American consumers are pulling back on their economic optimism just as the summer travel season kicks off, driven largely by a sharp drop in confidence among high-earning households.
The Morning Consult Index of Consumer Sentiment for U.S. adults slipped 1.0 point this week to 86.9. The decline was most pronounced at the top of the income scale, where sentiment among households earning over $100,000 fell 3.2 points to 103.9. Middle-income Americans making between $50,000 and $100,000 also pulled back, with their sentiment dropping 2.0 points to 87.4. Meanwhile, lower-income households earning under $50,000 remained virtually unchanged, ticking up just 0.1 point to 81.1.
This drop in confidence matches a broader downward trend in Morning Consult’s Consumer Health Index (CHI) for wealthy households, which tracks both consumer sentiment and real-time labor market conditions to gauge future spending. For families making more than $100,000, the index sank to 6.09 this week, marking a steep decline from a reading of roughly 9.0 in early April and a major drop from its peak of 12.9 back in December.
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Because this high-income segment typically drives the bulk of discretionary spending, the eroding index suggests that the spending cushion that supported the economy during the first quarter of the year is starting to fade. At the same time, the middle-income index has slipped back to its November 2025 baseline.
Labor market changes and high fuel prices are adding pressure. The pay loss rate for middle-income adults rose 1.9 percentage points this week to 10.8%, while the overall pay loss rate for all U.S. adults ticked up 0.6 points to 12.1%. Retail gas prices also remain near their highest levels since 2022 due to ongoing tensions in Iran and the broader Middle East, directly hitting household budgets across all income levels.
These financial pressures are showing up clearly in summer travel plans. According to Morning Consult data for May, 29.9% of people who considered a vacation or travel purchase decided against it because prices were too high, making travel the highest-rejected spending category tracked. Specifically, 27.9% of consumers walked away from buying airline tickets, and 26.7% abandoned hotel and vacation rental bookings due to the cost.
While travel demand remained resilient through the spring break season, families planning for summer are now facing elevated costs across flights, lodging, and fuel. These shifts come at a critical time for the economy, arriving just before the Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its second GDP estimate and the April Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data on Thursday.
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