How Americans Adjusted Their Behavior When Inflation Spiked

For large parts of the past two years, inflation has been a major concern for millions of Americans, as the significant increase in prices for many day-to-day purchases has eaten away at their buying power. Not only has inflation neutralized any pay increases, but many Americans were actually left with less than before as wage growth couldn’t keep up with surging prices for essential goods and services, including food, gas and rent.

As a response, many Americans have had to cut back on non-essential spending or find other ways to save some money. According to findings from a joint survey of Statista Q and We Are Social conducted in April 2023, 64 percent of U.S. adults said they spent less on non-essentials, while an equally high share of the 1,009 respondents said they paid more attention to bargains or deals. Only 11 percent of respondents said they didn’t change their behavior at all, showing how universal the impact of inflation has been.