Even as inflation eases slightly, North Carolina families still feel squeezed from all sides

“Economic perceptions are getting to the point where they’re locked in,” said McLennan. “Even if we get a few months of declining consumer price index or some other inflationary measure, most North Carolinians, as well as most people nationally, think it’s bad.”

On Wednesday morning, a group of mothers at a political event said the data did not reflect their lived experience.

Congresswoman Deborah Ross, D-N.C., joined a breakfast roundtable hosted by the advocacy group MomsRising to hear directly from Raleigh-area moms about the economic squeeze families are facing.

Elena Rumyantseva said she is a trained scientist who worked in biotech until she was laid off last October.

“I found another job in January that was part-time, but I could not afford daycare being part-time,” Rumyantseva said.

The average monthly cost of daycare in North Carolina exceeds $1,100, according to a 2025 study by N.C. State University’s Center for Urban Affairs & Community Services.

She’s also going without health insurance, once provided by her employer.

“I cannot afford it. Our family medical insurance would be $1,700 a month with a $12,000 annual deductible,” said Rumyantseva.

Rumyantseva said her family is now facing $9,000 in medical debt after an emergency sent her husband to the ER.

“He’s fine now, but we are going to have to deal with that debt,” she said.

Liz Chavez, a mother of three and a public school teacher, said the economy doesn’t feel better to her.

“It doesn’t feel better when it comes to going to the grocery store, going to get gas or paying for insurance premiums,” said Chavez.

Chavez said she’s been going to the same doctor for a decade and even with insurance, prices have been steadily rising.

Stocks are up, unemployment is down – so why is a leading NC economist raising a red flag?

She paid $1,400 out of pocket for a procedure for Crohn’s disease in November of 2025. Six months later, the same treatment with the same provider and the same insurance cost another $1,900 out of pocket.

“That’s a really big jump in just six months,” Chavez said.

And paychecks are not getting any larger for the veteran teacher.

“I’m going to be going into my 22nd year of teaching. The pay scale is frozen from year 15 to year 25. There’s no step increase,” she said

Cheryl Staccio was working behind the counter of the Groovy Duck Bakery where Wednesday’s event was held and was not a part of the program, but it hit close to home for her.

Staccio choked back tears as she explained to the women she was working but living paycheck to paycheck with two children.

“Doing small, fun things with my kids is no longer possible. We wait until grandma comes to town to go to the movies or go out to the restaurants,” Staccio said.

When times are tight, she uses Affirm to pay for groceries, allowing her to buy now and pay over time. But that convenience adds interest to the rising cost of food.

“I don’t even know what happened,” she said. “I’m just making it through. I’m doing my best.”

Staccio is not alone. A Catawba College–YouGov Survey released in July of more than 1,000 North Carolinians found 57% said they had difficulty affording regular monthly expenses.

McLennan said these everyday struggles may outweigh any positive economic data points that emerge this fall.

“It’s hard to know how the Iran war will go, and there was even one energy expert this morning that said that higher prices could last through 2027,” said McLennan. “And that’s what a lot of people base their feelings on.”