Hard-up Americans are selling their blood to cope with the cost of living crisis

Americans struggling in the cost of living crisis are selling their blood in order to cover their bills, according to new research.

Middle-class Americans struggling to make ends meet are turning to plasma centres where they receive $65 in pre-paid debit in exchange for their blood, NBC News reports.

Such centers are hosting an estimated 200,000 people a day across the country willing to exchange blood for cash, and the amount of plasma being collected has risen by 30 percent since 2022, researcher Peter Jaworski says.

Ian Pleasant, who was giving his plasma at B Positive plasma centre in Holmes, Pennsylvania, told NBC he needs the cash to cover necessities such as toilet paper and pet food.

“I’m making enough money now doing DoorDash to keep up with the bills, but for anything else in the house, this is going to help out,” said the 43-year old.

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Other plasma givers told the outlet that they needed the cash to make ends meet, citing multiple economic strains including rising rents and medical bills.

Research conducted by Jaworski for Blood Plasma Quarterly found that plasma was given over 75 million times in the U.S. in 2025. Jaworski predicts a further 11 percent rise in contributions in 2026.

Despite a significant fall in inflation since 2022 and a $2.00 fall in the price of unleaded gas in the same time period, the cost of food in the U.S. rose by 18.6 percent between 2022 and late 2025, per the CBS News price tracker.

And while embattled attorney general Pam Bondi attempted to deflect from her hearing on the Epstein files this week by citing how the Dow is “over 50,000 right now” and the Nasdaq is “smashing records,” her optimism on the economy is not being felt by people like Pleasant.

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In fact, while the stock market appears to be trending positively, an October jobs report from Goldman Sachs warned that tools such as AI could create "jobless growth,” meaning that while companies report profits, individuals go without work.

This impact is being felt particularly hard by middle class Americans with traditionally employable jobs, now finding themselves selling their blood to make ends meet.

One of these people is Jill Chamberlain, who lost her $87,000 a year financial oversight job in 2024 and now works for $16.11 per hour, subsidising that income with money earned from plasma sales.

“I’m angry that I’m working this much, that I’m educated, that I’m articulate, that I have marketable skills, and that I’m reduced to selling my plasma,” Chamberlain, told NBC.

January 2026 saw the highest number of January lay-offs since 2009, per NBC, despite the U.S. economy surpassing employment expectations by creating 130,000 new jobs in January. This job surge is still 13,000 jobs less than were added to the economy in January 2025.