2026年7月13日 / 美国东部时间凌晨5:00 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
一项最新研究发现，数百万美国人正通过借款或耗尽储蓄来购买食品杂货，凸显出随着生活成本上涨，许多家庭面临的财务压力。
无党派智库城市研究所的分析显示，依靠信用卡购买食品杂货的适龄劳动者中，超过四分之一要么无法全额偿还账单，要么未能按时偿还最低还款额。约十分之一的成年人依赖所谓的“先买后付”贷款来支付食品杂货——其中约三分之一的人在去年出现了还款逾期。
研究人员表示，约20%的适龄劳动者表示，在过去12个月里，他们至少动用过一次原本并非用于日常开支的长期储蓄，比如应急基金，来支付食品杂货费用。
“家庭总得吃饭，总得支付基本生活开支，”该研究的合著者、城市研究所公共政策专家卡桑德拉·马丁切克对哥伦比亚广播公司新闻表示，“如今他们又额外背负了偿债负担——这可能会限制他们未来满足基本生活需求、重新实现财务稳定的能力。”
城市研究所指出，过去五年间，食品杂货价格上涨了32%，使得食品负担能力成为许多美国人的首要关切。该研究的结论基于去年12月对7500名18至64岁成年人开展的一项调查。
这些调查结果凸显出，在经历五年高通胀后，许多家庭面临的负担能力压力日益加剧。2026年，受伊朗战争影响，能源价格上涨推高了消费者价格，使其达到三年多来的最高水平，通胀率再次加速攀升。
今年5月的一项哥伦比亚广播公司新闻民调显示，超过四分之三的美国人表示他们的收入跟不上通胀步伐。近期的通胀数据超过了工资涨幅，这意味着许多家庭的购买力正在下降。
还款逾期情况加剧
越来越多的成年人使用信用卡支付食品杂货，但却未能按时偿还最低还款额以避免利息支出。城市研究所发现，自2023年上一次开展相关研究以来，这一群体的占比上升了1.6个百分点。该机构表示，这一增幅看似不大，但却代表着在为日常商品买单后陷入财务困境的人数出现了增长。
“这意味着，从美国总人口来看，还有数百万民众在用信用卡支付食品杂货后，难以偿还最低还款额，”马丁切克说道，“这一情况意义重大，因为这种财务压力正影响着大量不同的家庭。”
根据个人理财网站NerdWallet的信息，首次逾期还款将面临最高30美元的滞纳金，后续每次逾期的罚款最高可达41美元。消费者还可能面临惩罚性年利率，利率约为30%，而当前的平均年利率约为24%。
适龄劳动者中未能按时偿还最低还款额的人数增加“显然是一种更严重的财务应对方式，因为这往往还伴随着惩罚性利率或额外费用”，马丁切克说道，“这最终是家庭财务困境不断加深的信号。”
研究发现，去年约12%使用信用卡支付食品杂货的中低收入成年人出现了最低还款逾期，是高收入消费者逾期率的三倍。低收入家庭未能按时偿还“先买后付”贷款的可能性也是高收入家庭的四倍左右。
在过去一年里，随着共和党2025年《一项宏大美好法案》引入新的工作要求， Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program（即人们熟知的食品券计划）的参保人数大幅下降。
截至今年3月（可获得的最新数据），约有3700万人参与了食品券计划，较一年前减少了近500万人。
“对于中低收入家庭来说，（食品杂货）在他们的预算中占比极高，因此当食品价格上涨时，他们的应对空间要小得多，”马丁切克说道。
阿兰·谢特尔 编辑
Millions of Americans take on debt and drain savings to afford food
July 13, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / CBS News
Millions of Americans are borrowing money or draining their savings to buy groceries, highlighting the financial strain many households face as the cost of living rises, new research has found.
More than a quarter of working-age adults who relied on credit cards to buy groceries were either unable to pay their balance in full or missed their minimum payment, according to the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. About one in 10 adults relied on so-called “buy now, pay later” loans to cover their groceries — of those, about a third missed a payment last year, the analysis found.
About 20% of working-age adults said they had tapped long-term savings that weren’t intended for everyday expenses, such as an emergency fund, at least once in the last 12 months to pay for groceries, the researchers said.
“Families still need to eat. They will still need to pay for their basic needs,” Kassandra Martinchek, a co-author of the study and public policy expert at the Urban Institute, told CBS News. “Now they have the additional burden of also needing to repay debt — it could constrain their ability to meet their basic needs in the future and get back on their financial feet.”
Over the past five years, grocery prices have jumped 32%, making food affordability a top concern for many Americans, the Urban Institute said. The group’s findings are based on a December survey of 7,500 adults ages 18-64.
The findings underscore the growing affordability pinch that many households are experiencing after five years of elevated inflation. In 2026, price increases have reaccelerated due to the Iran war, which has driven up energy costs and pushed consumer prices to their highest level in more than three years.
In a May CBS News poll, more than three-quarters of Americans said their incomes aren’t keeping up with inflation. Recent inflation numbers have outpaced wage growth, meaning that many households are losing purchasing power.
Falling behind
More adults are using their credit cards to pay for groceries but failing to make the minimum payment to avoid interest charges, with the Urban Institute finding that the share rose by 1.6 percentage points since it last studied the issue in 2023. While that may seem small, it represents a jump in the number of people who are falling into financial distress after paying for everyday items, according to the group.
“What it means is that there are millions more people, when we look at the overall population of Americans, who are struggling to make that minimum payment when they’re putting groceries on their credit card,” Martinchek said. “And that feels meaningful because that financial pressure is affecting a lot of different families.”
Missing a minimum payment can result in a late fee of up to $30 for the first offense, with penalties rising to $41 for each subsequent late payment, according to NerdWallet. Consumers can also face a penalty APR, which carries a higher interest rate of about 30%, compared with the average APR today of about 24%.
The increase in working-age Americans who aren’t making their minimum payments “is obviously a more severe form of financial coping because it’s also often associated with penalty interest rates or additional fees,” Martincheck said. “It’s ultimately a signal of deepening financial distress for families.”
About 12% of low- and middle-income adults who used credit cards to pay for groceries missed a minimum payment last year, triple the rate for higher-income consumers, the study found. Lower-earning households were also about four times as likely to miss a buy now, pay later payment as higher-income households.
During the past year, enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, has fallen sharply following the Republicans’ 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which introduced new work requirements.
About 37 million people were enrolled in SNAP as of March (the most recent data available), representing a decline of almost 5 million people from a year earlier.
“For low- and moderate-income families, [groceries are] a really big portion of their budget, and so when food prices increase, they have much less breathing room to accommodate that,” Martincheck said.
Edited by Alain Sherter
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