The median household savings account balance is not relevant to this discussion. Savings accounts are an anachronism, most people don’t have them regardless of

The median household savings account balance is not relevant to this discussion. Savings accounts are an anachronism, most people don’t have them regardless of how much money they have. By that standard of “savings”, I am flat broke. The median household in the US has >$12,000 in cash that can be saved per year after all ordinary expenses, not even just necessary expenses, per government survey data. So your $24,000 is an easily achievable two years of savings for the median household. That’s a pretty low bar.