How COVID-19 Has Impacted U.S. Spending Levels

Opportunity Insights researchers at Harvard University have been using credit card data to track U.S. spending levels throughout the pandemic. As this infographic shows, consumer spending plummeted between the middle and end of March. While it was 0.5 percent higher on March 13 than the same day in 2019, it plunged 33 percent by March 30. As states reopen, the trend has started to gradually improve but spending levels remained 10 percent lower than last year on June 15.