Asian Americans Care Most About Inflation Says AP-NORC Poll
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 31 Jan, 2026

Our above-average focus on economic conditions may be tied to our high rate of business ownership, and our tendency to live in the most expensive metro areas.

Asian Americans are more concerned about inflation than any othe demographic, according to a new poll by the AP and University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC).

Asian Americans tend to live in big cities with high costs of living, like San Francisco

While approximately one-third of Americans rate high living cost and inflation — an increase in prices and fall in the purchasing power of money — as their top political priority, that number jumps all the way up to 49% when only counting Asian Americans. 

I’ll be honest: I found this surprising. 

Asian Americans, after all, have the highest median household income of any demographic. One might think that those with lots of money would be less concerned about economic stability.  Wouldn’t those living paycheck to paycheck be the ones with more to worry about?

As I’m constantly reminding myself, these things can be nuanced.  As it turns out, there are actually a number of reasons why it makes perfect sense that we care so deeply about the concerns posed by inflation.

Liquid Wealth

Yes, Asian Americans make a lot of money.  AAPI household income is about $108k/year, which is 46% higher than the median household income.  But not all forms of money are the same.

There’s a major difference between liquid capital and wealth that’s tied up in assets. We Asian Americans tend to possess the former. 

Our presence in this country is still fairly new, particularly compared to those with similar financial status as us. As a result we don’t have “old money.” Our finances are not generally tied up in property that we’ve inherited or savings accounts that were established decades ago.  Rather, our money is a little more solvent.

As a series of AAPI-targeted home invasions recently highlighted, we tend to keep lots of our money in cash at home. Cash is the most inflation-vulnerable form of money. 

And we like to spend our money rather than just hoard. Asian Americans, after all, are known to have an affinity for luxury and name brand goods. When the price of, say, a nice car shoots up over night, we notice it. 

Business-Minded

Even if inflation and high living costs were to affect everyone equally, it’s possible that we’re just more attuned to the issue. 

To quote Snoop Dogg’s ‘Gin and Juice’, we got our mind on our money and our money on our mind. 

We are, after all, hustlers. We run small businesses at a higher rate than our share of the population and those businesses bring in more money than those of any other minority group in the US.

Maybe the Asian American mind simply prioritizes financial stability over other important concerns like certain social issues regardless of how important they may be.

As an Indian American myself, I personally take pride in being frugal despite the inevitable ribbing by my friends. It's a stereotype that we embrace. 

News and Politics

We pay attention to what’s going on in the world. According to Nielsen, 78% of Asian Americans consume news at least once a day. 

Compared to the general public, we are 34% more likely to trust the accuracy of news.

This is an important point because inflation and living costs have both been high for years now. Current prices are roughly 24% higher than they were in 2020 before the pandemic.

Some may simply choose to ignore these facts because of partisan claims by the government.  Last week in Davos, President Trump claimed that he had “defeated” inflation and that there is “virtually no inflation.”

That is of course not true. Inflation remains at 2.7%, above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%, with many Americans feeling the effects first hand. 

A group like ours who consumes news and trusts the sources that have historically been reliable will take these pressing issues seriously and consider the facts.

It’s also possible that partisanship plays a role. Surveys have estimated that over 60% of AAPI-ers voted Democratic in the most recent presidential election. 71% of us have an unfavorable opinion of President Trump. 

It is possible that our economic concerns are tied to the fact that we simply do not trust this president and that we may claim to be less concerned about inflation under a President we supported.

Location

Asian Americans tend to live in the most expensive areas, which is yet another reason why economics might be top of mine.

The Los Angeles and San Francisco Metro areas have the highest concentration of Asian Americans in the country and also happen to top the list of most expensive places to live in the country. 

Similar to with other immigrants, AAPI settlement tends to occur in and around cities for a few reasons, including existing cultural enclaves, and existing infrastructure that makes it easier to adapt.

The AAPI demographic specifically tends to gravitate to places that have an abundance of tech jobs, like the Bay Area. Those places are not cheap and would likely cause anyone living there who isn’t in the top1% to worry about financial matters. 

Methodology

The survey, conducted over four days in December 2025, had a sample size of 1,029 Asian Americans and was also conducted among a control group of the general population. Respondents were given a wide-ranging list of issues and allowed to chose up to five that they found to be of importance. They were then asked follow-up question about the topics they chose.

According to the AP, “The poll is part of an ongoing project exploring the views of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, whose views are usually not highlighted in other surveys because of small sample sizes and lack of linguistic representation.

It’s of course important to remember that we are not a monolith and that one sector of the AAPI community may very well have different priorities than another. 

The survey also found health care costs to be a top concern. 44% of respondents mentioned it, up 32% from last year.