A record 55% of Americans say their financial situation is worsening, with many expressing anxiety about covering monthly bills and making minimum credit card payments, according to a new Gallup poll. 

That percentage is the highest Gallup has recorded since it began asking Americans about their finances in 2001, showing consumers are less optimistic than they were during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the Great Recession in 2008. The survey is based on interviews with 1,001 adults conducted April 1-15, Gallup said.

Although surging gasoline prices since the start of the Iran war in February have fueled public frustration, Gallup's polling underscores that affordability concerns have been building for years, including longstanding issues such as the rising cost of health care and education.

"Overall, affordability concerns dominate this year's list, with combined mentions of inflation, energy, housing and health care costs — along with college expenses, transportation costs and childcare — far exceeding all other types of financial concerns," Gallup said. 

Recent increases in consumer prices have caused financial hardships for about 55% of those polled, according to the survey. About 13% cited rising oil and gas prices as a concern, up 10 percentage points from a year earlier. 

"Americans feel these prices acutely — we interact with them on a frequent basis and they're largely necessary," NerdWallet senior economist Elizabeth Renter told CBS News. "In other words, it's tough to escape current rising prices, and paired with the uncertainty of how long this spate of inflation will last, it's unsurprising that consumers' outlooks are bleak."

Gas prices on Tuesday hit their highest level since the Iran war started, with the average price rising 7 cents overnight to $4.18 a gallon, according to AAA.

Scarier than dying?

Americans also expressed more financial anxiety about long-term issues such as saving for retirement and paying for their children's college educations, Gallup found. For instance, about 62% of respondents said they feared not having enough money for retirement, up 3 percentage points from a year earlier.

To be sure, funding retirement has long been a worry for Americans, but the rising cost of living is driving new concerns about outliving one's retirement savings, according to a recent report from the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement, part of Allianz Life. 

The financial firm's 2026 retirement study found that 67% of Americans say they are more worried about running out of money than dying, an increase of 10 percentage points from a year earlier. 

Near-term issues are also weighing on consumers, with Gallup finding that 28% of those surveyed are worried about paying the minimums on their credit cards, up 2 percentage points from last year and 11 percentage points from 2021. 

"A tight budget can become unmanageable fairly quickly when things like gas and groceries get more expensive," Renter said.