What Americans Are Most Worried About

Statista’s Consumer Insights survey has been tracking which issues adults in the United States consider to be the most important in the country right now, and how they have shifted over time.

The following chart, via Statista's Anna Fleck, provides just a snapshot of these, listing the eight most cited concerns out of a possible 20 options, in the most recent survey wave as well as in the survey wave at the start of the pandemic.

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Where health and social security came first in the earlier iteration, likely in reference to Covid, it had dropped by 6 percentage points by 2023/24. In the meantime, inflation and the cost of living has risen from third position to first position (+13 p.p).

Other notable changes include a drop in the share of people citing immigration in the latest wave and an increase in the share of people picking crime. Six of the eight most recent most pressing issues are social, with the sole environmental topic of climate change having narrowly dropped off the list, coming in 10th position with 30 percent of respondents picking it, following unemployment with 31 percent.

As this chart shows, poverty and housing are now on the minds of more U.S. adults, at least more imminently, than before. Where poverty had previously tied in 9th position with education in 2019/20 with a 32 percent share of respondents picking it as one the most important issues facing the country right now, the share rose to 37 percent in the latest survey wave. Similarly, where housing had been in rank 11 with 22 percent, it has now risen to position 6, with 36 percent of respondents selecting the option.