Surge in Utility Costs and Heat Waves Escalates Daily Impact on Americans, AP-NORC Poll Shows

Four out of five U.S. adults report that extreme heat has squeezed household budgets through higher electricity costs over the past year, as surging summer temperatures increasingly disrupt daily routines across the American West and Midwest, according to new data from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll reveals that 80% of Americans felt either a “major” or “minor” impact on their utility bills over the last year, a sharp increase from 69% recorded in July 2024. Financial strain was highest in the Midwest, where 44% of respondents cited a “major” cost impact, up from 29% two years prior.

Rising power bills reflect both utility rate adjustments and increased household energy consumption as air conditioning units run continuously to counter sustained heat domes.

“I feel like my utility costs probably doubled in the last three or four years,” said Daemien Williams, a 50-year-old bridge inspector in Cahokia Heights, Illinois, who identifies as a Democrat. “I do look at my bills pretty in detail and see that the kilowatts and the usage is actually up, not just the price that they’re charging for it.”

Williams noted that shifting weather patterns reinforced his perspective on changing environmental conditions: “My biggest indicator of the change in the climate is just the flooding is a lot more often,” he said.

Beyond utility costs, high temperatures are altering travel schedules and personal routines. Roughly 4 in 10 Americans reported that extreme heat affected their travel or vacation plans, up from about a quarter in 2024. In addition, 7 in 10 respondents noted impacts on family outdoor activities, compared to 6 in 10 two years ago.

In Tucson, Arizona, 74-year-old retired nurse Elisa Bracamonte said escalating heat has disrupted her regional travel and morning exercise routine.

“I’ve noticed at least a 10 degree difference in the weather,” said Bracamonte, who identifies as a very liberal Democrat. “Every summer, it seems to be getting hotter and hotter.”

“I have to get up at 5 in the morning to walk before 6, because by 7 it’s already in the 80s … I lose a couple hours of sleep because I’m having to wake up earlier,” Bracamonte added. “You can’t stay outside without being sick unless you’re guzzling water the whole time — it’s just so, so hot.”

Travel plans with relatives across state lines have also been curtailed. “It has affected my entire family because we usually get together a lot during the summer,” Bracamonte said. “We have family in Texas and we have family in upper Arizona. And we’ve seen that there’s been a lot more fires, a lot of more flooding, all that. So that kind of inhibits our plans to travel.”

The survey results align with global climate trends. Earth’s average temperature in 2025 ranked among the top three hottest on record, alongside 2024 and 2023. In the U.S., heat waves cause more annual fatalities than any other weather-related event while exacerbating wildfire risks, damaging agricultural output, and straining power grid infrastructure.

“Brutal, life-threatening heat waves have become more frequent, more intense, and more persistent in many parts of the globe, including our western and midwestern states,” said Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center who was not involved with the polling. “Extreme heat compounded with long dry spells have affected our health directly, along with indirect effects on our wallets.”

The data reveals pronounced political and regional divides. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to report “major” impacts across all categories surveyed. Some respondents view the weather as an operational hurdle rather than a systemic crisis; Sean Conway, a 41-year-old direct marketer in North Shore, Massachusetts who leans Republican, noted that his children’s soccer practices face weather delays, adding: “Sometimes, you’ve got to just be out in the bad weather.”

In Waco, Texas, 33-year-old crime scene investigator John Hazel, a conservative Republican, said high summer heat requires constant daily adjustments.

“When I was a kid, that seemed like a very rare thing when it did hit 100, everybody was like, whoa. And now it’s just every day,” Hazel said. “Seasons felt a little more balanced. Now it feels like summer’s a bit lingering, it starts earlier and lasts longer.”

“As soon as you walk outside, you’re already sweating even if you’re not doing much of anything. I’ve definitely noticed you’re having to take breaks from being outside, you have to bathe, shower more often,” Hazel said. “It’s definitely a bigger consideration.”

Despite the growing personal impact on daily lives, broader public belief in climate change has experienced a slight decrease. Approximately 66% of U.S. adults believe climate change is occurring, compared to 73% in September 2025. About 17% remain uncertain, while 15% say it is not happening.

The AP-NORC poll surveyed 1,165 adults from July 23 to July 27, 2026, using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.