Fed research finds family support networks add resources beyond balance sheets

New 2025 survey questions show 85.4% of families in the measured financial or caregiving networks. A negative response does not mean a family has no social support at all.

An October 9 Federal Reserve research note uses new 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances questions to study financial and caregiving help among friends and relatives. The authors find 85.4 percent of families participate in at least one of the measured support categories. This is research on family resources, not a new benefits program. The note separates active help from emergency connections. It reports 44.2 percent of families actively provided or received money or time, while 79.7 percent expected they could provide or obtain financial help during an emergency. The categories overlap and should not be added together as separate populations. The questions cover unpaid caregiving outside the immediate family, direct financial support to or from friends or relatives living elsewhere, and potential emergency support. One emergency question asks whether a respondent or partner could obtain at least $3,000. Expected access is not confirmation that a payment occurred. The authors report that emergency financial connections are more common among wealthier families. About 60 percent of families in the bottom two wealth deciles have such connections, compared with more than 90 percent in the top two. These describe survey groups, not the reliability of any particular person's help. The analysis identifies 5.5 percent of families as both in the bottom two wealth deciles and outside the measured financial or caregiving network. The authors call this a high-risk group under their definition. It is not a clinical diagnosis, a debt-default prediction or an eligibility test for assistance. Limits: the cross-sectional questions capture only part of informal support, with somewhat different reference periods. They do not directly observe all community help or nonfinancial emergency arrangements, such as moving in with relatives. Families classified outside the measured network may still have meaningful social ties. The research argues that balance sheets alone can miss resources and risks; it does not establish a causal effect for every household.

Fed research finds family support networks add resources beyond balance sheets

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