AARP Hearing Center
At the start of 2025, adults in the U.S. reported an increased sense of financial security as well as heightened optimism about what their finances would look like in 12 months. Although people were generally feeling better about their finances in January 2025 than in January 2024, debt and limited savings continued to create challenges for some. These were just some of the findings from the January 2025 wave of AARP’s annual Financial Security Trends Survey, which tracks the financial experiences, behaviors, and attitudes of adults age 30-plus. This latest survey was conducted from January 2–22, 2025. Data from January 2022–January 2025 is available via the Financial Security Trends Survey Dashboard.
Sense of financial security was up in January 2025, primarily among men.
At the start of 2025, the share of adults age 30-plus who rated their financial situation as good or excellent was 60 percent, higher than the share who expressed this sentiment in January 2024 (57 percent). This increased sense of financial security may have reflected the stock market’s relatively strong performance in 2024, as well as the fact that 2024 was the second consecutive year in which wage growth outpaced inflation.
Furthermore, when asked how their financial situation had changed over the past 12 months, 26 percent of adults stated that their financial situation in January 2025 was better than 12 months earlier, which represents the largest share expressing this sentiment since the survey began in January 2022. Among those who described their finances as better, the top reasons included receiving a raise or working more (33 percent), better money management practices (32 percent), reduced debt (29 percent), and investment gains (28 percent).
Although overall sense of financial security increased from January 2024 to January 2025, a closer look at the data reveals that this heightened sense of financial security was confined to men. Specifically, 65 percent of men described their financial situation as excellent or good in January 2025, up from 58 percent in January 2024. During this same period, the share of women describing their financial situation in these terms held steady at 56 percent.
Many continued to face challenges in achieving a sense of financial security.
Despite the overall increase in sense of financial security, roughly one in four adults age 30-plus said that their financial situation in January 2025 was worse than in January 2024. Among those who described their situation as worse, the top reasons were increased expenses (64 percent), increased debt (34 percent), health problems (23 percent), and job loss (19 percent).
Large, unexpected expenses and unexpected reductions in income affected a sizable share of adults in 2024, likely contributing to a reduced sense of financial security among many of those who had these experiences. Specifically, one in three (34 percent) adults age 30-plus had a large, unexpected expense and 20 percent had an unexpected reduction in income. Of those who had an unexpected reduction in income, nearly half (46 percent) said that their financial situation in January 2025 was worse than in January 2024. Of those who had a large, unexpected expense, one in three (33 percent) described their finances as worse in January 2025 than in January 2024.
Prices, retirement security, and unexpected expenses continue to be top financial worries while worry about health care costs increased.
The Financial Security Trends Survey consistently finds that “prices rising faster than your income” is the top overarching financial worry for U.S. adults age 30-plus, with roughly three in four adults expressing worry about this in most of our surveys. In keeping with this pattern, 73 percent of adults in January 2025 said that they were worried about rising prices, which was unchanged from the past two years.
Besides the widespread worry about prices, having enough money in retirement is the next most common financial worry (64 percent), down slightly from 66 percent in January 2024. As in prior years, roughly one in five adults age 30-plus report having no retirement savings. Notably, the top barriers to saving more for retirement continue to be everyday expenses, housing costs, and debt payments, although the share of adults citing each of these barriers dropped from January 2024 to January 2025.
Having enough money to pay for a large, unexpected expense is another common worry, expressed by nearly six in ten (59 percent) adults in January 2025, down from 62 percent the prior year. Women are especially likely to be worried about this (63 percent of women vs 54 percent of men).
While several measures of financial worry declined from January 2024 to January 2025, worry about health care costs rose, with 49 percent of adults worried about this in January 2025, up from 46 percent in January 2024. This increase in worry about health care costs was confined to women, 52 percent of whom were worried about this in January 2025, up from 47 percent in January 2024.
On each of these key financial issues, women are more likely than men to be worried, which may be related to the fact that women have lower household incomes than men (33 percent of women in our survey have household incomes under $40,000, compared to 25 percent of men). For example, 77 percent of women are worried about prices rising faster than their income, compared to 68 percent of men; and 68 percent of women are worried about having enough money in retirement, compared to 60 percent of men.
Optimism about the coming year reached a new high.
When asked to predict what they expect their finances to look like in 12 months, 46 percent of adults 30-plus said in January 2025 that they expected their finances to improve over the year, which was not only higher than the 41 percent who said this in January 2024 but also represents the highest level of optimism recorded by our survey since it began in January 2022. This increase in optimism from January 2024 to January 2025 was primarily among men; adults age 65-plus; Hispanic adults; White, non-Hispanic adults; and adults with household incomes above $40,000.
Methodology
Findings are based on AARP’s annual Financial Security Trends Survey, which is conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago on behalf of AARP to monitor the financial experiences, behaviors, and attitudes of adults age 30-plus.
The January 2025 survey was conducted from January 2 - 22, 2025 among 6,861 adults age 30-plus across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey includes oversamples of Black and African American adults, Hispanic and Latino adults, Asian American adults, and LGBTQ+ adults. Data for the general sample were collected using NORC’s AmeriSpeak® Panel as well as its Foresight 50+® Panel; both are probability-based panels designed to be representative of adults in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. To achieve the desired oversamples of Black adults, Hispanic adults, Asian American adults and LGBTQ+ adults, respondents from the Dynata nonprobability online opt-in panel were included. The January 2025 survey included a total of 1,644 Black respondents, 1,535 Hispanic respondents, 1,015 Asian American respondents, and 1,117 LGBTQ+ respondents. TrueNorth® calibration weighting was used in the oversamples to combine the probability and nonprobability samples and reduce bias in the nonprobability sample. The full survey was fielded semiannually in 2022 and 2023 but changed to annual fielding in 2024.
For more information, contact S. Kathi Brown of AARP Research at skbrown@aarp.org. Media inquiries should be directed to External Relations at media@aarp.org.
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