The affordability crisis does not hit all voters equally. The reason is as follows

Affordability is a major theme in the upcoming midterm elections and could influence how you vote in November.

But economists and political experts say not all households are feeling the financial strain in the same way.

Older Americans, in particular, have been more insulated from price squeezes than younger households, such as millennials, experts said.

“Affordability is a central issue in the upcoming midterm elections,” said William Galston, senior fellow and chair of governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank. “Nothing else comes close.”

“Who feels these pressures the least? Older people,” he said.

This is not to say that older Americans (generally those over 65) don’t feel financial pressure.

Economists say they do indeed pay more for food, gas, electricity and other goods like everyone else as inflation continues to rise.

Furthermore, not all young households feel that they cannot afford to make ends meet.

But overall, older adults own a disproportionate share of their homes and are less likely to be first-time homebuyers. That means older people are less exposed to spikes in mortgage rates and home prices, economists said. Economists say they typically drive fewer miles and keep their cars longer, making them less sensitive to rising gas prices and rising bond yields, which are putting upward pressure on auto loan rates.

Economists say most people don’t need childcare, but prices in this sector have soared in recent years.

And Social Security, an important part of retirees’ income, is protected from inflation through cost-of-living adjustments, he said. The Social Security Administration announced Wednesday that it will increase benefits by 3.6% in 2027, which is an above-average COLA increase.

“When you put it all together, I would say we’re doing pretty well compared to the rest of the country, especially if you’re over 75,” Galston said. “And it’s young families, between the ages of 30 and 45, who are feeling the most pressure.”

Financial data supports this generational divide.

Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi conducted an analysis for CNBC that showed baby boomers (defined by Moody’s as people born between 1946 and 1964) and the Silent Generation and older, defined as people born before 1945, had the lowest consumer price inflation rates from January 2019 to August 2026.

Zandi used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to create a consumer price index weighted by generation.

These two oldest cohorts saw a cumulative percentage change in consumer prices of approximately 31.5% over that period, Zandi said.

Meanwhile, Millennials, defined by Moody’s as those born between 1981 and 1996, had the highest cumulative inflation rate of any other group, nearly two percentage points higher than the 33.3% rate for older generations. Generation Z, the youngest group of adults born after 1997, had the second highest percentage at 32.7%.

“Young people are clearly suffering higher inflation rates than older Americans,” Zandi said. “That’s clearly reflected in the data.”

“Young Americans, who face the highest inflation, are probably the most disillusioned and therefore more likely to vote,” he said, adding that this dynamic should favor Democrats.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found that 78% of Americans blamed White House stocks for higher costs. The poll of 4,506 U.S. adults included 64% of Republicans, 76% of independents and 95% of Democrats, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

“I think the right thing to do is when people find themselves in a bind, they look for someone in leadership who can give them a solution,” said Michael Reid, head of U.S. economics at Royal Bank of Canada. “As a solution, some voters may go looking for someone who is not currently in office.”

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, which provides nonpartisan analysis of elections and campaigns, predicts that Republicans will lose their majority in the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections, and that a majority in the Senate is “mostly within the Democratic Party’s sights.”

White House Press Secretary Matthew Middleton told CNBC in an email that President Donald Trump has delivered “tangible wins” to Americans, including signing a massive tax cut that reduces taxes for retirees and workers who receive tips and overtime pay.

Trump has also “made good on his promises” to stem inflation, boost economic growth and create jobs, and more will come over the next two years, he wrote.

Zandi said young people are spending more on housing, which is a major source of generational disparity.

Data shows that housing has become increasingly affordable over the years.

The required monthly payment for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will be about 33% of median household income in 2025, up from 26% in 2022 and a record high, according to the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Finance Research Report released last week.

The 7 percentage point increase was driven primarily by higher interest rates and some by higher home prices, according to the Fed’s triennial report.

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage for the week of Oct. 15 was 7.4%, according to Freddie Mac data. This is the highest level in about three years since November 2023, and has increased from about 6.3% a year ago. Outside of the post-pandemic period, average mortgage rates haven’t been this high since 2000, according to Freddie Mac data.

Meanwhile, housing prices significantly outpaced wage increases.

Between 2019 and 2024, the inflation-adjusted median home price increased 30%, from $269,600 to $350,000, according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit research group. The study found that inflation-adjusted median household income for households with heads under 40 increased by just 9% during this period, from $92,700 to $100,900.

Pew said the only time the price-to-income ratio for people under 40 reached its current level was during the housing bubble of the mid-2000s.

The Brookings Institution’s Galston said child care costs are also rising “significantly faster” than the overall rate of inflation.

According to a Bank of America Research Institute report published in October 2025, child care costs are rising 1.5 times faster than the overall U.S. inflation rate.

According to a 2024 Department of Labor report, families spend about 9% to 16% of their median annual income on full-day childcare for just one child, and in some cases, the cost can exceed the annual rent.

Galston said some households can replace expensive items with cheaper items, such as buying chicken instead of beef, to combat inflation. But for families looking for a home or child care, it’s not really possible to avoid these expenses, he said.

Meanwhile, the Fed’s Consumer Finance Survey found that wealth among the youngest households declined “significantly” from 2022 to 2025, while wealth soared among older households.

According to the study, median net worth for households headed by someone under 35 decreased by 23% to $33,000, while median net worth increased by 37% to about $505,000 for households headed by someone 75 or older.

Stocks have posted double-digit annual returns since 2023, largely due to excitement about artificial intelligence, and stocks are an asset that tends to be concentrated in older households.

In contrast to past years of research, the increase in net worth for the oldest people was “much larger than for younger age groups,” and their net worth exceeded the net worth of nearly retired or recently retired households, the Fed said.

Royal Canada Bank’s Reid said older households can take advantage of increased wealth to support their spending.

A JPMorgan Chase Research Institute report released in September shows they are doing just that. More than 37% of wealthy retirees (people 65 and older in the top 10% income group) made net withdrawals from investment accounts in 2025 to support spending, up from 24.5% in 2019, according to the report, which examined more than 20 million anonymous Chase checking accounts. These withdrawals account for about 15% of retirees’ spending, up from 8% in 2019.

“It does seem like the younger generation is worse off in terms of net worth,” he says. “Younger households are either going to have to take on more debt or reduce their debt somewhere to maintain the same budget or lifestyle. And I don’t think older households, overall, have had to make that choice yet.”

Of course, older people tend to spend more of their income on health care than younger people, economists say.

“They’re paying much higher medical and long-term care costs,” said Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health policy and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “And Medicare Part B premiums, which cover doctor visits and other outpatient services, have increased significantly in recent years.”

Medicare premiums are expected to rise to $209.50 per month for Part B in 2027, an increase of more than 3% from $202.90 in 2026, according to the Medicare Board of Directors’ annual report.

Many workers could face higher premium increases in 2027 than Medicare for employer-provided health insurance or health insurance purchased on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

The U.S. social safety net is also broadly “leaning” toward older people, who have significant affordability advantages over younger generations, Galston said.

He said that apart from the inflation adjustment of Social Security income, seniors who need long-term care rely on Medicaid as a last resort when their financial assets are depleted.

“There’s a safety net here, too,” he said. It’s not like I’m going out on the town.