September 2026 Community Issues Survey: Financial Well-Being Hits Lowest Level in Survey’s History

Key Findings

Issues impacting LMI households

Job availability

Most respondents said that job availability for LMI households had not changed in the past six months (52 percent), while 34 percent indicated that it had decreased, down from 41 percent in the March 2026 survey. Additionally, respondents shared that increased healthcare costs are leading some employers to hire more part-time workers to avoid paying for health insurance.

Affordable housing availability

For the tenth consecutive survey since March 2022, a majority of respondents (69 percent) said that affordable housing availability had declined over the past six months. Most respondents cited limited housing supply, rising rents, and the high cost of owner-occupied housing as the primary reasons. Several respondents also mentioned an increase in first-time homelessness, particularly among older adults and families with young children.

Financial well-being

Eighty-seven percent of respondents, the highest share since the survey began in March 2018, reported that their clients’ financial well-being had declined over the past six months, a situation which they attributed largely to continued price increases. Respondents noted increased numbers of people seeking food, rent, utility, and foreclosure-prevention assistance. One respondent said that “families [are] one setback, such as a car repair, from losing their ability to meet basic needs,” and a financial counseling service provider said that demand was so high that they had to close their waitlist and stop taking on new clients.

Access to credit

Most respondents reported that access to credit had remained unchanged over the past six months (73 percent), while 27 percent noted a decrease. Respondents primarily attributed this to tighter lending conditions and higher interest rates.

Issues impacting organizations that serve LMI households

Demand for services

Eighty percent of respondents said that demand for their services had increased over the past six months. Housing-related reasons were most frequently cited as drivers of increased demand, but the impact of rising prices on household budgets and changes to government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Affordable Care Act were also mentioned several times.

Capacity

Most respondents said that their capacity had not changed over the last six months (54 percent), but 34 percent noted a decline, up from 22 percent in the March 2026 survey and the highest share since the survey began in March 2018. Much of this decline was due to staffing cuts, vacancies, retirements, and funding cuts. Nearly half of respondents said that their funding had decreased over the past six months (47 percent), just below the all-time high of 48 percent. Many funding cuts were attributed to declines in federal funding, but respondents also noted a pullback in philanthropic donations. According to one respondent, “federal funds have been reduced, and foundations have shifted to address basic necessities such as food insecurity and health services.” Looking ahead, 13 percent of respondents said that their organization would decrease staffing levels over the next six months, up from 3 percent in the March 2026 survey, while nearly half anticipated no change (48 percent).

Special questions: Food insecurity

Periodically, the CIS includes special questions to explore a specific topic. This survey focused on food insecurity. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said that they had seen an increase in food insecurity among the populations they serve, driven primarily by price increases (42 percent) and changes to SNAP eligibility (36 percent). To cope, households used food banks (27 percent), cut back on non-food-related expenses (21 percent), and rationed or went without food (17 percent).

Conclusion

When reviewing CIS results, one thing we watch for is a meaningful shift in underlying trends. To some extent, challenging results are anticipated because the organizations we survey serve LMI households and communities, which frequently face financial strain. However, two findings from this survey stand out: financial well-being and capacity. The share of respondents reporting that financial well-being had decreased over the past six months reached a survey high of 87 percent, and for the first time, not a single respondent said that it had improved. At the same time, 34 percent of respondents said that their organization’s capacity to meet demand had decreased over the last six months, also a survey high. Combined with the funding challenges noted earlier, these findings suggest that organizations serving LMI households may face a growing gap between rising need and their capacity to respond, a trend worth watching in future surveys.