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Consumer Pulse Study

Consumer behaviors and attitudes about current and future household budgets, spending and debt

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US Q4 2025

  calendar-icon   November 20, 2025

TransUnion’s quarterly survey explores how consumers’ personal finances have changed, and what changes they expect in the future. The study measures changing consumer attitudes and behavior based on the dynamics of income, debt and identity theft. The analyses and insights give consumers a voice and inform businesses’ decision-making as they seek to create economic opportunity for consumers.

Key Takeaways

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Financial and income outlooks weakened, yet majority still optimistic

More than half (55%) of American consumers were optimistic about their household finances in the next 12 months, down three percentage points from Q4 2024. Younger generations and high-income households ($100K annual or higher) were the most optimistic. Overall, consumers reported moderating income growth with 48% expecting income to increase in the next year (down from 53% a year ago) and 43% expecting income to stay the same (up from 40% a year ago).

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Consumer spending grew despite uncertainty; higher incomes leading the way

Inflation, tariffs, jobs… 2025 has been a year of constant economic change and yet, consumers kept spending. US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) rose 0.6% in August 2025, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. High-income households were better positioned to deal with uncertainty to maintain spending. In fact, 45% of them said their incomes kept up with inflation compared to just 26% of low-income (less than $50K annually) and 36% of medium-income ($50K to $99,999) households. In the next three months, high-income households planned to maintain or increase spending the most for medical services (89%), digital services (83%), retail items like clothing, electronics and durable goods (69%), discretionary items like dining out, travel and entertainment (63%), and large purchases (56%) like appliances and cars. 

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Holiday shopping outlook strong; credit card usage accelerates

The majority of consumers planned to spend the same (46%) or more (11%) on holiday shopping this year compared to last year (44% and 13%, respectively), with 58% expecting to spend over $250 (up two percentage points from last year). The highest percentage planned to do their holiday shopping during the traditional start of the holiday shopping season; 41% online on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and 33% in person on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Consumers’ top stated payment type during the holiday shopping season was overwhelmingly credit cards at 42%, up from 38% a year ago.

Financial Health

Household income (HHI), spending and bill payment impacts

Condition of household finances reveals polarization across income levels

In Q4 2025, 64% reported their household finances were better than or as planned at this point in the year. However, high-income households were in a much better position; 79% reported better or as planned finances. On the other hand, just 51% of lower-income households reported this. Inflation was a key factor driving polarization. Of those who said their finances were worse than planned, 77% reported their incomes were not keeping up with inflation compared to just 13% for those who said finances were better than planned. 

Optimism about financial future strong despite warning signs

A majority (55%) reported optimism about their finances in the next 12 months. Yet, this was down from 58% a year ago and pessimism rose three percentage points year over year. Not surprisingly, younger generations were significantly more optimistic about their financial outlook (Gen Z 63% and Millennials 65%) than older generations (Gen X 50% and Baby Boomers 45%). In addition, high-income households (63%) were more optimistic about future finances than middle-income (54%) and lower-income (49%) households. However, high-income households reported the largest decrease in optimism (five percentage points) and increase in pessimism (four percentage points) among all income groups compared to a year ago.

It appears moderating income is driving waning optimism. Fewer (27%) reported their incomes increased in the last three months, down two percentage points from last quarter and a year ago. In addition, more (56%) reported their incomes stayed the same, a four-percentage-point increase over Q3 2025 and Q4 2024. In addition, fewer expected their incomes to rise in the next year (48% compared to 53% in Q4 2024), while 43% expected it to stay the same, up from 40% last year. Despite large corporate layoffs and the US government shutdown (the survey spanned the first two weeks of the shutdown starting Oct. 1, 2025), just 35% had jobs in their top three financial concerns. However, inflation remained an issue across the board (81% reported it a top three financial concern). Groceries (79%) remained the price increase most concerning to consumers — holding steady with 80% a year ago. The most significant concern increases included insurance (43% in Q4 2024 to 47% in Q4 2025) and medical care (41% to 45%).

Another factor that seemed to be weighing on consumers was continued uncertainty around tariffs. Most (86%) said they’re concerned about the impact of international trade tariffs on their household finances, slightly up from 85% last quarter.

Plans for higher spending this holiday season

Nearly half (46%) planned to spend the same as last year during the upcoming holiday season, an increase of two percentage points from Q4 2024. At the same time, 11% said they planned to spend more, down from 13% a year ago. Gen Z (16%) and Millennials (18%) planned to spend more than older generations. Half of consumers said they’d spend between $100 and $500 this holiday season, 18% between $501 and $1000, and 12% planned to spend over $1,000 (a two-percentage-point increase over 2024). Credit cards remained the preferred payment type for holiday shopping. Planned usage of credit cards jumped five percentage points from 2024 to 42%. 

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Financial Inclusion

Attitudes and plans for economic participation

Consumers confident they can get the credit they need

Two-thirds (66%) reported having sufficient access to credit and lending products — and 68% said they’d be approved if they needed one. Plans to seek new or refinance existing credit in the next year fell to 30%, down from 33% in Q3 2025 and 31% a year ago. Demand was particularly strong among Gen Z (44%) and Millennials (46%). Overall, of those who said they planned to apply for credit in the coming year, the fastest growing credit action was applying for a new auto loan or lease; 23% said they’d seek one, up from 19% in Q3 2025.

Credit cards support holiday shopping

Aligned with the 42% who planned to use credit cards for holiday spending (up five percentage points from 2024), the top credit action for those who said they planned to seek credit in the next year was once again new credit cards (55%). Furthermore, the fourth highest was to increase available credit on existing credit cards (20%).

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Consumer Empowerment

Attitudes and behaviors to manage financial choices 

Nearly all Americans think it’s important to monitor their credit 

Most (94%) believed monitoring their credit reports was at least slightly important — though Baby Boomers (93%) felt this the least among all generations.

Despite its reported importance, many check credit reports infrequently

The majority (54%) of consumers reported monitoring their credit at least monthly. Surprisingly, 11% claimed they don’t check their credit at all. Younger generations appeared most active as Gen Z (65%) and Millennials (64%) reported monitoring their credit at least monthly, the highest among generations surveyed. 

Americans consider credit monitoring important to protect financial health and against fraud

In addition to helping improve their credit health, Americans also use credit monitoring to protect themselves. Among Americans who reported monitoring their credit reports, the top reasons they said they did so was to: protect against fraud (46%), monitor for accuracy (44%) and try to improve their credit scores (32%).

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Identity Protection

Identity risks and usage

Nearly half of Americans said they were recently fraud targets

In Q4 2025, 42% reported they were targeted with an email, online, phone call or text messaging fraud scheme but didn’t fall victim (a three-percentage-point increase from Q4 2024), while another 7% said they were targeted and fell victim (down from 9% a year ago).

Consumers reported experiencing fraud-enabling scams most frequently

Scams for tricking consumers into sharing sensitive information, unknowingly granting access to online accounts or sending money to criminals were the leading reported fraud schemes in Q4 2025. Phishing (fraudulent emails, websites, social posts, QR codes, etc. meant to steal data) was reported by 46% of those who said they were targeted with fraud and smishing (fraudulent text messages meant to trick someone into revealing data) was reported by 45% followed by vishing (fraudulent phone calls meant to trick someone into revealing data) at 34%. Older generations were more likely to report experiencing these scams than younger ones. Fifty-one percent of Gen X and Baby Boomers said they were targeted with phishing — while just 30% of Gen Z and 43% of Millennials reported the same. 

More than half of consumers left open to fraud following data breach notifications

Almost a third (30%) of Americans said they were notified details about their identities and/or online accounts were stolen in a data breach in the last three months. In response, less than half (46%) said they checked the affected account for unauthorized activity and just 41% changed the password on the affected account. Around one-third took steps to protect themselves by changing passwords on unaffected accounts (34%) and checking their credit reports for unauthorized trades like credit cards, auto loans and personal loans (36%).

A quarter of consumers don’t act on cybersecurity concerns

Just over a quarter (27%) of consumers said they took no action in the last 60 days due to cybersecurity concerns. The top proactive actions consumers reported were changing passwords (47%) and checking credit reports (44%) — both up two percentage points from last year. However, just 22% added more secure login options, 13% said they enrolled in identity monitoring and 12% initiated credit freezes or purchased identity theft/security protection. 

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Research Methodology

This online survey of 3,000 adults was conducted Oct. 1–14, 2025 by TransUnion in partnership with third-party research provider Dynata. Adults 18 years of age and older residing in the United States were surveyed using an online research panel method across a combination of desktop, mobile and tablet devices. Survey questions were administered in English. All states were represented in the survey responses. To ensure general population sample representativeness across United States resident demographics, the survey included quotas to balance responses to the census statistics on the dimensions of age, gender, household income, race and region. Generations were defined in this research as follows: Gen Z, 18–28 years old; Millennials, 29–44; Gen X, 45–60; and Baby Boomers, age 61 and above. These research results are unweighted and statistically significant at a 95% confidence level within ±1.8 percentage points based on calculated error margin. Please note some chart percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding or multiple answers being accepted.

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Disclaimer: The information posted here was accurate at the time it was initially published. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. The information contained here is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. You should consult your own attorney or financial adviser regarding your particular situation. For complete details of any product mentioned, visit transunion.com. This site is governed by the TransUnion privacy policy located here.

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