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US Consumer Health Update
The consumer is still under pressure, but trends vary across income groups.
- Published on June 18, 2026
Business operators and members of the press can access the full US Consumer Health Indexes monthly report and data on our newly-launched US Consumer Health Indexes site.
- The US consumer entered 2026 under strain and remains so, though the picture has grown more uneven across income groups. Lower-income consumers ($0–50K) remain constrained, though labor-market anxiety appears to be easing. Middle-income households ($50K–100K) face continued pressure from a weak housing market. Upper-income consumers ($100K+) remain the strongest support for spending, with early-stage green shoots of a recovery in outlook beginning to emerge.
- June’s data reveals a more complicated set of crosscurrents beneath an improving headline. The Consumer Health Index (CHI) composite outlook measure returned to a statistically neutral range, but signals diverged by income level. Upper-income households appear buoyed by stronger markets, while lower-income households continue to show signs of stabilization. Middle-income households are the clearest area of concern—their housing-based outlook dropped markedly ahead of what looks likely to be a difficult summer sales season.
You can access our full US Consumer Health Indexes monthly reports and data on our newly-launched US Consumer Health Indexes site.
Bain and Dynata created the Consumer Health Indexes in 2017 to support business decision makers in their near- and midterm planning for their businesses. To achieve this, we have been asking questions that are within the expertise of the people taking our surveys. What are their personal spending plans? What are their saving plans? What is their use-of-debt plan? These are direct, easily understandable questions about survey respondents’ near-term expected behaviors. They require little interpretation, macroeconomic expertise, or filtering through the lens of the political or news cycle. Since 2017, our clients have been using our Consumer Health Indexes as a differentiated data point relative to existing confidence indicators.
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