5 States With the Most HSA Users, 5 With the Fewest

When Devenir Research released its year-end research report on health savings accounts this past spring, their research revealed some startling numbers: HSA asset growth increased to $82.2 billion held in over 30 million accounts, for a year-over-year increase of 25% for assets and 6% for HSAs by December 31, 2020. Moreover, HSA investment assets rose to an estimated $23.8 billion by the end of 2020, and nearly 1.7 million accounts were investing a portion of their HSA dollars. "Over the past 18 years, perpetually rising health care costs have driven a shift to more consumer-focused health care and massive upticks in leveraging high-deductible health plans paired with an HSA," says Tom Torre, CEO and co-founder of HSA platform Bend. "Health care consumers have become better informed, more financially literate and more actively engaged in not only controlling their current health care costs, but also planning for their future health care expenses," Torre explains. Devenir has given another peek into the current state of HSAs with its demographic survey. Among its key findings:

• As of December 31, 2020, the study estimates there were over 30 million HSAs covering 63 million people in the United States.
• Nearly 1 in 5 Americans in their 30s had a health savings account by the end of the year.
• HSAs are just as popular with older Americans: Account holders over 50 years of age held more than $44 billion in their accounts, with an average balance of just over $4,300.

The study also found that HSAs are being used in every state in the country, with some states reporting nearly 77% of the privately insured populations being covered by an HSA. See our slideshow above for the states with the highest and lowest numbers of people covered by HSAs, and click here for the full study. (Image: Adobe Stock)