Released quarterly, the ACLI Financial Resilience Index measures the direction and magnitude of middle-class financial resilience by tracking 26 different variables that represent important middle-class cost pressures and financial resources.
The Headline Index is composed of a Cost Resilience Index and a Resource Resilience Index. A score above 0 means that financial resilience is above historical norms.
The Cost Resilience Index measures the ability to afford modest luxuries without trading off the essentials and to afford life-stage appropriate care and education.
The Resource Resilience Index measures the ability to handle unexpected expenses and sustain a quality of life, and the ability to save and live well in retirement.
The index frames financial resilience as the interaction of cost pressures and financial resources and provides insight into the specific underlying factors that drive changes in middle-class financial resilience. Consumer survey findings (featured in the full index and analysis) offer a snapshot as to how middle-class households are feeling.
Middle-class resilience is hovering just above historical norms. The Headline Index was 6.5 in Q3 2025, down 3 points from Q2 and down 25 points from a year ago. The score indicates middle-class financial resilience is still a tick above the long-term historical average.
The Cost Resilience Index worsened for the first time in over two years. Recent data indicates increased cost pressures in medical services, as well as rising inflation for recreation, household appliances, furnishings and services.
The Resource Resilience Index improved because more people are feeling optimistic about being ready for retirement.
The companion survey found that 42% of middle-class households are not very or not at all confident that they could pay for an unexpected expense of $5,000.
