State of the US consumer: December 2025
Consumers continue to budget more for essentials and less for discretionary categories
Interactive
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2-min read
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07 January 2026
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Deloitte Consumer Industry Center
Key insights about US consumers from Deloitte’s ConsumerSignals
- Deloitte’s financial well-being index slipped 4 points to 99.8 in November—and is also down 4 points year over year (figure 1).
- The percentage of respondents expecting higher prices in major categories like gas and groceries continues to ease, but remains elevated compared with 2024 lows (figure 2).
- Nondiscretionary spending intentions continue to climb while discretionary spending intentions remain well below 2021 levels (figure 3).
- Spending intentions for housing, health care, transportation, and groceries are all on the rise, suggesting increased cost pressures on US households (figure 4).
BY
Stephen Rogers
Deloitte United States
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