1 in 3 Australians feel financially anxious

New research paints a sobering picture of household financial sentiment, with only one in five people across the country feeling better off than this time last year.

Agile Market Intelligence has released results from its latest Consumer Pulse, which is a monthly tracker developed to monitor consumer sentiment, financial stress, and behavioural shifts across key household segments. The survey provides a real-time view of financial wellbeing in Australia, segmented by debt status and home ownership.

The latest data, covering June 2025, shows that while financial anxiety levels have eased slightly in some groups, households facing unemployment or carrying consumer debt continue to struggle, with widening gaps in financial resilience across employment types, age groups, and debt profiles.

Financial anxiety

According to Agile, one in three Australians (33 per cent) reported feeling financially anxious in June, down by 2 per cent compared to March, and just under half of those surveyed (48 per cent) reported feeling financially secure – up 3 per cent from March.

Australians with consumer debt, however, reported significantly higher anxiety, with 43 per cent, and those with mortgages saw lower and more stable anxiety levels at 31 per cent of the population, while debt-free households were the most secure, with anxiety levels steady at 25 per cent.

Young women (aged 18–34) continue to report the highest levels of financial anxiety, at 38 per cent in June 2025, even relative to their male peers (24 per cent). By comparison, older men (aged 55 and over) remain the most financially secure, with anxiety holding steady at just 24 per cent, highlighting a significant gender and age gap in perceived financial wellbeing.

More people feel worse off

Just over one in five Australians (22 per cent) feel that their financial situation is better today than it was 12 months ago, with 35 per cent saying they are worse off today, Agile also reported.

This said, overall financial health perception is continuing to improve slightly, with the share of Australians saying they are worse off falling from 40 per cent in March to 35 per cent in June 2025.

Moreover, debt-free and mortgage-holding households are showing signs of recovery, with fewer reporting financial deterioration, while consumer debt holders remain the most pessimistic, with over 40 per cent saying they are worse off and only one in five seeing improvement.

Interestingly, young men (aged 18–34) are the most financially optimistic, with over a third saying they are better off and fewer than one in five reporting a decline in financial health.

On the other hand, however, women – especially those aged 55 and over – remain the most pessimistic, with nearly half consistently saying their financial situation has worsened over the past year.

Household cash flow improving

Elsewhere, Agile noted that household cash flow is improving overall, with the share of Australians reporting negative cash flow falling from 23 per cent in March to 19 per cent in June 2025, and positive cash flow rising to 33 per cent.

Consumer debt holders continue to face the greatest strain, the data showed, with 26 per cent in negative cash flow in June – nearly double the rate of debt-free households (14 per cent), highlighting ongoing vulnerability in this group.

Both older and younger men reported the strongest cash flow positions, with only 11–15 per cent in negative cash flow and over 40 per cent in positive cash flow, while women aged 55 and over are the most cash-flow-stressed group, with 25 per cent reporting negative cash flow in May, and only 24 per cent positive, highlighting a persistent vulnerability among older women.