# Who Knows About the Cheaper Option — and Who Does Not | paykedge.com

> Compare state-by-state payday loan laws, APR limits and alternatives across all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. Discover the regulations — and most affordable legal choices — where you live.

Источник: https://paykedge.com/research/alternatives-by-income/

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# Who Knows About the Cheaper Option — and Who Does Not

Awareness of low-cost alternatives tracks income almost perfectly. The people who need them most know least.

- **5** — income bands compared
- **54.0** — lowest-income band did not know about credit-union loans, %
- **28.0** — highest-income band, same question, %
- **23.0** — lowest-income band had used a cheaper option, %

## The numbers

Household income bands, averaged across states with at least 20 respondents.

| Household income | Respondents | Credit-union loan (PAL), % | Extended payment plan, % | Earned-wage access, % | Used an alternative before, %
| <25k | 3368 | 54.0 | 46.8 | 41.4 | 23.0
| 25-49k | 4391 | 56.5 | 49.6 | 43.9 | 25.3
| 50-74k | 2372 | 48.4 | 43.1 | 38.6 | 21.2
| 75-99k | 1169 | 25.4 | 23.2 | 20.3 | 12.0
| 100k+ | 747 | 28.0 | 23.8 | 20.8 | 13.3

## How we counted

- Income is self-reported annual household income.
- The question asked what borrowers wish they had known before taking the loan.

Data updated 2026-07-31. Full dataset: [data.csv](data.csv).

## Use this research

Free to cite, quote and chart — with attribution. Journalists and researchers are welcome to reuse the table and the dataset.

**Citation:** Paykedge, “Who Knows About the Cheaper Option — and Who Does Not”, 2026. Available at [https://paykedge.com/research/alternatives-by-income/](https://paykedge.com/research/alternatives-by-income/)

[Download the PDF report](report.pdf) [Download the data (CSV)](data.csv)