A record 55% of adults say their finances are “getting worse” in Gallup’s latest poll.
The polling company reported Tuesday that the mark is up from 53% last year — the previous high in surveys conducted since 2001. It marks the fifth consecutive year in which the “getting worse” percentage outpaced the share who reported improving finances.
Another 34% of respondents described their current finances as “getting better,” while 9% said they were “staying the same.”
“Affordability continues to be the main financial challenge for U.S. households, with concerns about various costs far outpacing all other financial worries,” Lydia Saad, Gallup’s U.S. social research director, wrote in a summary of the findings.
The company noted that 31% of surveyed adults identified inflation and rising prices — especially for gasoline and housing — as their top money concerns.
More than 6 in 10 respondents worried about not having enough money for retirement and medical costs “in the event of a serious accident or illness.”
Gallup attributed the continuing trend to pandemic-era price increases. The company noted that annual inflation rose steadily from 1.4% in January 2021 to a peak of 9.1% in June 2022.
“The recent dip in people’s confidence about their finances contrasts with 2016 through 2021, when half or more typically rated their finances positively,” Ms. Saad added. “Today’s readings are more in line with 2008-2015, although not quite as negative as the ones during and immediately after the Great Recession from 2009 to 2011, when about four in 10 were positive.”
Ms. Saad noted that inflation has fallen below 3% for most months since early 2025. But she said that it “has not consistently returned to the sub-3% range typical of the decade before 2021,” as many survey respondents likely expected.
Gallup conducted a randomized national telephone survey of 1,001 adults from April 1-15. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
