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.

Latest Stories (524)

Can an Airbnb crackdown really make New York more affordable?

Aug 24, 2023
The explosion of short-term rentals has exacerbated the city's housing crisis.
A New York City study found that the larger the number of Airbnbs, the higher the rents in a neighborhood. Above, a view of the Manhattan skyline.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Homes destroyed by the wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii. Despite multiple severe weather events this summer, only a small minority of CEOs say climate change poses a "serious" risk to their business.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

401(k) balances are rising, but most savers still won't have enough for retirement

Aug 18, 2023
The average 401(k) balance is a tenth of what a middle-class person would need to maintain their lifestyle, one expert says.
Marketplace's senior economics contributor details findings from a new report that ranks global retirement systems.
CatLane/Getty Images

Child care is about to get even more expensive as pandemic funds end

Aug 17, 2023
Already, child care inflation is running nearly double the rate of overall inflation.
When pandemic funding runs out in September, experts expect even higher costs for child care.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Why have car repairs gotten so expensive?

Aug 7, 2023
The cost of car maintenance and repair is rising much faster than inflation.
Aside from the rising price of spare parts, repair costs have gotten more expensive because newer cars are more complicated to fix. 
Jon Cherry/Getty Images

U.S. asking rents decline (slightly), but continue to rise in some regions

Jul 28, 2023
Asking rents are down 1% nationally, though they're still rising in some regions.
A man watches apartment construction in Austin, Texas. The increase in apartment supply is one reason for cooling rents.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Artificial intelligence will impact workplaces and cost some workers their jobs

Jul 27, 2023
A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute says some will lose their jobs and low-wage workers are the most likely to be hit.
Lower-paid jobs, like those in food service, are more likely to disappear because of AI and automation. Some already have.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Cambridge expands guaranteed income program to all eligible families

Jul 24, 2023
Cities around the country have been using some of their COVID relief funding to pilot guaranteed income programs. Cambridge is the first to expand it to all eligible families.
Starting in late June, about 2,000 families in Cambridge, Massachusetts will receive $500-a-month cash payments, no strings attached, for the next year and a half.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Are Americans ready to start paying student loans again?

Jul 24, 2023
Student loan payments will resume this fall, but a new study from TransUnion shows that many people have taken on new debt in the meantime.
More than 40 million people have federal student loans, and payments will resume this fall after a multiyear hiatus.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

FedNow payment system launches

Jul 21, 2023
The Federal Reserve's payment system will allow participating banks to transfer money within seconds.
FedNow will allow banks that participate to transfer money within seconds, something other countries have been able to do for years.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images