CFPB Making Ends Meet Survey Public Use Data

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  CFPB_MEM 09/03/2025 01:28:PM

Project Citation: 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB Making Ends Meet Survey Public Use Data. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-09-03. https://doi.org/10.3886/E237670V1

Project Description

Project Title:  View help for Project Title CFPB Making Ends Meet Survey Public Use Data
Summary:  View help for Summary The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) Making Ends Meet (MEM) survey program is a general financial survey conducted regularly by the Office of Research at the CFPB. The surveys cover financial decision-making, perceptions, expectations, well-being, marketing and usage of different consumer finance products. This public use file (PUF) consists of surveys from the initial Making Ends Meet sample in 2019 (Sample 1) as well as surveys from all samples from 2022 forward (Sample 3 and later).

The CFPB has released information and research based on these surveys and the related credit panel data for the last several years and is now making the data from the surveys public. These public use files also include select credit panel variables for the respondents to the 2019 survey and its follow-up surveys in 2020 and 2021. (Later surveys do not have credit variables.) These data will allow researchers to compare consumers’ financial status along several dimensions, including financial wellbeing, difficulty paying bills and expenses, and ability to cover expenses following income loss.

The data is divided into folders by sample numbers. Also included is a user's manual with information about the survey and codebook. The parameters for the different samples are listed in the user's manual.
Original Distribution URL:  View help for Original Distribution URL https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/making-ends-meet-survey-data/public-data/

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms personal finances; financial wellbeing; consumer expenditures; credit card use
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 5/22/2019 – 3/28/2025
Universe:  View help for Universe Sample of adults aged 18 or older in the US with a credit record.
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data
Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes Data downloaded 2025-09-03


Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2025-09-03]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.