Institute Insights — 09-20-2026

Summary

• Total card spending per household rose 0.9% month-over-month & 4.5% year-over-year in August.
• General merchandise & big-box retailers outperformed traditional retailers during the back-to-school season.
• Lower-income households saw after-tax wage growth of 4.7% year-over-year compared with 3.5% for higher-income households.
• Credit card utilization declined across most cohorts while deposit balances remained elevated among lower- & middle-income households.
• Job switchers earned their largest pay premiums in more than three years, with Gen Z workers & hourly workers seeing strong gains.
• The wage lead for women in job-switching gains has narrowed.
• BofA Global Research finds little evidence of broad-based labor displacement from AI, as industries with the highest AI usage have not experienced consistently weaker labor demand.
• Utility price inflation was around 4% year-over-year in August, while average utility bill payments rose 5% year-over-year from June through August.
• Average utility payments increased by more than 10% year-over-year in Detroit & Baltimore, while consumers in Orlando & San Jose saw declines.
• Electricity bills face upward pressure from data center construction, electrification & broader economic activity.
• A forecasted strong El Niño this winter could provide near-term relief by reducing household heating demand.
• First-time online betting users in June more than tripled January levels.
• Gen Z & Millennials accounted for 88% of online betting activity in July.
• Data suggests customers typically got back less than 75 cents for every dollar put into betting platforms.
• The median deposit account balance of households participating in online betting was 59% of that of non-participating households in 2026.
• Subscription spending rose 7.7% year-over-year in July, continuing to outpace overall card spending growth.
• Gen Z posted the fastest subscription spending growth at nearly 14% year-over-year, while Gen X remained the largest spender overall.
• Reading & information, including AI-related offerings, led growth among subscription categories.
• Spending on reading & information rose 61% year-over-year for Gen Z & 51% year-over-year for younger Millennials.