Americans are struggling to afford essentials like food, child care, and housing. And most don’t expect their situation to get better: Nearly 4 in 5 Americans believe the economy will not improve in the year ahead.
To solve this affordability crisis, policymakers need clear, actionable data and policy solutions. They need to know how people in their communities are actually faring when it comes to resources, everyday costs, and financial distress.
This tracker monitors the most recent available data on earnings, housing, health care, child care, gas, groceries, and various types of loan delinquency. Additionally, our companion brief offers dozens of policy solutions for local, state, and federal policymakers to relieve the burden of high costs in their communities.
Key Takeaways
Urban research finds 52 percent of people in American families don't have the resources to cover what it really costs to live securely in their community.
This affordability crisis arises from household prices like child care, health care, rent, and home sales increasing faster than earnings. While average earnings have grown 38 percent nationwide since 2017, annual child care prices for two young children have risen by 40 percent, rents by 50 percent, and home sale prices by 80 percent, and the lowest-priced "Silver" health care plan on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace has risen 41 percent.
Grocery prices have also become more of a cost burden for American households. Since 2019, the average monthly cost of groceries has risen by 32 percent, while earnings growth trailed slightly at 29 percent.
Now, previously low-cost areas across the country have become substantially more expensive. Parts of Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Nashville, and Central Florida have all seen costs for groceries, health care, and housing rise faster than other relatively low-cost areas.
In the charts below, explore these trends and more using data over time at the national, state, and congressional district levels.
ABOUT THE DATA
This data tool was first published in October 2025 and will be updated as new data are available. The tool contains information derived from multiple data sources. For more information, please see our technical appendix.
By default, all dollar amounts shown are nominal; toggling to real dollars shows amounts converted using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. Frequency varies by data source: Some data sources are updated quarterly or monthly whereas others are only available annually. Where available, we display data by congressional district using the boundaries as of the start of 119th Congress for all years. For example, we report the 2020 credit card delinquency rate for Maryland’s Third District based on the 119th Congress boundaries—even if some residents were in different districts at that time. Data for some congressional districts may not be available.
Please contact [email protected] for more information about this tool.
PROJECT CREDITS
This data tool was funded by the Urban Institute. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Funders do not determine research findings or the insights and recommendations of our experts. Further information on the Urban Institute’s funding principles is available at urban.org/fundingprinciples.
We are grateful for the data contributions from Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap study (supported by the Conagra Brands Foundation), which uses food price data contributed by NielsenIQ to estimate county-level meal costs. We also thank Poonam Gupta, J. P. Walsh, Michael Karpman, Lisa Dubay, Jessica Banthin, and Noah Anderson for their input on data variables, and we thank Mary Cunningham and Thea Garon for their helpful counsel.
Project Conceptualization and Leadership Signe-Mary McKernan, Catherine Harvey, and Gregory Acs
Research Nikhita Airi, Breno Braga, and William J. Congdon
Data Visualization and Development Mitchell Thorson
Editing Alexandra Tammaro
Writing Wesley Jenkins
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