While U.S. companies have managed to keep average invoice delays remarkably steady at around 11 days late for two consecutive years, new analysis from Creditsafe’s Working Capital Dynamics Report uncovers deeper volatility in payment behaviors, pointing to fragile liquidity and sector-level stress. In fact, stability on the surface masks sharp swings in how companies are managing their bills.
“At first glance, corporate America looks steady because average payment delays aren’t getting worse. But when you dig into the details, you see wild swings in payment behavior that reveal a more fragile picture. Companies are operating on tight cash flow, absorbing shocks quickly but leaving themselves exposed to the next disruption. Businesses that focus only on averages risk overlooking critical warning signs, with those signals already flashing in sectors such as mining, transportation, and wholesale,” says Steve Carpenter, COO for North America at Creditsafe.
Key takeaways:
- Across all U.S. industries, average DBT held steady at 10.9–11 days from 2023 through mid-2025, showing companies are not letting invoices slip dramatically past payment terms.
- Invoices 1–30 days late surged to 41.5% in June 2024 before collapsing to 1.9% by May 2025; economists warn that this type of swing signals fragile liquidity and uncertain confidence.
- Bills 91-plus days late jumped to 5.7% in February 2025 before plunging to just 0.3% by May 2025, the lowest in two years. This pattern suggests businesses are absorbing shocks in short bursts rather than achieving true stability.
- The industries showing the strongest payment discipline were agriculture and forestry, with bills paid an average of just 7.3 days late and almost no delinquencies, and financial services, which also maintained resilient payment behaviors.
- In contrast, the most strained sectors included transportation and utilities, averaging 11.6 days late with 0.55% of bills seriously delinquent; and wholesale trade, where invoices were paid an average of 10.3 days late and 0.11% were more than 91 days overdue.
