U.S. consumer confidence dropped sharply in September, falling to its lowest level in 12 years as rising fuel prices weighed on household outlooks nationwide — a trend likely to hit especially close to home for Interior Alaska families heading into another expensive heating season. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell 6.7 points to 81.9 this month, down from August’s 88.6 and well below what economists had forecast.

The decline touched nearly every part of the survey. A measure of how Americans view current business and labor conditions dropped 7.9 points, while a separate gauge of short-term expectations fell for a third straight month. Consumers’ net assessment of current business conditions turned negative for the first time since September 2024, a shift Conference Board chief economist Dana Peterson tied to a continued slide following two prior months of softening results.

Peterson said write-in responses to the survey skewed heavily pessimistic this month, with rising costs — particularly gas and oil prices — dominating what consumers had to say about the economy. That concern carries added weight in Fairbanks and across the Interior, where heating oil and fuel costs already run higher than much of the country and where the approach of winter makes energy prices a front-of-mind household expense every year.

A separate measure, the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index, told a similar story, falling to 48.1 in September — down 7% from August and roughly 13% below where it stood a year ago. Both surveys point to a broader national mood shift that Alaska households, already contending with the state’s characteristically high cost of living, are likely feeling as acutely as anywhere in the country.