What people answered
The share choosing each option. The dot is the estimate; the band is the 95% interval.
How the estimate settled
The share answering “About the same” after every ten profiles; the band narrows as more people are asked.
Who was asked
The make-up of the sample, drawn to match the population asked.
Why they answered this way
The people who feel worse are dealing with rising everyday costs, fixed retirement money, or not having work. The people who feel better point to stronger pay and steady jobs, while those saying the same have not seen much change at home or at work.
My work's been steady, and the bills haven't changed enough to make things feel different.
Still living with my family and doing about the same as last year.
Nothing much changed in our household, so it feels about the same to me.
Groceries and prescriptions take more out of my retirement check than they did last year.
Heating the house and regular store runs are costing more, and we're having to watch what we spend.
No job yet. That's made everything tighter.
A raise at work gave us more breathing room than we had last year.
Work has been good this year, and I've been able to put more aside instead of just covering expenses.
My job has been paying better, and we aren't stretched as thin by the monthly bills.
Who answered what
Share answering “About the same”, by the attributes of the people asked, against everyone (the vertical line). Groups with few profiles have wide intervals.
Biggest gaps
Where the answer differs most between groups of at least ten profiles.
- Employment54 ptsnot in the labor force 54% · unemployed 0%
- Age49 pts70-74 67% · 25-29 18%
- Education13 pts (within intervals)bachelor's degree 47% · high school diploma 34%
- Sex0 pts (within intervals)women 39% · men 38%
Sex
Employment
Education
Age
Every breakdown
full reportThe answer by all ninety attributes, ranked by how much they separate people, with an interval on each.
Ask us to run it →State by state
full reportThe answer in every state, mapped, with the sample behind each.
Ask us to run it →Some of the people asked
Twelve profiles from the sample and what each answered. Every profile is synthetic; none describes a real person.
A 53-year-old man living in Alaska, United States; white; highest education: some college, no degree; employed; personal income about $87,000 a year; divorced
A 80-year-old man living in Alaska, United States; Asian; highest education: a high school diploma; not in the labor force; personal income about $20,000 a year; divorced
A 63-year-old woman living in Alaska, United States; Asian; highest education: a bachelor's degree; employed; personal income about $101,000 a year; married
A 60-year-old man living in Alaska, United States; white; highest education: some college, no degree; not in the labor force; personal income about $4,000 a year; married
A 20-year-old woman living in Alaska, United States; American Indian or Alaska Native; highest education: a high school diploma; not in the labor force; personal income about $1,000 a year; never married
A 62-year-old man living in Alaska, United States; white; highest education: an associate degree; employed; personal income about $162,000 a year; widowed
A 19-year-old man living in Alaska, United States; multiracial; highest education: a high school diploma; unemployed; personal income about $10,000 a year; never married
A 43-year-old man living in Alaska, United States; Asian; highest education: some high school, no diploma; employed; personal income about $12,000 a year; never married
A 43-year-old man living in Alaska, United States; white; highest education: a graduate or professional degree; employed; personal income about $140,000 a year; married
A 56-year-old woman living in Alaska, United States; Hispanic, white; highest education: some high school, no diploma; not in the labor force; no personal income; married
A 46-year-old woman living in Alaska, United States; white; highest education: a graduate or professional degree; employed; personal income about $58,000 a year; married
A 73-year-old woman living in Alaska, United States; American Indian or Alaska Native; highest education: some college, no degree; not in the labor force; personal income about $28,000 a year; widowed
In the full report
This page is the free preview: the answer, why, and four breakdowns. A full run adds the rest. See what the report holds on this sample, or read a finished report.
The kinds of people in this answer
full reportFour or five groups of reasons, each with its share and its number: who anchors on today’s bill, who shares a login, who pays for the kids.
Ask us to run it →Every reason, exportable
full reportAll the people asked, in their own words, with their attributes, as a table to filter and download.
Ask us to run it →The whole population
full reportThousands of profiles instead of a hundred: intervals a fifth as wide, and rare groups large enough to read.
Ask us to run it →The next questions
full reportWould you take ads for five dollars less? Which service would you drop first? Asked of the same people.
Ask us to run it →A one-page summary
full reportThe finding, the chart, the segments and the caveats on one page to forward.
Ask us to run it →Run it on the whole population
A full run asks every relevant profile, breaks the answer down by any attribute, and takes your own segments. Tell us what you want to run; we reply within a day.
Get in touchHow this was computed
Options: Better · About the same · Worse · Not sureSample555 profiles drawn in a fixed representative order from the population; asking more extends the same sample rather than starting overMethodEach profile answers in character from its own attributes. Answers outside the format are discarded before counting.AccuracyThe interval reflects sampling variation in the simulated sample. On 46 multiple-choice questions checked against the 2024 General Social Survey, simulated answers from this population sat a median 21 points from real people's within demographic groups and 14 points nationally. Every check