Consumer sentiment among Floridians has decreased after 3 months of increases: Report

Every month, the University of Florida puts out a report analyzing Florida consumer sentiment. The findings from February’s report show a change in how we feel about the economy and how we want to spend our money.

“The economy, things are expensive. They give me food stamps, but those food stamps are not enough," a Hialeah man said in Spanish.

Consumers in Florida, like him, say things haven’t been looking good.

“The price of meat, milk, everything is expensive," he said.

“I’m kind of scared for my niece and nephew and all the kids and the future, and what this outcome is going to be, I’m kind of scared, kind of," said another consumer named Sasha.

Those sentiments mirror what the University of Florida found in its February report. After surveying 550 Floridians from Jan. 1 to Feb. 27, it found that after three consecutive months of increases following the presidential election, consumer sentiment dropped 2.6 points.

Hector Sandoval, the director of the Economic Analysis Program at the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, says each participant is given five questions. The first two have to do with an individual’s current financial situation and spending power.

The report showed it’s something consumers in the state feel relatively positively about. When asked, “Personal financial situation now compared to a year ago,” it went up 5.5 points, rising from 62.6 to 68.1. When asked, “Is this a good time to buy major household items?” it only decreased by slightly three-tenths of a point from 77.9 to 77.6. 

“So far I feel really good," a driver told NBC6. “...Well, I see our country is sort of going in a right direction.”

The other three questions in the study are related to the future, and expectations for the outlook of the U.S. economy.

When asked about expectations for personal finances a year from now, consumer sentiment declined 3.9 points. When asked about the outlook of the U.S. economy over the next five years, it fell 5.8 points. But most concerning was consumer sentiment about the U.S. economy over the next year, and it plummeted 8.6 points.

Sandoval shared why he believes there has been that much of a drop,

“Well I think especially looking at these expectations, I think one of the main reasons we are seeing these drops and by tracking what is happening in the economy, one of the issues is the tariffs," he said. “It was really not clear and it’s just bringing uncertainty, and if you think about the businesses which depend on importing goods and services, they are really not clear as to what is going to be the impact of these policies, and if there is a tariff then well then maybe I need to use that information to plan ahead.”

When compared to the national index, their findings show sentiment has now fallen for three consecutive months and is currently down 22% from December of 2024.

This comes after U.S.-based employers announced more than 172,000 job cuts last month. Sandoval believes these job and wage losses could reduce demand and consumption, affecting Florida businesses and impacting consumers even more.

He’s anticipating a continual decline.

To learn more about the monthly reports, you can visit this website. Each report is posted at the first of the following month. The same questions are asked in every report.