By Mari Hansen 
Money can’t completely alleviate a certain type of anxiety. The data shows it, but you can also sense it in the way discussions about investments and vacations have recently taken on a slightly different tone, a hesitancy that wasn’t present eighteen months ago. The wealthiest households in America have unprecedented wealth. However, something has changed.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell 6% from the previous month alone to 53.3 this month, its lowest level since December.
| Topic | U.S. Consumer Sentiment & Wealth Inequality |
|---|---|
| Key Survey | University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index |
| Latest Reading | 53.3 (March 2026) — lowest since December |
| Survey Director | Joanne Hsu |
| Key Economic Indicator | Gini Coefficient at 60-year highs (U.S. Bank Report) |
| Top 1% Net Worth Share | ~32% of total U.S. wealth (Q3 2025, Federal Reserve) |
| Bottom 50% Net Worth Share | 2.5% of total U.S. wealth |
| Inflation Expectations (1-Year) | 3.8% (up from 3.4% in February) |
| PCE Inflation (Current) | 2.8% (January 2026) |
| Consumer Spending Share of GDP | ~Two-thirds |
| Reference | University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers |
It’s not just the magnitude of the decline that makes this figure truly intriguing, but also the person driving it. The director of the survey, Joanne Hsu, observed that consumers with substantial stock wealth and middle-class and upper-class incomes displayed “particularly large drops in sentiment.”
Rent is not a concern for these individuals. These are people who feel uneasy beneath the surface of their relative comfort as they watch their gas receipts rise and their portfolios whipsaw.
Naturally, the backdrop is the ongoing conflict with Iran, which has caused major U.S. stock indexes to lurch in both directions as investors search for any indication that the situation might stabilize and has driven up global energy prices for the better part of a month. According to President Trump, talks are in progress. The markets are not totally persuaded. It’s difficult to hold them accountable.
Expectations for one-year inflation increased to 3.8% from 3.4% in February, marking the largest monthly increase in roughly a year. Since the start of the conflict, gas prices have already skyrocketed nationwide, and wealthier households that have been ignoring inflation in recent years are beginning to take notice. There’s a feeling that the protection they experienced during previous economic downturns might not last forever.
However, the tension is worth considering: according to Federal Reserve data, the net worth of the top 1% of Americans reached a record share of almost 32% of the country’s total wealth in the third quarter of 2025. In contrast, the bottom 50% held 2.5% of the total.
According to a U.S. Bank report published earlier this month, the Gini coefficient, a common indicator of wealth concentration, is at 60-year highs. That is a reversal of the short-lived, cautiously optimistic narrowing that occurred during the pandemic. It is structural, and the widening has returned.
“This is not a cyclical or temporary phenomenon,” stated Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. This is a basic, structural problem. This framing is important because it defies the tendency to view the current unease as something that will be easily resolved by the next Fed decision or earnings report. The K-shaped economy, in which families with higher incomes enjoy asset wealth while those with lower incomes struggle to pay for housing, groceries, and gas, has solidified into a situation that seems to last forever.
It manifests itself in peculiar, revealing ways. While fast-food chains aggressively promote value meals, airlines are racing to build out luxury lounges and premium cabins. These are two aspects of the same economic reality, not unrelated trends.
According to data from Bank of America, households making less than $75,000 are spending less on travel and experiences than they did in 2019, while households making more than $150,000 are spending more. According to Moody’s, the top 20% of consumers’ total spending reached multidecade highs last year. The bottom 80% fell to all-time lows.
It’s important to note that declining sentiment has not historically resulted in declining spending. Americans continued to purchase during the 2022 spike in inflation and the 2023 debt ceiling impasse. Approximately two-thirds of the U.S.
economy is made up of consumer spending, which historically tracks the labor market more closely than mood surveys. The number of new unemployment claims is still historically low. Since the middle of 2023, wage growth has exceeded inflation. The equipment is still in operation.
However, fissures are starting to appear. In January, retail sales decreased by 0.2%, and in December, they remained unchanged. Quietly, spending has been on the softer side in recent months. It’s possible that the typical resilience is being put to the test in ways that won’t be evident in the data until something breaks, like a prolonged conflict, a sharp increase in layoffs, or oil prices that don’t decline.
As all of this is happening, it seems that those who were already struggling are not the ones who are truly vulnerable. For years, they have been overcoming adversity. Perhaps the wealthy’s consumer confidence is more brittle because when it breaks, the consequences spread quickly. As Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long noted: “In a K-shaped economy, what impacts the top can quickly spread.”
On paper, the wealthiest households in America have never been wealthier. However, felt security and paper wealth are not the same thing, and at the moment, the gap is growing to the point where record net worth is unable to close it.