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Samantha Fields

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Samantha Fields is a senior reporter at Marketplace.

She’s particularly interested in how the economy affects people’s everyday lives, and a lot of her coverage focuses on economic inequality, housing and climate change.

She’s also reported and produced for WCAI and The GroundTruth Project, the “NPR Politics Podcast,” NPR’s midday show, “Here & Now,” Vermont Public Radio and Maine Public Radio. She got her start in journalism as a reporter for a community paper, The Wellesley Townsman, and her start in radio as an intern and freelance producer at “The Takeaway” at WNYC. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Episodes by Samantha (22)

Make Me Smart | Episode 1120

Gaza's food crisis

Mar 18, 2024
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Marketplace Minute

Wholesale prices rose in January

Feb 16, 2024
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Marketplace Minute

Household debt rose in the third quarter

Nov 7, 2023
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Marketplace Minute

Stocks close higher

Oct 30, 2023
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1029

AI robocalls and ethical concerns for New Yorkers

Oct 19, 2023
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Marketplace Minute

Goldman sees less risk of a U.S. recession

Sep 5, 2023
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Make Me Smart | Episode 992

The rise of homeownership sans insurance

Aug 28, 2023
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Make Me Smart | Episode 896

Who's paying Trump's legal bills?

Apr 5, 2023
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Make Me Smart | Episode 895

The recent phenomenon of the AR-15's popularity

Apr 4, 2023
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Make Me Smart | Episode 863

What's age got to do with it?

Feb 16, 2023
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Latest Stories (523)

Remittances grew again in 2023

by Samantha Fields
Dec 19, 2023
Migrants around the world sent nearly $670 billion back to family members in their home countries. For some countries, remittances make up a quarter to a half of GDP.
A major reason remittances have grown in the past few years is that the U.S. economy has fared better since the onset of the pandemic compared to other countries.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images
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Buying a house? Want to know if it floods? It might be hard to find out.

by Samantha Fields
Dec 14, 2023
A growing number of states, including New York and New Jersey, are passing flood disclosure laws. But many still don’t have them.
Damaged and destroyed items in Flushing, Queens from Hurricane Ida-related flooding in 2021. Sellers in New York state are not required to disclose flood history, but that will change in March when a new law goes into effect.
Scott Heins/Getty Images
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Is cost of housing the culprit for pessimism about economy?

by Samantha Fields
Dec 12, 2023
Inflation dipped slightly, but housing remains the biggest driver of rising prices.
Rents have gone up almost 30% just in the last couple of years. And high mortgage rates mean buying is out of reach for many current renters.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Gender gap in STEM persists among Gen Z

by Samantha Fields
Dec 6, 2023
Gallup's new poll of Gen Z found that 85% of boys and men say they’re interested in a career in STEM, compared to 63% of girls and women. And lack of representation is part of the problem.
Girls who have gone through a program with Girls Who Code are seven times more likely to major in STEM, says CEO Tarika Barrett.
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Spotify CEO cites "expensive" capital as factor in layoffs. What does that mean?

by Samantha Fields
Dec 4, 2023
The music streaming service just announced its third round of layoffs this year after previous years of intensive borrowing.
For most of Spotify's existence, interest rates barely got above 2%. But once borrowing and debt got expensive, investors became interested in profitability over expansion at any cost.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
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More older people are still paying off mortgages

by Samantha Fields
Nov 30, 2023
New data from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies shows that a growing number of people in their 60s, 70s and 80s still have mortgage debt, and they’re carrying more of it than than previous generations did.
In 1989, just 3% of homeowners over 80 still had a mortgage. Now, nearly a third do.
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EVs and hybrids drive 18% of car sales, doubling market share since 2021

by Samantha Fields
Nov 29, 2023
Price dips and and an expansion of models to choose from contributed to the boost in third-quarter purchases.
Some car companies, like Honda, are making more hybrid models available, says Stephanie Brinley at S&P Global Mobility.
Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
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Food banks are filling gaps in the safety net this holiday season

by Samantha Fields
Nov 28, 2023
Holiday expenses add to the pressure on household budgets caused by inflation and the sunsetting of federal benefits.
Food banks around the country have seen higher-than-usual demand all year, driven partly by the end of pandemic-related SNAP benefits.
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First-time homebuyers are older these days

by Samantha Fields
Nov 21, 2023
The median age of first-time homebuyers is now 35 — up from 29 in 1981. And the median age of all homebuyers is now 49 — up from 31 in 1981.
The longer people have to wait to become homeowners, the more pressure there is on the rental market, says Daniel McCue with Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Need SNAP benefits? You may have to wait.

by Samantha Fields
Nov 20, 2023
In more than a dozen states, less than 80% of SNAP applications are being processed on time. Before the pandemic, the numbers were much better.
The most recent data show that applications for SNAP benefits are being processed late in a dozen states, including New York and Georgia.
Scott Heins/Getty Images
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