Nearly 40% of Americans said that they have less than $500 in cash savings. Cost of raising a child in the US to age 18 is now over $303,000, up 28% since 2023.

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Americans have never been this pessimistic about their financial situation:

A record 54% of US consumers no say their financial situation is worse compared to a year ago due to higher prices.

This has risen +900% since 2021.

Currently, more Americans believe higher prices have worsened their financial situation than at the height of the 2008 Financial Crisis.

The percentage is even higher than in the 1970s and the 1980s, when the official CPI inflation rate exceeded 10%.

Furthermore, US consumers are now expecting inflation to rise +4.8% over the next year, the highest reading since June 2025.

Inflation is far from gone.


Consumer sentiment can collapse even while inflation cools because prices stay elevated, and households feel the compounding effect of years of resets in rent, food, and borrowing costs.

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