July 10, 2026

Buy Now, Pay Later in 2026: Millennials Overtake Gen Z as 72% of Americans Use BNPL

By PartnerCentric

Buy Now, Pay Later has gone from a checkout convenience to a default way Americans shop. In PartnerCentric’s 2026 Buy Now, Pay Later survey, 72% of Americans now use BNPL — up 20 points in a single year — and the makeup of who’s using it has shifted. Here’s what the latest BNPL trends mean for brands deciding how to position the payment method at checkout.

Key Takeaways & Consumer Behavior Insights

In 2026, Most of America Now Uses Buy Now, Pay Later

Buy Now, Pay Later isn’t a niche checkout option anymore but instead another well-trod option, particularly for larger purchases. 72% of Americans now use BNPL, a 20% increase from 2025. 1 in 6 say they’re increasing their BNPL use in 2026, and 24% point directly to the cost of living as the reason. 

Adoption runs deep across every generation, not just the young:

In short, how Buy Now, Pay Later works — splitting a purchase into smaller scheduled payments — has become a default consideration at checkout for shoppers of nearly every age, though Millennials are leading the way in usage.

How Much Are Americans Spending With Buy Now, Pay Later?

In terms of consumer preferences, BNPL is no longer just for massive purchases like airfare, but instead to meet daily expenses. Every spend threshold dropped year over year — shoppers are reaching for BNPL on smaller, more frequent purchases rather than reserving it for big-ticket moments.

Frequency tells the same story. 49% make at least one BNPL purchase a month, 20% make two, and 27% are currently juggling three or more active payment plans. Electronics lead the cart (65%), followed by clothing (39%), furniture (31%), home goods (31%), and groceries (18%) — meaning Buy Now, Pay Later for groceries is now a real behavior, with 11% even using it for food delivery. 

That convenience changes spending behavior: 37% say they spend more because of BNPL, and 31% admit to impulse purchases they wouldn’t have made otherwise.

Why Shoppers Choose BNPL (and What It’s Costing Their Credit)

For shoppers, BNPL is a budgeting tool first. 78% say it makes purchases easier to budget — the single most cited benefit by a wide margin. From there: 41% say it stretches their paychecks, 35% feel less anxious about big purchases, 31% use it to keep credit balances lower, and 19% call it the only way to afford necessities. Heading into the season, 39% plan to use BNPL for holiday shopping.

But the relief comes with risk: Buy Now, Pay Later and your credit score are increasingly linked. 61% of users carry credit card debt and 38% are worried about their credit score — and credit reporting is already changing behavior, with 1 in 6 using BNPL less because of it. 

So does BNPL affect your credit score? For a growing share of users, yes: 24% have missed a BNPL payment in the past year, 1 in 10 have missed five or more, and among those who missed, 28% noticed it negatively affected their credit score.

In the BNPL vs. credit card matchup, BNPL is still a long way away from becoming the default. Debit (45%) and credit (39%) dominate, with BNPL claiming just 4% of most-used payment method share — behind PayPal/Venmo/CashApp (9%) and roughly even with cash (3%). This doesn’t mean it’s rarely used– just not as often as the bread-and-butter of the debit and credit card.

The preference data, though, points to where this is heading: 60% say they’d rather use BNPL than a credit card.

Who Uses Buy Now, Pay Later Now? Millennials Have Taken the Lead

One of the most notable year over year changes we found was the generational lead changing hands from Gen Z to Millennials. In 2025, Gen Z drove BNPL adoption. In 2026, Millennials have overtaken them, and they’re now the most active cohort across the board. 76% of Millennials use BNPL, 21% make three or more BNPL purchases a month, 39% report spending more because of it, and 1 in 10 are currently paying off five or more transactions.

Their reasons mirror the broader market, only stronger: easier to budget (78%), helps paychecks go further (44%), feels less scary for big purchases (37%), keeps credit balances lower (30%), and the only way to afford necessities (19%). As Millennials enter their peak earning years, and an increasing share of them own homes, balancing expenses is especially attractive through spacing out payments using BNPL. 

How Income Shapes BNPL Adoption

BNPL isn’t just the provenance of low-income spenders; it’s used among all income brackets, albeit differently. Adoption actually peaks in the middle: 83% of those earning $40–60k use BNPL, the highest of any bracket.

At the lowest income level, BNPL is a lifeline more than a convenience: 35% of those earning under $20k say it’s the only way they can afford necessities, and 27% use BNPL to buy groceries.

What people buy shifts with income, too. Electronics top the list in every bracket — but the second-favorite category climbs the ladder from essentials to extras: clothing dominates under $60k, furniture leads in the $60–80k range, and home decor takes over at $80k and above.

BNPL is Here to Stay

As BNPL reshapes ecommerce, understanding how it aligns with your audience is essential. PartnerCentric helps brands evaluate, onboard, and optimize BNPL partnerships so the payment method becomes a growth lever — not just another option at checkout.

Whether you’re exploring new fintech partnerships or refining your existing payment ecosystem, our data-driven approach ties BNPL to measurable performance. Let’s uncover how Buy Now, Pay Later can lift your brand’s results. Connect with a PartnerCentric expert today.

FAQs: Understanding Buy Now, Pay Later

Q: What is BNPL and how does it work? Buy Now, Pay Later lets shoppers split a purchase into smaller scheduled payments rather than paying the full amount upfront. It’s become a mainstream checkout option, used by 72% of Americans in 2026.

Q: Who uses Buy Now, Pay Later the most? In 2026, Millennials lead adoption at 76%, followed by Gen X (69%), Gen Z (68%), and Boomers (55%) — a shift from 2025, when Gen Z led the market.

Q: What do people buy with BNPL? Electronics are the top category (65%), followed by clothing (39%), furniture (31%), home goods (31%), and groceries (18%). Even food delivery now sees BNPL use, at 11%.

Q: Does BNPL affect your credit score? Increasingly, yes. As providers expand credit reporting, behavior is shifting — 1 in 6 users now use BNPL less because of it. Among the 24% who missed a payment in the past year, 28% say it negatively affected their credit score.

Q: Do consumers prefer BNPL or credit cards? Debit and credit cards are still the most-used payment methods, with BNPL at just 4% of most-used share. But 60% of BNPL users say they’d rather use it than a credit card.

Key 2025 BNPL Statistics

Methodology & Fair Use

In June 2026, we surveyed 1,004 consumers about their sentiment and usage of BNPL. Ages ranged from 18-74 with an average age of 38; 48% were men, 50% women, and 2% nonbinary or chose not to disclose. 

For media inquiries, please contact media@digitalthirdcoast.net

Fair use: When using this data and research, please attribute by linking to this study and citing PartnerCentric.com.

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