Financial literacy and access to capital through a bank are both related to improved economic well-being. To better understand these issues, the Kinder Institute's Greater Houston Community Panel surveyed more than 5,000 residents of Houston and Harris County, Texas, in November and December 2024 about their financial knowledge, use of banks and use of more modern financial technology applications.
Key findings
- Only about 1 in 10 Houston and Harris County residents rated their financial knowledge as “very high.”
- The most common source of advice or information residents used for making financial decisions: friends or family.
- About 1 in 6 Harris County residents are unbanked — lacking a checking or savings account. There are some neighborhoods where the proportion of unbanked residents is much higher: In 8 of 30 neighborhood areas, more than 25% of residents are unbanked.
- Two-thirds of residents have used some type of financial technology (fintech), most commonly a payment app like Venmo or Cash App.
- The top three products purchased using buy-now, pay-later programs were clothing, electronics and groceries.
- Users reported being drawn to buy-now, pay-later programs most often because they needed to spread out payments over time.
