Overview
New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, published on Wednesday, documents growing food-related struggles among U.S. households and links those struggles to deteriorating consumer sentiment in lower-income groups. The bank's analysis highlights sharper increases in food insecurity for certain demographic groups and notes an associated decline in confidence about future employment prospects.
Survey scope and measures
The findings are drawn from the New York Fed's Survey of Consumer Expectations. Respondents were asked whether, in recent weeks, they had tapped savings to meet expenses, encountered difficulty obtaining enough food or had skipped meals, or received food assistance from public or private sources. The bank's economists compared responses between October 2025 and February 2026 to assess changes over that period.
Key findings
- There were meaningful increases in the shares of households reporting use of savings for expenses, trouble securing enough food, skipping meals, or receiving food assistance between October 2025 and February 2026.
- The rises were broad based across race, age, income, and education groups but were notably larger for nonwhite respondents, lower-income and lower-educated households, and households with children.
- Alongside these food-related challenges, the bank identified growing pessimism among lower-income households and a sharp drop in expectations about finding a job.
Interpretation
The New York Fed's economists connect the uptick in food insecurity with the decline in consumer sentiment among lower-income households. They frame this relationship as a potential explanation for the persistence of unusually low consumer sentiment measures even as many hard economic indicators present a more positive picture.
The report is presented as part of a continuing series that highlights divergent economic outcomes across income groups - often described in the analysis as a K-shaped pattern - where conditions for higher-income households differ from those for less affluent households.
Limitations and context within the report
The authors rely on survey responses to capture food-related hardships and sentiment shifts. The report describes the correlation between rising food challenges and worsening sentiment among lower-income groups but does not assert causal mechanisms beyond the association observed in the survey data.
Conclusion
The New York Fed's February 2026 comparison underscores increasing food insecurity concentrated in specific demographic groups and links this trend to falling consumer confidence and job-finding expectations among lower-income households. The report situates these findings within a broader narrative of unequal economic experiences across the population.