What Americans Worry About

More than half of Americans said that they considered the cost of living among the biggest issues plaguing the country. This is more than any of the other 17 issues surveyed by Statista Consumer Insights among 60,000 Americans between October 2024 and September 2025. Around 40 percent of respondents considered crime, the economy, health and social security as well as poverty and housing major issues. Approximatly a third of respondents said the same about education, immigration, unemployment and climate change.

Worry about inflation was very widespread among the 21 countries in the survey and many nations collectively rated it as the biggest issue right now - not surprising in the current global environment of rising or persistently high prices. A problem the United States rated higher than other countries was crime - only between a quarter and a third of people thought it was a major issue in several European and Asian locales as oposed to 42 percent in the United States. On the other hand, worry about climate change was lower in the U.S. at only 30 percent worrying about it to a high degree. In other developed countries, this rate was closer to 35 or 40 percent, with the issue normally reaching rank 5-8 among important problems, ahead of rank 10 it occupies in the United States.

Immigration was not rated as big a concern by Americans, however, when compared to other nations. 31 percent of Americans said they thought it was a major issue, compared to around 40 percent in Italy, Sweden and Germany and even higher ratings in Turkey (49 percent) and Chile (62 percent).