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Finder Consumer Confidence Index

Insights on the wealth, financial habits and economic outlook of everyday Americans. [Updated quarterly]

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Richard Laycock

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Finder’s Consumer Confidence Index is a quarterly survey of US consumer attitudes and trends on the topics of wealth, debt, savings, work satisfaction and overall confidence in the economy. The index is a nationally representative study of the American public designed by Finder and conducted by Qualtrics.

Our index has so far collected responses from 10,000+ American adults, and is growing by roughly 2,000 respondents each quarter. On this page is a small selection of the insights we’re compiling from our sample.

If you’re a journalist or researcher who’d like to discuss these findings with an expert, please get in touch with Richard Laycock, senior content manager & insights editor at uspr@finder.com.

Key findings 🔑

Key results are from Finder’s latest Consumer Confidence Index, conducted between October 11 and 30, 2023. Our previous surveys ran between July 6 and 18, 2023, April 11-20, 2023, January 9 and February 17, 2023, and October 4 to October 19, 2022.

  • 79% of respondents say they’re stressed about their current financial situation, up 4 percentage points from the 75% who said the same in July, 2023.
  • 31% say their household finances are worse off than a year ago, up 6 percentage points from 25% in July, 2023.
  • 67% of respondents say it’s likely the US will enter a recession in the next 12 months, down 5 percentage points from 72% in April, 2023.
  • 62% say inflation has affected their approach to spending or saving, up 4 percentage point from 58% in July, 2023.
  • 34% are investing more conservatively than six months ago, up 1 percentage points from 33% in July, 2023.
  • 23% say they couldn’t manage their budget or finances without a credit card, up 1 percentage points from 22% in April, 2023.
  • 85% are concerned about the rising costs of household bills, down 1 percentage point from 86% in July, 2023.
  • 46% are worried about being laid off in the next 12 months.
  • 25% say they would be able to live off their savings for a week or less if they lost their job tomorrow.

Wealth and debt 💰 💸

Our survey asks about personal and household income, savings and debt.

Quick stats on income:

  • The median personal income of survey respondents is $50,000.
  • The median household income of survey respondents is $67,000.

The majority of Americans (63%) are saving less than $300 a month and have roughly $31,152 in a savings account.

Over a quarter (27%) of men are saving $500 or more a month compared to 23% of women.

Gen Y drops the most at the supermarket, spending an average of $263 a week on groceries.

62% say that inflation is affecting their saving or spending habits.

Of our respondents who are parents, 68% say they give their child an allowance, paying an average of $35 per child.

It’s been more than six months since 20% of adults checked their credit score.

American credit card holders owe an average of $3,929 in credit card debt, with women ($4,328) carrying substantially more debt than men ($3,527).

Fear over gas prices is down a little, going from a combined concern of 88% in July, 2023 to 86% in October, 2023.

Of our respondents, 38% say they’ve made at least one purchase in the last six months using a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service.

Work–life 🛠️ 🧘‍♀️

We look at salary satisfaction, increases and expectations — and who’s on the move.

Roughly a quarter (29%) of those surveyed left a job in the last 12 months, with the two main reasons being finding a new job (13%) and taking a career break (8%).

73% of of both gen Z and gen Y think they will get a pay rise in the next 12 months.

Salary satisfaction is higher with men than it is with women, with 67% of men saying they are happy with their pay, compared to 50% of women.

A combined 25% say they would be able to live off their savings for a week or less if they lost their job tomorrow, with 17% saying they’d last under a week.

Over half (61%) of gen Z say that they’re at least slightly concerned that they will be laid off in the next 12 months.

64% of Americans are planning a vacation in the next 12 months is up, with 43% planning a domestic holiday, 10% international and 11% saying both.

Housing and auto 🏡 🚗

We break down where Americans live and who with, how much we’re paying, renting versus owning and the outlook on the future of housing.

Some 60% of respondents say they own their primary residence, with 36% saying they rent and the remainder selecting other. Of our respondents, 63% of men say they own their primary residence, compared to 58% of women.

The difference between month rent and mortgage payments is roughly $82, with the average mortgage payment coming in at $1,824 compared to $1,906 for rent.

Renters are doing it a lot tougher than those who own their home, with 41% of renters saying they struggle to pay the rent, compared to 20% of those who own.

Of those that don’t currently own any property, Gen Z is the most confident they will one day own a place.

Just 21% think now is the right time to buy a home, compared to 52% who said it’s not.

Despite the harsh economic climate, 60% of respondents to the October survey say they expect home prices in their area to increase over the next 12 months, compared to 51% back in January.

Some 54% of Americans live with an adult that is not contributing to the rent.

For those not contributing to the rent or mortgage monetarily, paying for food is the most common way they contribute at 41%.

Roughly 89% of adults say they have reliable access to a vehicle. Of those, the vast majority (89%) say they own their vehicle, with 10% leasing and 4% borrowing the vehicle form a friend or family member.

Boomers are most likely to own their vehicle (97%) with Gen Z the least likely (76%). Gen Z are most likely to either lease (19%) or borrow a friend or family member’s vehicle (12%).

Investing 🐷🏦

We break down what Americans are doing with their money.

Roughly 40% of Americans say they have invested in stocks, outside of contributions to a 401K or similar retirement plan. Those earning over $100,000 (58%) are more likely than those earning less than $100,000 (36%) to have dabbled in investing.

As for where people are investing their money, stocks are the top choice at 51%, followed by high-interest savings accounts (48%) and real estate (35%).

More than half (56%) of those surveyed say that they plan to buy stocks in 2023.

Around a quarter (27%) of those surveyed say they are underprepared for retirement and a further 15% say they’ll never be able to retire.

Roughly a third Americans say they’ll need at least $1 million saved to retire comfortably.

Roughly 27% say crypto is a good investment, down 7 percentage points since the last survey, when 34% said the same.

44% of crypto owners are investing more conservatively than they were six months ago.

Bitcoin is by far the most widely held crypto, with 77% of crypto owners owning BTC.

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For all media inquiries, please contact:

Richard Laycock, Insights editor and senior content marketing manager

E: uspr@finder.com

/in/richardlaycock/ /aleksvee/

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Richard Laycock is Finder’s NYC-based lead editor & insights editor, spending the last decade data diving, writing and editing articles about all things personal finance. His musings can be found across the web including on NASDAQ, MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University, including a semester abroad at The Missouri School of Journalism (MIZZOU). See full bio

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