More low- and middle-income Americans are investing: report

While many consumers feel they are struggling to cover rising daily costs, lower- and middle-income individuals are turning to investing. new report.

Since 2020, the number of low- and middle-income investors has increased by 2.7 times, or 167%, according to new research from private philanthropy arm BlackRock Foundation. Black Rockand Commonwealth, a national nonprofit focused on financial security.

These findings come from JPMorganChase Institute data based on billions of anonymous data transactions from nearly 10 million active checking account users. The firm tracked the money transferred to investment accounts, although it did not specify the types of investments chosen.

The data includes low- and middle-income investors with median net income in 2024 evenly split between $29,000 and $51,000.

“We have real data that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people participating in the capital markets over the last few years,” Commonwealth CEO Timothy Flacke said.

The new research follows this path: questionnaire Research conducted by the BlackRock Foundation and Commonwealth in January 2025 found that more than half, or 54%, of low- and middle-income Americans are invested in retail capital markets. According to the results, more than half of these investors started investing in the last five years.

This survey of 2,750 respondents focused on households with annual incomes between $30,000 and $79,999.

According to the firms, several factors have encouraged higher investment participation rates among these groups since 2020. These include greater access to investment information and numerous online brokerages and trading apps (many with low minimums) that make investing easier. Covid-19 stimulus packages have increased consumers’ available cash and strong market performance has provided additional incentive.

Experts say affordability concerns are having a negative impact: Inflation has climbed and reached its highest level in response to the pandemic. 9.1% annual increase in the Consumer Price Index as of June 2022. While the rate of inflation has slowed down, with the CPI realized at 2.4% in the last 12 months starting from January, consumer prices have remained high, increasing cost of living concerns.

Low-income households face the highest inflation rates, according to the Bank of America Institute research.

Low- to moderate-income investors are more likely to invest when they have enough liquid savings to cover at least two weeks of expenses, typically in the range of $1,500 to $2,000, according to research from The BlackRock Foundation and Commonwealth.

Additionally, firms found that short-term or seasonal increases in income, such as tax refunds, bonuses, or temporary gains, were also linked to increased investment activity.

Low- to moderate-income investors invested nearly 30% more as a proportion of their income from 2020 to 2024 compared to 2015 to 2019, according to the study.

Strong stock market gains in recent years Most Americans are richer. Individuals who did not have money in the markets were deprived of these gains.

By 2025, 62 percent of Americans say they own stocks gallupIt was unchanged from 2024 and increased from 61% in 2023.

Those most likely to own stocks include adults in households earning $100,000 or more, college graduates and married adults, according to Gallup. Those less likely to own stocks include unmarried adults, people with a high school education or less and households making less than $50,000, the analytics and consulting firm found.

Likewise January 2025 questionnaire The research, conducted by the Consumer Finance Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, found that 57% of 5,000 adults surveyed said they did not own any stocks. The reasons most frequently cited by respondents were a lack of funds available for investment and a lack of knowledge about the stock market.

Individuals who do not have access to investments, especially stocks, may miss out on compound growth, where returns are based on both the amount initially invested and the accumulated earnings.

President Donald Trump recently announced plans to launch a retirement plan, including government assistance of up to $1,000 annually, targeting workers who do not have access to an employer retirement plan and are therefore less likely to benefit from recent market gains.

The financial sector can also help leverage recent investment momentum among low- and middle-income investors, particularly by encouraging emergency savings, said Claire Chamberlain, president of the BlackRock Foundation.

“If the industry is considering supporting this new group of investors, how do you make this experience as successful as possible for them in the long term?” Chamberlain said.