday, and that will be their last until the shutdown ends - with few signs of progress in Congress toward a deal.
Data shows many of us are just a few paychecks away from true hardship.
The D.C. area has more people living paycheck to paycheck than any other part of the country, according to a survey and study by Bank of America Institute.
According to their analysis, more than a quarter of households in the U.S. lived paycheck to paycheck in 2024.
The share of households spending 95% or more of their income on essentials has risen since 2019, they found.
At the same time, less than half of Americans have enough emergency savings to cover three months' of expenses, a 2024 survey by Bankrate found. More than 1 in 3 Americans said they needed to tap into their emergency savings in the prior year.
One in three Americans had more credit card debt than emergency savings.
The Capital Area Food Bank is expecting a surge of federal workers and contractors who need help.
"We've seen an increase in the number of federal government workers and contractors over the course of this year and now, in addition, we're seeing those impacted by the furloughs and the federal government shutdown," President and CEO Radha Muthiah told News4. "What we do know is that when you go more than two weeks and a missed paycheck, so many families go from a place of financial stability to financial strain, and so they need some help in putting food on their table."
Additional food distributions are set to start Tuesday. Go here for more info.
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