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* Over half of Americans have cut back on spending in the last year to afford travel.
* Many people are prioritizing travel as a non-negotiable part of their budget, similar to rent or groceries.
* To save money for trips, people are reducing expenses like dining out, social events, and streaming services.
In order to afford their dream trip, many Americans are making big financial sacrifices.
They refuse to give up travel as a way to rest and recharge and are opting to slash other parts of their budget to get there.
In the new USA TODAY Workforce Survey – powered by SurveyMonkey and conducted between Jan. 8 and 20 – 51% of the 3,156 American respondents aged 18 and up said they’ve cut back on their spending over the last 12 months to pay for travel.
Among those who have been intentionally budgeting for their vacations, 20% said their financial cuts have been significant, and 31% said they’ve been somewhat significant.
Angela Tran, a public relations account executive in New York, treats travel as a non-negotiable in her budget in the same way she does for rent, car insurance, utilities and groceries. “I do make traveling a top priority and having an ample amount of PTO is super important to me,” Tran told USA TODAY.
For the last couple of years, she’s gone on at least two long trips as “something to look forward to so I don’t feel burnt out from work,” as she put it.
To afford her trips, Tran has cut down on eating out for dinner, saying no to events with friends and reducing streaming subscriptions.
Here’s how travelers are cutting down on their spending to afford trips.
Making travel work for their budgets
Tran calls herself a cost-conscious traveler who will still deal with a long layover if it means scoring cheap airfare. Like Tran, many Americans find that travel costs play a major role in their vacation planning.
According to KAYAK’s new 2026 What the Future report, the cost of travel is the biggest factor in how often Gen Z and Millennial travelers will go on trips, with 70% of the survey’s 2,029 U.S. respondents saying it shapes their travel plans for 2026.
These young travelers aren’t giving up; they’re just getting creative. Over one-third of them are interested in using installment plans to help afford trips. More young people are also using price trackers to notify them when it’s the best time to book a flight or a car rental, with the latter up 60% compared to last year.
Vacations remain a top priority
For many Americans, the sacrifice is worth it. Going on trips is the leading use for their paid time off, with 55% of U.S. workers saying this is how they want or plan to use their vacation days, according to the USA TODAY Workforce Survey.
These days, many people feel strapped for not only cash but vacation days, too. Americans are notorious for taking the fewest vacations globally, and the fact that they get the fewest vacation days out of 11 industrialized countries may also play a role. In 2024, Americans received an average of 11 vacation days, while French workers received about a month off.
For travelers sitting on unused vacation time, Intrepid Travel’s new Short Breaks trips are designed to help them use more of their PTO by fitting immersive adventures into long weekends and short time off.
“You know how sometimes your computer needs a reboot? Our brains are much the same,” Becky Spelman, a psychologist who partnered with Expedia for the travel platform’s 2024 Vacation Deprivation Report, previously told USA TODAY in a statement. “Over time, work stress can build up to an unsustainable level and our brain functions start to slow down and work less effectively.”
