Debt, expenses stress lower income households: AP-NORC poll
WJXT
NEW YORK Personal finances are a major source of stress for about half of the lower income households in the U.S., a new poll shows, illustrating the toll of high inflation and economic uncertainty on those who can least afford it.
About half of U.S. adults in households earning less than $60,000 annually and about 4 in 10 of those in households earning $60,000 to $100,000 say they're very stressed by their personal finances, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That compares with only about a quarter of those in higher income households.
Beverly Lucas, 76, of Cary, North Carolina, said she sees how inflation has hemmed in the lives of her fellow seniors on fixed incomes.
Theres no comfort zone in their finances no vacation. Theyre just getting by, she said. Medications are expensive. Groceries. No ones living large or having fun. They should be having fun.
Lucas, a retired Christian education teacher who lives off social security and a pension, said she is moving to downsize and save $500 a month. If she had stayed in the two-bedroom where she had lived, she said, her expenses would have gone up this year.
