72% of North Carolinians Are Cutting Back on Regular Purchases Because of Prices, a 2026 Catawba Poll Found

Rising prices can change what ends up in your cart, sometimes without you noticing.

A poll asked North Carolinians how prices are playing out at home.

Here’s what people said, and what the poll can and can’t show.

Who Asked, and How

In June, the Catawba-YouGov survey put the cutback at 72%, eight points above its January reading.

Catawba College’s Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service wrote the questions and paid for the poll.

YouGov, an online polling firm, ran the survey from June 1 to June 10, 2026.

Everyone answered online.

YouGov lined up the 1,000 adults who answered with a target mix of gender, age, race, and education.

Catawba published the results on July 6, 2026.

These are the findings you’ll see below, starting with the cutback and moving through the costs people called unaffordable, from the highest share down.

The Cutback

The poll’s headline finding was the cutback itself: 72% of North Carolinians said rising prices had caused them to do it in the past month.

That eight-point gain works out to roughly one more person in every dozen.

Nationally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says consumer prices were 3.4% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier.

If you’ve cut back because of prices too, you’re in the majority of that poll’s respondents.

Cars and Gas

Cars top the list of costs the survey asked about, at 68% calling them unaffordable, in the same poll where 72% cut back.

If you shopped for a new car in August, Kelley Blue Book put the national average transaction price at $50,089, as reported by Digital Dealer.

Car prices haven't jumped, though: BLS says new vehicles rose just 0.6% nationally over the 12 months ending in August.

Gas is the bigger jump.

Gasoline ranked second in the poll, with 62% calling it unaffordable.

If you filled up in North Carolina on Oct. 7, 2026, AAA says the statewide average for regular was $4.12 a gallon.

The year-ago average was $2.86, which makes the Oct. 7 price about 44% higher.

Housing, Health Care, and Groceries

Housing, health care, and groceries round out the survey's top five unaffordable costs, at 61%, 59%, and 58%.

Census Bureau estimates for 2020 through 2024 put North Carolina's median gross rent at $1,228 a month.

If you rent and pay more than that, you're in the upper half of the state's renters.

The median monthly cost for owners with a mortgage is $1,631, so if your monthly owner costs run higher, you're in the upper half there too.

Groceries make a simpler comparison.

BLS says the food at home index rose 2.2% nationally over the 12 months ending in August 2026.

That's below the 3.4% rise in prices overall, yet 58% of North Carolinians still called groceries unaffordable, in a poll where 72% said rising prices made them cut back.

Energy and Utilities

Energy and utilities came in at 57%, up from 53% in January, while the share cutting back rose eight points over the same months.

The national energy index rose 16.3% over the 12 months ending in August 2026, and the gasoline index rose 27.4% over the same period.

Gas moved most.

Your power bill and your gas tank didn't move together, since electricity rose only 3.8%.

If you compare the two, keep in mind that the BLS gasoline index is a national August measure, so it won't match AAA's North Carolina pump average from Oct. 7.

Who Still Cut Back

Cutting back reaches well past the people who say their bills are a struggle.

The survey asked about difficulty affording regular monthly expenses, and 57% of North Carolinians said they had it.

If you're one of them, you're in a group where 86% were cutting back on purchases.

Among respondents who said they weren't having difficulty, a majority still cut back, at 52%.

If you're covering your monthly expenses and still skipping an occasional purchase, you match that 52%.

Feeling the Pressure

In the Catawba poll, 75% of North Carolinians said rising prices put high pressure on their households.

That's up four points from 71% in January, or roughly one more household in every 25.

Those are the same rising prices that 72% said had caused them to cut back.

A separate question found 71% saying it's difficult for the average American to afford basic goods and services.

Both numbers rose.

If your household feels that pressure, you're among about three in four North Carolinians in the poll.

What Moved Since January

Put June beside January and you can see groceries rising along with the cutback.

Groceries showed the biggest rise among the costs the poll tracked, as the share calling groceries and personal care items unaffordable rose seven points.

Cars edged up three points.

Housing went the other way.

Housing is the cost where the share calling it unaffordable fell from 70% to 61%.

The release calls housing the only substantial improvement on its list, though health care and insurance eased too, from 63% to 59%.

Where the Poll Falls Short

The Catawba poll tells you what people say about prices, not what they spent.

It's a June snapshot.

That means it can't tell you how people feel today.

The release says the survey included attention checks.