[devonkim]

When I talked to people in shelters before that was literally the top reason they were there. Oftentimes it starts from car trouble or a health episode causing loss of income. Without friends or family that can take them in they go to a shelter if they can (those with pets oftentimes go directly to the streets or their cars). Many are able to find employment again soon but many don’t and a downward spiral begins quickly. Somewhere around 30-40% of Americans cannot afford an emergency $1000 expense and it’s probably only going to go higher.

[baggy_trough]

> Somewhere around 30-40% of Americans cannot afford an emergency $1000 expense.

This oft-reported statistic is wrong. It's based on a survey that simply concluded that they wouldn't necessarily pull that amount from savings to meet an emergency expense. That doesn't mean they can't afford it or don't have more savings than that.

[keeda]

This seems to be the report and the specific section of interest: https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/emergency-savings-r...

You're right that the question they used is a bit vague, but there is a ton of other data in there that points to affordability as the main cause e.g.

"Nearly a quarter of Americans have no emergency savings"

and:

"Sixty percent of Americans are uncomfortable with their level of emergency savings — 31 percent are very uncomfortable, and 29 percent are somewhat uncomfortable."

[seanmcdirmid]

It is the social sciences, they can find data for any viewpoint they want to push.

[mythrwy]

There are a lot of people right on the line though. May not be 40%, but it's a lot of people.