{"id":779252,"date":"2026-09-22T20:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/779252\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T20:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:54:17","slug":"heres-the-dollar-amount-that-americans-place-on-an-hour-of-free-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/779252\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s the dollar amount that Americans place on an hour of free time"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Americans place a premium on their free time, new research has discovered. <\/p>\n

In a recent survey of 2,000 U.S. adults,<\/a> the value of an hour of free time averaged $87. At least 5 percent of respondents said their free time is worth more than $500 an hour. <\/p>\n

The majority of respondents also said their hourly pay<\/a> doesn\u2019t match what their time is worth, according to the survey<\/a> from personal finance platform FinanceBuzz and Bank of America<\/a>. The perception of the value<\/a> of time has led to widespread \u201cconvenience\u201d spending on food delivery<\/a> and other time-saving services, according to the researchers. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt its core, every convenience purchase has a similar decision-making process behind it: money versus time,\u201d FinanceBuzz said. <\/p>\n

\"AtAt least 5 percent of respondents believe that their free time is worth more than $500 an hour, according to a recent survey (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

The survey also found that 63 percent of consumers pay for food delivery three times a month. Half of people have groceries delivered twice a month, the poll found. The average American tends to opt for pickup once delivery fees reach around $10, pointing to a breaking point for those balancing convenience with cost. <\/p>\n

But convenience services may struggle amid a worsening financial landscape. An elevated U.S. inflation rate along with gas prices that are nearly $1.30 higher than a year ago has left many Americans facing tough money decisions.<\/p>\n

In some cases, people are putting off car maintenance to free up money for gas. Some are changing their shopping habits. In a recent earnings call<\/a>, Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said that people who earn more than $100,000 a year are flocking to the discount store.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe perception of the value of time has led to widespread \u2018convenience\u2019 spending on food delivery and other time-saving services, according to the researchers (Getty)<\/p>\n

Not only are Americans looking for bargains, they\u2019re establishing shopping habits that mirror those in lower-income households. <\/p>\n

Despite those pressures, consumers still believe that convenience services like food and grocery delivery are worth it because they maintain a high regard for the value of time. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs the adage goes, time is money, and if the convenience economy tells us anything, Americans will pay to get their time back,\u201d FinanceBuzz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,11237,56,54,55,1068],"class_list":["post-779252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-horizontal","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}