--- title: This Group of People Avoids Cash, Even for Measly $5 Purchases description: Debit cards are becoming more popular for small purchases, especially among millennials who are less likely to use cash and credit cards. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Credit Cards - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2016-03-23T15:30:07.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T10:23:40.000Z' section: Credit Cards tags: - cash - Credit Cards - Millennials - payment methods - payments - plastic - pubdesk - Shopping word_count: 238 canonical: https://money.com/cash-credit-debit-card-millennials-generations/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** Money may earn a commission when you click on the products and services below. Opinions are our own, but compensation and in-depth research determine where and how they appear. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/) about how we make money. ![A paper coffee cup and Starbucks logo. Starbucks will](https://img.money.com/2016/03/gettyimages-462454958.jpg?crop=1230px%2C1216px%2C3770px%2C2119px&quality=85) *How do you pay for this?* The register rings you up for a coffee and bagel. How do you pay: cash or plastic? The answer, according to a new survey from [CreditCards.com](http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/pay-with-cash-poll.php), largely depends on your age. A majority of those surveyed (58%) says they'll use cash for purchases of $5 and under, while cards are preferred by 38%. Debit cards are favored over credit, 27% to 11%. Not surprisingly, a higher proportion of millennials (64%) prefers using a card for such small purchases. They grew up in an era that saw an increased usage of plastic, and consider a card far more convenient. In fact, Gen Y is the only age group that prefers plastic over cash. By contrast, only 19% of the population over 65 swipes for small purchases, and even the next cohort down—the 50-64-year-olds—overwhelmingly favors cash over cards, 77% to 28%. What's especially interesting is how cash usage is decreasing across the board overall. In 2014, 65% of those surveyed said cash was their preferred payment method for purchases of $5 or less, compared to 58% more recently. ***Read next:* [The Millennial Money Habit That Defies Logic](https://money.com/millennials-prepaid-cards/)** At the same time, credit card usage hasn't increased, despite the rewards and buyer protections it offers. The main area of plastic expansion is in debit cards, which as CreditCards.com notes, is something that more young people have as they begin to learn about personal finance--and they focus on avoiding getting into debt. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/cash-credit-debit-card-millennials-generations/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Credit Cards", "item": "https://money.com/credit-cards/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Credit Card", "item": "https://money.com/credit-card/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This Group of People Avoids Cash, Even for Measly $5 Purchases" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/cash-credit-debit-card-millennials-generations/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/cash-credit-debit-card-millennials-generations/", "name": "This Group of People Avoids Cash, Even for Measly $5 Purchases", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-03-23T15:30:07.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/cash-credit-debit-card-millennials-generations/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/cash-credit-debit-card-millennials-generations/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T10:23:40.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "This Group of People Avoids Cash, Even for Measly $5 Purchases", "articleSection": "Credit Cards", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/03/gettyimages-462454958.jpg?crop=1230px%2C1216px%2C3770px%2C2119px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "A paper coffee cup and Starbucks logo. 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