credit cards
The logos of a visa credit card, a mastercard are seen in front of the logos of online payment systems Paypal, online retailer amazon and multimedia application iTunes in Berlin, Germany, July 3, 2015. Lukas Schulze/picture alliance via Getty Images

A growing number of Americans are ditching cash, according to a Pew Research Center study. The survey found that 29% of U.S. adults no longer used cash for their weekly purchases, marking a 5-percentage-point jump from 2015.

This article originally appeared in the Motley Fool.

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Data source: PEW Research Center. Chart by author. The Motley Fool

The study also found that higher-income Americans were more likely to stop using cash, with 41% of respondents with annual household income of $75,000 or above spending no cash on their weekly purchases, compared to 30% of respondents with income between $30,000 and $74,999, and 18% of respondents with annual income below $30,000.

That's great news for credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard, as well as online payment service providers like PayPal and Square (NYSE:SQ). Therefore, it isn't surprising that all four companies are expected to generate double-digit sales growth next year. Square leads the pack with an average estimate of 43% growth.

These companies should have plenty of room to grow. Total global digital payments transactions could surge from $2.9 trillion in 2017 to $6.5 trillion in 2023, according to Mordor Intelligence. This suggests that cash's popularity will continue to decline.

Leo Sun owns shares of Square. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends MA, PYPL, and Square. The Motley Fool owns shares of V and has the following options: short January 2019 $82 calls on PYPL and short January 2019 $80 calls on Square. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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