The RBA’s 2025 Consumer Payments Survey found that around 15% of payments were made in cash in 2025, up from about 13% in 2022, while around half of Australians used cash in a typical week.
That does not mean cash has overtaken cards or digital wallets.
It still makes up a much smaller share of total spending by value, at about 8%.
But the survey shows cash remains especially important for everyday in-person purchases, where 19% of payments by number and 16% by value were made in cash.
The RBA says cash use has “stabilised” in recent years after a long decline.
One reason cash has proved stubbornly durable is simple usefulness.
The RBA says many people still carry cash for unexpected transactions or as a fallback when electronic payments are unavailable.
It also notes that cash plays a role as a store of value, particularly during periods of economic uncertainty. In that sense, cash is not just a way to pay; it is a backup plan.
Cash is also behaving like a practical tool for smaller purchases.
The survey found that around one in four payments under $10 were made with cash.
That helps explain why the “comeback” is strongest in face-to-face, low-value transactions rather than big-ticket spending.
The RBA says cash was used at least as often in 2025 as in 2022 across in-person payments of all sizes.
The rebound is also tied to who uses cash most.
Older Australians and lower-income households tend to use it more frequently than others, according to the RBA.
About one-third of Australians said they would face hardship or major inconvenience if cash became difficult to access or if shops stopped accepting it, and about 1.5 million adults rely mainly on cash to make payments.
Access is part of the story too.
The RBA has warned that the number of cash access points has fallen over time, especially bank branches and bank-owned ATMs, even though cash still matters to many consumers.
In its January 2025 bulletin, the RBA said ADI branches had fallen by nearly 50% between 2011 and 2024, with closures affecting regional and remote areas as well as cities.
It also said some communities remain vulnerable if further access points disappear.
The policy response has been moving in the same direction.
The Australian Government announced plans to require businesses supplying essential goods and services to accept cash, with exemptions for small business.
The RBA says maintaining cash acceptance is part of the wider effort needed to keep cash viable for people who want or need to use it.
So the surprise comeback is not really a return to the old cash economy.
It is more of a reset. Cash is no longer the dominant way Australians pay, but it remains resilient because it serves a different purpose from digital payments:
it is immediate, familiar, private, and dependable when technology, budgets, or connectivity become a problem.
The latest RBA data suggests that for many Australians, cash is not dead at all — it is the plan B they still trust.