U.S. consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since 2014 this month, according to the Conference Board, as rising fuel prices and economic uncertainty weighed heavily on how Americans view both current conditions and the months ahead. The Consumer Confidence Index fell 6.7 points in September to 81.9, down from 88.6 in August and coming in well below what economists had projected.

The decline was felt across the survey’s key measures. An index tracking how consumers view current business and labor market conditions dropped 7.9 points to 109.3, while a separate gauge of short-term expectations fell for the third month in a row. Consumers’ net view of current business conditions turned negative for the first time since September 2024, a shift Dana Peterson connected to two consecutive months of weakening sentiment ahead of this one.

Peterson said this month’s write-in responses leaned heavily pessimistic, with rising prices — particularly gas and oil costs — dominating what consumers had to say about the economy as fuel prices climbed through September. Those cost pressures are likely to be felt widely across Northeastern Pennsylvania, a region with a substantial blue-collar and service-sector workforce for whom fuel and everyday living costs make up a significant share of household budgets.

A separate national measure, the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index, pointed to the same trend, falling to 48.1 in September, a 7% decline from August and nearly 13% below its level a year earlier. Together, the two reports suggest a broad national pullback in economic confidence that’s likely to register in communities across Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike and Wayne counties in the months ahead.