FR3077_20231130_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking
(FR 3077; OMB No. 7100-0374)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), under authority
delegated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has extended for three years, with
revision, the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) (FR 3077; OMB No.
7100-0374).1 The SHED is an ad hoc voluntary survey covering topics such as individuals’
overall financial well-being, employment experiences, income and ability to pay bills, economic
preparedness, banking and access to credit, housing and living arrangement decisions, education
and human capital, student loans, and retirement planning. The overall content of the SHED
depends on changing economic, regulatory, or legislative developments as well as changes in the
financial services industry. The Board uses the SHED to monitor usage of emerging financial
products and understand how macroeconomic conditions are affecting households.2
The Board revised the FR 3077 by removing the qualitative ad hoc surveys from the
clearance, effective November 30, 2023. The Board also added two minutes to the quantitative
survey time per response and slightly reducing the estimated number of respondents, also
effective November 30, 2023.
The current estimated total annual burden for the FR 3077 is 7,705 hours, and would
increase to 8,200 hours. The revisions would result in an increase of 495 hours. There is no
formal reporting form for this information collection.
Background and Justification
Consumer surveys, including the SHED, are an important tool for informing the Board’s
understanding of consumer financial decisions and markets, and the Board has a long history of
using surveys to inform its work in order to gain insight into consumer decisionmaking,
consumer financial stability, community development, and neighborhood stabilization. These
insights aid the Board in promoting a fair and transparent consumer financial services market,
including for traditionally underserved households and neighborhoods, and in carrying out its
monetary policy functions.
Certain criteria apply to information collections conducted via the Board’s ad hoc clearance process. Such
information collections shall (1) be vetted by the Board’s clearance officer, as well as the Division director
responsible for the information collection, (2) display the OMB control number, (3) inform respondents that the
information collection has been approved, (4) be used only in such cases where response is voluntary, (5) not be
used to substantially inform regulatory actions or policy decisions, (6) be conducted only and exactly as described in
the OMB submission, (7) involve only noncontroversial subject matter that will not raise concerns for other Federal
agencies, (8) include a detailed justification of the effective and efficient statistical survey methodology (if
applicable), and (9) collect personally identifiable information (PII) only to the extent necessary (if collecting
sensitive PII, the form must display current Privacy Act notice). In addition, for each information collection
instrument, respondent burden will be tracked and submitted to OMB.
2
The Paperwork Reduction Act clearance for the FR 3077 covers the annual SHED. The Board occasionally
conducts smaller cognitive interviews to test the SHED under a separate ad hoc clearance, the Consumer and
Stakeholder Surveys (FR 3073; OMB No. 7100-0359).
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The FR 3077 has been used once each year to field the Survey of Household Economics
and Decisionmaking (SHED). The 2019 survey was sent for public comment with the Paperwork
Reduction Act package, although under the ad hoc clearance the survey questions have changed
each year. Relative to the 2019 survey that was provided for public comment, major additions to
the most recent (2022) survey included questions on telework, autonomy at work, satisfaction
from job changes, non-compete agreements, moves to new locations, renter experiences, natural
disasters, car ownership, buy now pay later services, cryptocurrency, student loan forgiveness,
inflation, and unemployment insurance receipt. Questions removed from the survey, relative to
that fielded in 2019, include ones related to gig work, housing satisfaction, internet access,
relationships with landlords, reasons for not attending or completing college, financial assistance
from friends and relatives, opioid use, discrimination, experiences with the criminal justice
system, and geography where they grew up. In some cases, the removed questions are follow-up
questions and the topic remains on the survey with fewer questions or a revised question set.
Since 2013, when the SHED was first collected, the number of respondents has grown in
order to increase the level of sub-group analysis. In addition, the SHED has grown in length to
collect additional information on topics that are of interest between years and to accommodate
the demand for information on new trends and risks that are emerging. It has also become a wellrecognized tool for researchers both within and outside the Federal Reserve System. The
SHED’s goals have also expanded to include question modules that can be utilized to quickly
respond to the need for information on emerging risks and trends. Due to the growth of the data
collection, the anticipation that this collection will continue on an annual basis, the changing
nature of the information that is collected and the potential policy, operational, supervisory and
regulatory uses, the Board implemented the SHED as a separate collection in 2017.3
This information is generally not available from other sources. The SHED is reevaluated
annually to identify and mitigate duplication, identify new and emerging areas which may offer
new insights, and to remove topics which have limited value given existing data. If this data
collection were stopped or conducted less frequently, it would reduce the abilities of the Board to
monitor emerging economic issues identified in the survey, including issues with particular
relevance to low- and moderate- income communities.
Description of Information Collection
The SHED is a voluntary survey collecting information from consumers regarding the
economic well-being of U.S. households and how individuals and their families are faring in the
economy. It is generally conducted annually and includes both quantitative and qualitative
survey components. Quantitative data collected could include dollar amounts, percentages,
numbers of items, and other such information pertaining to the financial health of the consumer.
Qualitative data may also be collected and could include questions that are categorical, yes-no,
3

In 2013, the SHED was conducted as an ad hoc survey under the family of Consumer Financial Stability Surveys
(FR 3053; OMB No. 7100-0323). From 2014 through 2016, the SHED was conducted as an anticipated survey
under the generic clearance for Consumer and Stakeholder Surveys (FR 3073; OMB No. 7100-0359). Since 2017,
the SHED has been collected under its own clearance (FR 3077; OMB No. 7100-0374). The current and previous
surveys including public datasets and survey questionnaires are available on the Federal Reserve’s website at
https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed_data.htm.

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ordinal, and open-ended. The SHED is currently completely conducted online, although in future
years it is possible that some hard-to-reach respondents may complete the survey via telephone
or other modes such as mailed paper interviews, depending on the survey processes of the firm
fielding the survey.
The SHED is comprised of a significant section of core content, which remains largely
the same each year. The SHED also normally includes a number of special questions to address
the Board’s need for information on emerging risks and trends that affect consumers.
Respondents to the core content of the SHED report information regarding the following topics:
• Living Arrangements: respondents report information on the types of people living in the
household and why these individuals are living together.
• General Well-Being: respondents report information on how they are managing
financially overall.
• Employment: respondents report information on their recent or current labor market
status, desired employment status, and experiences in the labor market.
• Gig Economy: respondents report information on infrequent, informal activities (also
known as gig activities) that they performed in to earn money, including the amount of
time spent on these activities and the amount of income earned.
• Housing: respondents report on their housing arrangement, housing payments, and recent
moves, including forced moves such as evictions.
• Banking: respondents report on whether they have an account with a bank and whether
they have recently used alternative financial services.
• Credit: respondents report on their confidence in being approved for credit, their recent
experiences applying for credit, and their experiences having and using credit.
• Education and Student Loans: respondents report information on their educational
background and current enrollment, perceptions of the value (cost vs benefit) of their
most recent educational program, changes they would make if they could remake
education decisions, and their use of and experiences with student loans.
• Retirement Planning: respondents report information on their retirement status, types of
retirement savings, comfort investing for retirement, withdrawals from retirement
accounts, and reasons for their retirement age if retired.
• Income and Consumption: respondents report information on their household income,
savings and expenses, sources and variability of income, and financial support from
others.
• Emergency Fund: respondents report information on their emergency savings, ability to
handle monthly bills, and their ability to pay emergency unexpected expenses.
• Health and Insurance: respondents report whether they recently chose to forgo medical
treatment due to the expense, paid for an unexpected medical expense out of pocket, and
are currently covered by health insurance.
• Childhood Background: respondents report information on the highest level of education
that their parents received.
• Financial Literacy: respondents answer questions used to gauge their understanding of
financial markets.
• Other Ad hoc Topics Related to Financial Well-Being: examples of previous ad hoc
topics include issues such as financial disruptions and responses during the COVID-19
pandemic, educational disruptions for respondents’ children during the pandemic,
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experiences with auto loans, usage of mobile banking tools, usage of cryptocurrency,
experiences with discrimination, desired neighborhood characteristics, experience with
natural disasters, buy now pay later products, and experiences with inflation, as well as
follow-up questions related to the core content areas above.
Respondent Panel
The FR 3077 panel comprises of a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized individuals4 who are 18 years of age and older. Due to the nature of the thirdparty vendor’s respondent pool, this sample naturally includes repeat respondents, which allows
for evaluating changes in respondents’ economic conditions, as well as time series analysis. The
specifics of the respondent pool may vary depending on the third-party vendor selected to
conduct the survey.
Frequency and Time Schedule
The FR 3077 quantitative survey is conducted annually. The data submission timeline for
each SHED would be determined prior to the distribution of the survey materials to the public,
but the Board expects the SHED would be conducted in the third or fourth quarter each year.
Results from the SHED are typically made available in the second quarter of the following year
in the Board’s annual Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households.
Revisions to the FR 3077
The Board revised the FR 3077 by removing the qualitative ad hoc surveys, effective
November 30, 2023 (however, the annual SHED may still include qualitative components). This
revision is to reduce duplication across information collections.
The Board also added two minutes to the quantitative survey time per response and
slightly reduced the potential number of respondents, also effective November 30, 2023. The
increase in survey length reflects two adjustments. First, it is intended to provide additional
flexibility for new topics related to financial well-being that are covered in the survey. For
example, in recent years the survey has included questions on inflation, cryptocurrency, and buy
now pay later products which are valuable for understanding financial well-being, and this
additional minute will allow the Board to cover these and other emerging issues more
thoroughly. Second, because the burden is calculated for all contacted respondents, and response
rates have increased in recent years, the computed time per respondent has increased. The slight
reduction in potential respondents similarly reflects that the final stage response rate for the
survey has exceeded expectations in recent years, thereby requiring fewer contacted respondents.
The Board also continually updates the SHED to ensure that it reflects topics that are of
high value to the Board for understanding financial well-being of low- and moderate-income
4

Non-institutionalized individuals refer to individuals who are not inmates of institutions, such as those who are
incarcerated or live in a retirement home, hospital, or other medical institution. The sampling frame also excludes
active-duty military living in military barracks that do not have standard city-style addresses that receive mail
through the USPS.

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consumers and carrying out its statutory responsibilities. Consequently, the SHED has been
updated, along with the list of topics above, to reflect new developments and emerging financial
landscapes. The most recent version of the survey is available on the Board’s public website.5
Public Availability of Data
The Board expects to publish the SHED, the responses to that SHED (without any
individual respondent’s PII), and a final report on the Board’s public website each year.6 This
information is typically posted in the second quarter of the year, approximately six to nine
months after the SHED data is collected.
Legal Status
The Board uses the information obtained through the FR 3077 to discharge its statutory
responsibilities, including its authority to prescribe or enforce regulations under various
consumer protection laws such as the Community Reinvestment Act (12 U.S.C. § 2905),
Competitive Equality Banking Act (12 U.S.C. § 3806), Expedited Funds Availability Act
(12 U.S.C. § 4008), Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. § 1604), Fair Credit Reporting Act
(15 U.S.C. § 1681s(b)), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1691b(f) and 1691c),
Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1693b and 1693o-2), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
(15 U.S.C. § 6801(b)), and Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. § 4012a). In
addition, the Board uses the information obtained through the FR 3077 to discharge its statutory
responsibilities to conduct monetary policy under sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve
Act (12 U.S.C. §§ 225a and 248a). Survey submissions under the FR 3077 are voluntary.
Personally identifiable information associated with individual responses to the FR 3077
will be kept confidential under exemption 6 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which
protects information “the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy” (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)).
Individual respondents may also request confidential treatment in accordance with the
Board’s Rules Regarding Availability of Information.7 Requests for confidential treatment of
information are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Information may be protected from disclosure
to the extent that its disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
privacy under FOIA exemption 6, or under any other applicable FOIA exemption.
Consultation Outside the Agency
In developing past surveys, the Board has periodically consulted informally with outside
experts, including staff from other agencies and Federal Reserve Banks, to obtain input on
question wording or topics to explore.

5

https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed_data.htm.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed.htm.
7
12 CFR 261.17.
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Public Comments
On August 18, 2023, the Board published an initial notice in the Federal Register (88 FR
56626) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, with revision, of the FR 3077.
The comment period for this notice expired on October 17, 2023. The Board did not receive any
comments. The Board adopted the extension, with revision, of the FR 3077 as originally
proposed. On November 30, 2023, the Board published a final notice in the Federal Register (88
FR 83539).
Estimate of Respondent Burden
As shown in the table below, the estimated total annual burden for the FR 3077 is 7,705
hours, and would increase to 8,200 hours with the revisions. For purposes of this estimate, it is
assumed that the Quantitative Survey would be conducted once per year. The Board estimates
that on average, each Quantitative Survey would require 0.40 hours to complete. These reporting
requirements represent less than 1 percent of the Board’s total paperwork burden.

FR 3077
Current
Quantitative survey
Qualitative survey

Estimated
number of
respondents8

Estimated
annual
frequency

21,500
30

1
3

Estimated
Estimated
average hours annual burden
per response
hours
0.35
2

Current Total
Proposed
Quantitative survey

7,525
180
7,705

20,500

1

Change

0.40

8,200
495

The estimated total annual cost to the public for the FR 3077 is $231,150, and would
increase to $246,000 with the revisions.9
Sensitive Questions
The purpose of the SHED is to assist the Board in understanding the economic well-being
of U.S. households and how individuals and their families are faring in the economy. To
8

The estimated number of respondents reflects the total number of respondents who are contacted with an offer to
complete the survey. The Board typically seeks approximately 12,000 respondents for the survey, and the link to the
survey will deactivate once the desired number of respondents has been reached. Consequently, the actual number of
respondents who complete the survey will always be far lower than the number of contacted respondents reported
here.
9
The average consumer cost of $30 is estimated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational
Employment and Wages, May 2022, published April 25, 2023, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm.

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accomplish this purpose, it is necessary for the SHED to include questions about topics that may
be considered sensitive, such as certain demographic information and details about personal and
household finances. Participation in the SHED is voluntary and respondents are able to skip any
question for which they do not wish to provide a response. Data are also submitted to the Board
in de-identified form and cannot be traced back by the Board to individual respondents.
Estimate of Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The estimated cost to the Federal Reserve System for collecting and processing this
information collection is up to approximately $550,000. The exact cost would depend on the size
of the sample, the number of questions asked, and the type and complexity of the questions
asked. There would be no other costs associated with the SHED outside the Board.

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