Nearly half of Gen Z respondents in a new survey say they have either skipped or delayed payments on rent or a mortgage to cover holiday spending, a finding that lands amid a broader national reckoning over how much Americans can actually afford to spend this season. The figure, drawn from a commissioned consumer survey, underscores a generational divide in how younger Americans are financing gifts, travel and gatherings even as housing costs squeeze their budgets.
According to Talker Research, 46% of Gen Z respondents said they had skipped or delayed a rent or mortgage payment to afford holiday spending, while 18% of respondents overall said they had delayed or skipped such a payment. The survey was commissioned by Accredited Debt Relief. Separately, a press release distributed via PR Newswire reported that 45% of Americans had already taken on or expected to take on holiday debt this year, including 14% who said they had already incurred debt and 31% who anticipated doing so.
Talker Research describes a survey of 2,000 Americans who celebrate a winter holiday, conducted October 16–20, 2026, with respondents estimating total holiday spending of $1,533 and an average of 15 gifts given this season.
Generational Debt Gap Widens
The press release reported that holiday debt had been incurred or was anticipated by 67% of Gen Z respondents and 55% of millennials, compared with 28% of baby boomers, per the Accredited Debt Relief materials distributed through PR Newswire. That generational split echoes separate findings reported by Newsweek, which cited an Accredited Debt Relief survey showing 46% of Gen Z respondents had postponed or skipped rent or mortgage payments for holiday spending, compared with 28% of millennials and 14% of Gen X respondents.
An Accredited Debt Relief adviser, Bobbi Rebell, said shipping, decorations, entertaining and last-minute purchases can add up quickly, according to the Talker Research writeup. Rebell also said, “Holiday spending should never come at the expense of someone's financial stability.”
A Broader Housing Squeeze
The holiday-spending findings arrive against a backdrop of mounting rent-payment struggles documented by independent housing researchers. The Urban Institute found that the share of working-age renters reporting rent-payment problems rose from 16.5% in 2024 to 20.0% in 2025, the highest level recorded since the measure began. The same analysis found that middle-income renters saw a particularly sharp jump, from 14.3% in 2024 to 21.6% in 2025, while lower-income households remained the most likely overall to report trouble paying rent. The Urban Institute also found that 20.7% of working-age renters reported being unable to pay their full heating and electricity bills in 2025.
A Redfin-commissioned Ipsos survey found that roughly half of U.S. residents, 49%, struggled to afford their regular rent or mortgage payments as of November 2025, up from 44% in a comparable survey conducted that May. Per Redfin, Gen Z respondents reported the highest strain of any generation, with 67% saying they struggled to afford rent or mortgage payments, compared with 53% of millennials, 54% of Gen Xers and 36% of baby boomers.
How Americans Say They're Paying For the Season
How Americans Say They're Paying For the Season Beyond housing payments, holiday-spending respondents reportedly used a range of coping strategies: 35% used savings to cover holiday expenses, while 20% reduced or skipped retirement contributions. Talker Research reported that respondents planned to put 56% of holiday spending on cash or debit, 32% on credit cards and 12% through buy-now-pay-later arrangements. Talker Research reports that 54% of respondents approach the holidays with a budget, while 27% said they will not create one and 19% remained undecided, with some respondents without budgets reportedly saying the exercise feels pointless when they have little money to spend in the first place.
The Enterprise's supplied facts also describe respondents confessing that holiday spending feels less real than spending the rest of the year, with 61% reportedly saying they have at least one hidden holiday spending category that often ends up on credit cards — expenses that can reportedly move household finances from barely stable into a danger zone. Talker Research and PR Newswire identify a 2,000-person survey conducted October 16–20, 2026, and Talker Research reports estimated holiday spending of $1,533.
