The percentage of Americans concerned about the cost of raising a family has jumped sharply during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office, according to the latest American Families Survey.
Worries around the economics of family shot up 13 percentage points to 71% this year, following four years when the concern was shared by between 54% and 58% of respondents.
“Now, seven in 10 Americans tell us they are concerned about the affordability of children, that they don’t think it’s affordable to raise children today,” said Christopher Karpowitz, professor of political science at Brigham University and a lead researcher for the annual survey conducted by BYU’s Wheatley Institute in conjunction with Deseret News and the Brookings Institution.
Nearly half the respondents in the wide-ranging study cited raising a family as their biggest expense and 75% overall identified financial issues as one of their top three challenges in life, Karpowitz said during a webinar about the study. “Economic concerns are again the most predominant concern when they think about their own individual families, and there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans when they think about their individual families.”
The American Family Survey has tracked the effects of economic, technological and social changes on the family since 2015. It offers a deep dive into how current events, social media and the cost of living influence family relationships and decisions about starting or growing families.
The 2025 survey was conducted in August with more than 3,300 politically, racially and generationally diverse men and women from across the country.
“When we ask about the most important problems facing families, it is clear that across party lines, income levels and race-ethnicity, Americans say economic issues — not a culture war phantasm — are the defining challenge,” the report says. “Perhaps most sobering, the perceived high cost of raising children is the single most important reason Americans offer for why they have limited the number of children they have had or plan to have.”
When asked to identify barriers to having children, 43% cited insufficient funds, followed by lack of desire (22%), not having a supportive partner (19%) and limits to lifestyle and relationship instability (both at 17%).
Respondents also shared beliefs about fertility in the U.S., with 26% saying Americans are having too few children, 24% saying the right number are being born and 16% believing too many children are being born. The majority, at 34%, said they did not know.
Inflation was identified as a significant concern by most survey respondents, with 86% saying they were either “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about the cost of goods and services. But that fear also was influenced significantly by partisanship as Democrats (64%) and independents (55%) were more worried about the trend than Republicans (38%).
“Even so, Americans do not consistently behave in partisan ways,” researchers added. “For example, despite the prominence of President Trump’s tariffs, respondents across the political spectrum express the view that international trade is good for American families. In addition, they are less worried about other looming economic factors (national debt, government provision of services, etc.) that could also be painted in partisan ways.”
Most Americans are not big fans of the administration’s anti-immigrant campaign either. According to the study, 25% of respondents overall favored deportation even if it separates children and parents, compared to 6% of Democrats, 17% of independents and 51% of Republicans.
“Whether or not opposition to immigration has economic or other causes, the backdrop of the economy suggests that problems are brewing in America that may have long-lasting consequences for family life,” the report says. “A world where a key public concern is simple affordability is at risk of instability — politically, economically or in the homes and neighborhoods where Americans live.”
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