How much cash should I keep at home for an emergency?

By Owen Hartley, The Steady Prepper · October 31, 2026 · 8 min read · Money and documents in a crisis

Short answer (checked October 31, 2026): keep enough cash to cover about 3 days of your household's essentials, in small bills, in a secure place at home. If you live somewhere you might have to evacuate, add enough for a tank of fuel and a few nights in a motel. For a typical household that is a few hundred dollars, not thousands.

No government agency gives one dollar figure, and that's deliberate. Ready.gov says to keep "a small amount of cash at home" because ATMs and card machines may not work in a disaster, and FEMA's Emergency Financial First Aid Kit says the amount "should be based on the basic needs of your family, including food, gas, and other things you use on a day-to-day basis." FEMA's Are You Ready? guide goes one step further: enough "to buy food, fuel, and a few nights in a hotel in case you need to evacuate."

So the right number is your number. Below is a worksheet to work it out in five minutes, the bill mix to ask for, where to keep it, the insurance limit almost nobody checks, and what actually protects the rest of your money if a bank has trouble.

This is general education, not financial advice. Your own budget and local risks decide the final figure.

Why cash matters when the power or the network is down

Card payments need three things to work at the same moment: power at the store, a working phone or internet connection, and the payment network itself. Lose any one and the shop can only take cash, or nothing. Ready.gov lists extended power outages, closed banks and "limited or no access to credit cards and ATMs" as the reasons to hold a cash reserve. The British Red Cross says the same: power or communications outages "can prevent card payments", and cash machines may not work either.

Cash is the backup for days, not months. In a short disruption, stores that can open will often trade in cash, and that is exactly when a small reserve earns its keep.

The cash worksheet: work out your number

Fill in your own figures. Use what you actually spend, not what a website says an average household spends.

Line	What it covers	Your figure
A. Food and water top-up	3 days of groceries beyond what your pantry already covers	$
B. Medicine and baby or pet needs	Copays, a refill, formula, pet food for 3 days	$
C. Fuel	One full tank for each vehicle you would use	$
D. Small essentials	Batteries, propane, ice, cleaning supplies	$
Shelter in place total	A + B + C + D	$
E. Lodging if you evacuate	Motel or hotel nights (FEMA says "a few")	$
F. Meals on the road	Eating out while away from your kitchen	$
Evacuation total	Shelter in place total + E + F	$

Example scenario (an illustration with stated assumptions, not a real household): a family of four assumes $45 a day for food top-ups (A = $135), $40 for a prescription copay and pet food (B), $60 to fill one car (C) and $30 for batteries and ice (D). Their shelter in place total is $265. They live in a hurricane evacuation zone, so they add two motel nights at an assumed $120 each (E = $240) and $60 a day for road meals over two days (F = $120). Their evacuation total is $625. Swap in your own prices; fuel and lodging vary a lot by region and season.

How that compares: Chase's guide suggests 2 to 3 days of basic expenses, "anywhere from $40 to $300" for many people. That range fits the shelter in place line. The worksheet adds the evacuation lines most short articles leave out, which is where FEMA's own wording points.

The bill mix to ask for

Large notes are nearly useless when a store has no working register to make change. FEMA's Are You Ready? guide says to keep "ones, fives, and tens, with the highest bill being a twenty."

For a $300 reserve, one sensible split looks like this:

Bill	Count	Value
$20	8	$160
$10	6	$60
$5	10	$50
$1	20	$20
Quarters	40	$10
Total		$300

Ask your bank teller for the breakdown when you withdraw. Coins are worth including for vending machines, laundromats and parking meters that may still run on batteries or mechanics.

Where to keep it

Somewhere secure and out of sight, but somewhere every adult in the house knows about. A locked cash box or home safe beats a drawer.
With your documents. FEMA's EFFAK says to keep cash "in the same safe location" as your financial first aid kit, so one grab gets both.
Split it. Keep most at home and a small amount, say $40 to $60 in small bills, in each car or go bag, so you are not stuck if you leave in a hurry.
Not in a bank safe deposit box. If the bank is closed or the power is out, you can't reach it, and the FDIC says safe deposit box contents are not deposits and are not covered by deposit insurance.
Waterproofed. A zip-top freezer bag inside the box protects notes from a burst pipe or flood water.

Write the date on the envelope and check it when you check your water and food stores. If you borrowed from it, refill it.

The insurance limit almost nobody checks

Here is the reason not to keep thousands at home: insurance barely covers it. The standard US homeowners form, the ISO HO-3 (see the sample policy published by the Insurance Information Institute), has a special limit of $200 for "money, bank notes, bullion" and similar items in a single loss. Some insurers let you raise it with an endorsement, but only so far. Check your own declarations page.

In the UK, the Telegraph reports that most home insurance policies cap cash at around GBP 200 to GBP 500. Australia's government money site Moneysmart puts it simply: "Don't keep more cash at home than you are comfortable losing."

Cash at home also earns nothing and loses buying power as prices rise. Both are good reasons to keep the reserve sized to days, and keep savings in an insured account.

What protects the rest of your money if a bank fails

A common worry behind "should I keep more cash at home?" is a bank failing in a wider financial crisis. Every one of these four countries has a government-backed deposit protection scheme, and for most households it covers every dollar they have in the bank.

Country	Scheme	Limit	How fast you get paid
US	FDIC	$250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category	FDIC aims to pay within two business days, often sooner through an acquiring bank
UK	FSCS	GBP 120,000 per person, per authorised firm (up from GBP 85,000 on 1 December 2025)	Joint accounts are protected up to the limit for each holder, per the Bank of England
Canada	CDIC	CAD 100,000 per insured category, per member institution	CDIC aims to give access within days, automatically
Australia	Financial Claims Scheme	AUD 250,000 per account holder, per bank	APRA aims to pay most account holders within 7 calendar days

Two details the top search results usually miss:

Brands are not banks. In the UK the limit applies per banking licence, and APRA notes that in Australia, BankWest is part of the Commonwealth Bank and St George is part of Westpac. Two apps can be one bank for protection purposes. Check before you assume your money is split.
The gap is the days, not the dollars. Even when a scheme pays in full, it may take a few days. Your cash reserve and a second account at a different bank cover that window. Holding two current accounts at unrelated banks is a simple, free backup if one bank's app or cards go down.

This is the calm version of financial preparedness: insured deposits for your savings, a small cash float for outages, and a second way to pay.

If you live in the UK, Canada or Australia

The advice is the same everywhere: some cash, small denominations, base it on your needs. The details differ a little, checked October 31, 2026.

UK: the government's Be Ready checklist lists "cash (mix of coins and notes) and cards" in case electronic payments or ATMs are disrupted, and says the amount "depends on your family's specific needs for essentials." Its kit is built around 3 days. The Telegraph's rule of thumb is about GBP 100 for smaller households and up to GBP 300 for larger or rural ones.
Canada: the federal Get Prepared guide recommends "some cash in smaller bills, such as $10 bills" and warns that "automated bank machines and their networks may not work during an emergency." Its kit is for at least 72 hours.
Australia: Australian Red Cross puts cash on its survival kit checklist, and Moneysmart adds keeping photo ID on you in case you need to visit a branch, plus checking your myGov and Centrelink details are current in case you apply for disaster payments.

Don't forget the documents

Cash gets you through the first days. Documents get you through the weeks after. Keep copies of ID, insurance policies, bank contact numbers and account details with your cash, plus a written list of your regular bills. FEMA's EFFAK has fill-in forms for all of it, and Australian Red Cross suggests keeping copies of key documents in a second place outside your home as well.

Your 15-minute cash checklist

Fill in the worksheet above and write down your two totals
Withdraw the shelter in place total in small bills, nothing larger than a $20
Add the evacuation lines if you live in a flood, wildfire or hurricane evacuation zone
Put it in a locked box, in a freezer bag, with your document copies
Stash $40 to $60 in each car or go bag
Check your home insurance limit for cash
Open or keep a second account at an unrelated bank
Date the envelope and recheck it every six months, when you rotate your stored water

Sources

All checked October 31, 2026.

Quick answers

How much cash should I keep at home for emergencies?

No government agency gives a single number. Ready.gov says to base it on your household's basic needs, and FEMA's guide adds enough for food, fuel and a few nights in a hotel if you need to evacuate. For most households that works out to about 3 days of essentials, plus fuel and lodging money if evacuation is a real risk where you live.

What bills should emergency cash be in?

Small ones. FEMA's Are You Ready? guide says to keep ones, fives and tens, with nothing larger than a twenty, so you are not stuck when a store cannot make change. Canada's Get Prepared guide suggests $10 bills and coins; the UK Be Ready checklist says a mix of coins and notes.

Is cash at home insured?

Only up to a small limit. The standard US HO-3 homeowners form caps money at $200 per loss unless you add an endorsement, and UK policies commonly cap cash at a few hundred pounds. Cash at home is also outside FDIC, FSCS, CDIC and Australian Financial Claims Scheme protection, which only covers bank deposits.

Should I take my money out of the bank in case of a crisis?

For most people, no. Insured bank deposits are protected up to $250,000 per depositor per bank per ownership category in the US (FDIC), GBP 120,000 per person per banking licence in the UK (FSCS), CAD 100,000 per category in Canada (CDIC) and AUD 250,000 per account holder per bank in Australia (FCS). Cash at home is for days when card networks are down, not a replacement for a bank.

Owen Hartley is the pen name of The Steady Prepper's editorial team. Guidance comes from the official and manufacturer sources linked above, checked on the date shown. Follow instructions from your local authorities in a real emergency. Example scenarios are illustrations with stated assumptions, not real households. Some links may be affiliate links that pay us a commission at no extra cost to you.