Most Americans are worrying “a great deal” about the economy and inflation

With “Liberation Day” only just behind us — an occasion that you may have marked with new traditions like selling loads of Apple stock (or buying loads of Apple stock), and guessing which island territories were slapped with tariffs — it’s fair to say that the economy is top of mind for many right now.

But a recent Gallup poll, published Thursday, found that most Americans (60%) were already highly concerned about the general “economy” when the survey was conducted a month ago, topping the list of worries ahead of other key issues like healthcare costs, inflation, and federal spending.

Fret your bottom dollar

Still, Americans were only slightly less worried about the country’s healthcare than its economy, with 59% reporting worrying “a great deal” about the availability and affordability of healthcare, up from 51% in the 2024 version of the poll.

Interestingly, while financial stresses are currently a central concern for much of the nation, it appears that social issues have fallen by the wayside in the typical American’s anxiety rotation compared to last year. The proportion of respondents who were very worried about crime was down 6 percentage points from 2024, with homelessness and immigration also seeing relative decreases.

And though the quality of the environment is more worrisome for Americans in 2025, the share of those who were very worried about availability of energy was 35%, down from almost half of those surveyed the year before — perhaps a case of when one major societal concern opens, another (temporarily) closes.