Affluent Outlook

A majority of Americans are expressing an optimistic view of their standard of living, a new Gallup poll finds.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans said that their standard of living is improving, according to a Gallup survey of 1,536 adults ages 18 and older conducted last week. This ties the highest three-day reading since Gallup began tracking the question in January 2008, Gallup reported. More than one-fourth (27 percent) said their standard of living is getting worse, while 15 percent said it is the same.

Millennials and Gen Xers are feeling the most optimistic about their standard of living. Eighty percent of 18 to 29 year-olds said their financial situation is getting better, while 56 percent of 30 to 49 year-olds reported the same. In comparison, 41 percent of baby boomers ages 50 to 64 said their financial situation was getting better, while just 28 percent of seniors ages 65 and older reported likewise.

Racial and ethnic minorities are much more optimistic about their standard of living than are whites, the Gallup survey found. Seventy-one percent of Hispanics, 67 percent of Hispanics and 68 percent of blacks say their future prospects are getting better, compared with less than half (45 percent) of whites. Conversely whites were more likely (35 percent) to say their standard of living is getting worse.

“Americans are as likely now as at any time in the last five years to believe their standard of living is getting better,” Gallup concluded in a statement, “a positive sign that overall faith in the economy is improving.”

Ongoing research conducted by Millionaire Corner among Affluent investors finds similar encouraging trends in thinking about their financial situation. The Spectrem Household Outlook, a monthly survey of attitudes toward financial factors that impact their daily lives, edged into positive territory in January for the first time since October. Confidence in the Economy rose from the previous month to a three-month high, while Company Health boasted the month’s second biggest improvement. Confidence in Household Income also increased, but Household Assets declined.