Most US adults say finances in good shape but job worries tick up, Fed survey shows

By Dan Burns

May 13 (Reuters) - Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults last year continued to rate their personal finances as being in reasonable shape, although they remained concerned about inflation and their worries about job security ticked up, an annual Federal Reserve survey released on Wednesday showed.

The poll of 13,099 respondents was fielded last October and captured economic sentiment as President Donald Trump was finishing his first year back in the White House, with just 26% rating the national economy as "good" or "excellent" versus 29% in 2024, when Trump was campaigning for office, and well down from 50% in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey showed 73% of adults said they were "doing okay financially" or "living comfortably" last year, unchanged from 2024, though it found that certain demographic groups, including low-income households, the young and Black adults, saw meaningful declines in their assessments of their financial well-being.

Inflation remained the top overall concern - expressed by more than nine out of 10 respondents - though the share citing price increases as a "major concern" eased and those reporting they changed behavior in response to higher prices slipped to 77% from 79%.

Views of the job market, meanwhile, soured somewhat, with 42% of respondents saying that finding or holding a job was either a minor or major concern, up from 37% in 2024. That finding dovetails with wider data on the job market that showed the pace of hiring slowed dramatically in 2025 and those who lost work were more likely to remain unemployed for longer.

One question watched closely for changing indications of household stress showed 63% said they had the cash available for an unexpected $400 emergency expense, unchanged from the year before.

The survey asked about generative artificial intelligence usage for the first time. It found that about one in four workers had used AI tools at work in the prior month and that those who used those tools were more likely to expect them to improve their careers than to replace their jobs.

(Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Paul Simao)