The American affordability crisis just got quantified, and the numbers are ugly.
A major ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll surveying 2,589 adults reveals what consumer-facing businesses already suspected: majorities now consider basic goods and services financially out of reach.
The damage report: • 74% say new cars are unaffordable • 60% find weeklong vacations unaffordable • 56% consider healthcare unaffordable • 49% view dining out as unaffordable • 45% say groceries are unaffordable
These aren't luxury items we're talking about. These are fundamental categories that drive massive sectors of the U.S. economy. When three-quarters of Americans say they can't afford a new car, that's not a consumer problem—that's an automotive industry problem.
The implications ripple across every major business sector. Auto manufacturers face shrinking addressable markets. Travel and hospitality companies are chasing fewer potential customers. Healthcare providers are dealing with patients who delay treatment because they can't afford care. Restaurants see traffic decline as dining out becomes a luxury.
Housing tells an even bleaker story. Roughly two-thirds of non-homeowners believe they cannot afford homeownership in the foreseeable future. Only 35% of those under 50 express any optimism about future home purchases. For those over 50, it drops to 26%.
Let that sink in. If you're not already a homeowner, you probably never will be. That's not the American Dream—that's the American reality, according to the people living it.
The demographic breakdowns matter for business strategy. Lower-income households consistently report higher unaffordability rates across all measured items. Women, younger Americans, and Democrats report greater affordability challenges than their counterparts.
For companies trying to forecast demand, this is your wake-up call. You're not competing for wallet share anymore—you're competing for access to shrinking discretionary budgets among consumers who increasingly feel economically squeezed.
Some businesses will respond by trading down their offerings, chasing volume with cheaper products. Others will chase the affluent minority that still has pricing power. Very few will figure out how to serve the mass market at price points that actually work.
The poll was conducted February 12-17 with a margin of error of ±2 percentage points. The methodology—probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel—is solid. These aren't outlier results you can dismiss as statistical noise.
Interestingly, majorities still find gasoline (71%) and rent/mortgage (60%) affordable. That might seem contradictory until you realize people adjust to fixed costs. You need gas to get to work. You need housing. Those become baseline expenses people absorb by cutting everything else.
Which brings us back to the sectors getting crushed: automotive, travel, healthcare, restaurants, and durable goods. These are the categories consumers cut first when budgets tighten.
For executives still banking on a robust consumer recovery, this poll is your reality check. The consumer isn't coming back stronger. The consumer is tapped out, stressed out, and priced out of categories that used to define middle-class American life.
Companies that acknowledge this shift and rebuild their business models accordingly might survive. Those waiting for a return to "normal" demand patterns are in for a brutal earnings season.
