This interactive New York Times opinion article breaks down how much time a household would need to save enough money for a month’s worth of expenses during an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. For households earning more than $200,000 annually, it could take about two months. Households earning between $70,000 and $99,999 would need seven to eight months. However, for an average household earning about $50,000 to $69,999, they would need more than a year just to save for one month’s worth of expenses. If even households earning $50,000 would need at least a year, what about those households making $40,000, $30,000, $20,000, $10,000, or even less than that? These households cannot prepare for an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic and thus will likely be the most impacted by this pandemic, which has already revealed disparities based on race, income, etc.
Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/23/opinion/emergency-savings-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage