Emergency Fund Calculator — How Much to Save (2026)

No official source names a number. The CFPB's guide says the amount you need depends on your situation, and suggests thinking about the most common unexpected expenses you have had in the past and what they cost; it also says that even a small amount of savings gives some security. “Three to six months of essential expenses” is a popular rule of thumb, but it is not a CFPB or Federal Reserve figure. The Federal Reserve's annual household survey does use “savings to cover three months of expenses” as one common measure of financial resilience, which is why 3 is this calculator's starting value.

The target here is a slider for that reason: pick the number of months that matches how long a gap in income could last for you, and how much you could cut spending during one.

In the Federal Reserve's 2025 survey (fielded in October 2025, published May 2026), 63% of adults said they would cover a hypothetical $400 emergency expense with cash, savings or a credit card paid off at the next statement, unchanged from the previous three years and down from 68% in 2021. 55% said they had set aside money to cover three months of expenses, also unchanged from 2024 (the high was 59% in 2021). A further 15% said they could cover three months by borrowing, selling assets or drawing on other savings, and 30% said they could not cover three months by any of these means. Among adults who said they always had money left at the end of the month, 86% had a three-month fund; among those who never did, 13%.

The same survey found that 59% of adults had at least one major unexpected expense in the previous 12 months. The most common were a major vehicle repair or replacement (30% of adults), a major house or appliance repair (22%) and unexpected major medical expenses (21%). The CFPB's examples are similar: a fender bender, a medical bill, a broken appliance or a loss of income. That is why its guide suggests starting from the costs you have actually met before, which the months-of-expenses figure alone does not capture.

The CFPB says the fund should be safe, accessible and somewhere you are not tempted to spend it on non-emergencies, and lists a dedicated account at a bank or credit union (“generally considered one of the safest places to put your money”), a prepaid card, or cash kept at home or with someone you trust, noting that cash can be stolen, lost or destroyed. This calculator does not model interest on the savings or taxes on it.

The calculator uses the figure you enter, so the definition is yours: housing, food, utilities, insurance, transport to work, minimum debt payments and similar costs you could not drop in a month with no income, not the discretionary spending you could pause. Using essential rather than total spending gives a smaller target; if you would not cut anything, enter your full monthly spending instead. This is this tool's method, not a rule from the CFPB or the Federal Reserve.