4 reasons Americans are feeling bad about the economy

(NewsNation) — Americans aren’t happy with the economy.

About 50% of people say they’re worse off financially today compared to a year ago versus just 20% who feel better off, according to a new Decision Desk HQ/NewsNation poll released Monday.

However, as recent essays have argued, the pessimism seems to be at odds with the economic data over the past several months:

Inflation is easing
Economic growth has outperformed expectations
The unemployment rate is still near historic lows
Consumer spending has remained strong

President Joe Biden has blamed negative media bias for the bleak attitudes. Last month, an article in The Atlantic made the case that Americans are unhappy, in part, because their economic expectations are higher. The New York Times has pointed out that spending behavior doesn’t reflect consumers’ dissatisfaction.

Here are four reasons why people are feeling down about the economy.

1 – Inflation casts a long shadow

In October, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman declared the war on inflation over: “We won, at very little cost.”

Most Americans would beg to differ — more than 90% are still concerned about rising prices and a majority think inflation is a bigger problem than crime, immigration and unemployment.

While it’s true prices are rising at a slower pace than they were, consumers have noticed that what goes up doesn’t always come down. Much of the news reporting has tended to focus on the annual pace of inflation but the average shopper is experiencing a multi-year problem — they remember a time not so long ago when things were less expensive.

Bread costs roughly a third more today than it did two years ago. The same goes for chicken.

A McDonald’s Big Mac will set you back $5.58, up from $4.89 in December 2020. Residents of the Northeast could pay more than $8.

And just getting to the drive-thru will cost you more. The average transaction price of a new vehicle was nearly $48,000 in October. Three years ago, it was less than $40,000.

Gas prices have dropped from all-time highs, but commuters are still paying more than 50% higher prices on average than they were between 2015 and 2020.

The cost of rent has also gone up, particularly in the West and Northeast. Today, the national median rent price is $1,978, up from $1,584 pre-pandemic in January 2020.

2 – Homeownership feels increasingly out of reach

With mortgage rates near their highest levels in two decades and a limited supply of existing homes, housing affordability hit a historic low in August.

The current market conditions have created an interconnected problem: Prices are elevated due to low inventory and inventory remains low, in part, because rates are high. Existing home sales fell in October, slumping nearly 15% compared to the year prior.

Housing has become so unaffordable that a buyer now needs to make roughly $115,000 a year to afford a typical U.S. home, according to Redfin. In 2022, the median U.S. household brought in $74,580 — 2.3% less than the year prior and just 65% of what’s needed to buy a home.

Depending on where you live, the gap is even wider. In San Francisco and San Jose, homebuyers have to earn over $400,000 to afford a home. In Miami, the annual income threshold is more than $140,000 — up 33% from the year before.

3 – Credit card debt is piling up

Americans have racked up $1.08 trillion in credit card debt and more people are falling behind on their payments.

Last quarter, 5.8% of credit card debt became seriously delinquent, meaning 90 days or more past due. That’s up from 3.7% a year ago. Millennials and those with larger credit card balances are driving that increase, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found.

The uptick in delinquency has coincided with surging credit card interest rates, which are at their highest level in decades. In other words, missed payments have become more expensive.

On top of that, nearly half of Americans now depend on credit cards to cover basic living expenses like rent, food and utilities, according to a recent survey by Clever. The average balance is now $6,088 per consumer, which is the highest level in 10 years, per TransUnion.

4 – More Americans tapping into retirement funds

The percentage of Americans who are cracking the nest egg due to an “immediate and heavy financial need” has increased over the past year, according to Fidelity. So-called hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts jumped more than 25% from 2022 to 2023. Those withdrawals are meant to be a last resort and are largely tapped to avoid foreclosure or eviction or to cover medical expenses.

More people are also taking out loans from their retirement savings, Fidelity found.

Both data points suggest more Americans have had to find alternative ways to cover their financial needs.

After rising to 5.3% in May, the personal saving rate in October was 3.8%, another sign people have less money to put toward the future.