Americans' financial literacy has slipped to its lowest level in a decade, according to the 2026 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index released this month.

U.S. adults correctly answered just 47% of the 28 P-Fin Index questions in 2026 — a significant drop from the prior year and the weakest result since the survey launched in 2017. The figure has never exceeded 52% over the decade.

The share of adults with very low financial literacy (seven or fewer questions correct) rose from 20% in 2017 to 25% in 2026. The top of the distribution barely moved: just 15% answered 22 or more correctly, down one point from 2017.

Scores fell in five of the eight subject areas tested: consuming (-5 percentage points), borrowing, earning, insuring, and comprehending risk (-3 points each).

Gen Z Is The Weakest Cohort

Gen Z correctly answered only 38% of questions, well below Millennials (46%), Gen X (49%), and Baby Boomers (54%).

More concerning: 37% of Gen Z fall into the very-low-literacy bucket — the largest single segment within that generation.

Women continued to score lower than men, answering 44% versus 50% of questions correctly. Comprehending risk remains the weakest area across every demographic, with only 36% of risk-related questions answered correctly.

A Growing Reliance On AI

The 2026 survey asked about artificial intelligence for the first time. 19% of adults have used an AI tool (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or a bank chatbot) to get personal finance information. Only 4% use AI regularly to manage their finances and 9% use it occasionally.

Younger Americans are the heaviest users: 30% of Gen Z and 24% of Millennials have turned to AI for finance questions, compared with 8% of boomers. AI use is also positively correlated with financial literacy: 26% of high-literacy adults use AI tools, versus 14% of low-literacy adults.

However, as The College Investor has reported before, AI answers in personal finance are incredibly unreliable. Last year the study noted that 37% of Google's AI Overview answers in personal finance were incorrect.

Why It Matters

The report links low financial literacy to measurable harm. Compared with high-literacy adults, those with very low scores are:

• 4x more likely to have trouble making ends meet
• 3x more likely to be financially fragile (unable to cover a $2,000 emergency)
• 4x more likely to lack one month of emergency savings
• 3x+ more likely to spend 10 or more hours per week on personal finance issues

Retirement readiness looks similarly weak. Adults averaged just 2.2 correct answers out of six retirement-related questions covering Social Security, Medicare, lifetime income, long-term care, and life expectancy. Only 7% answered five or six correctly.

How This Connects

The findings land as 28 states have now passed laws requiring high school students to take a personal finance course to graduate — up from just eight a few years ago.

But only 10 of those 28 states have fully implemented the requirement, meaning most current Gen Z adults graduated without mandatory instruction. The TIAA data suggests that gap is showing up in early-adult outcomes.

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