Rhode Islanders remain pessimistic about the cost of living, housing affordability and their overall financial situation, according to the results of a new poll out Wednesday.
The RI Life Index, an annual statewide survey conducted by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and the Brown University School of Public Health, uses survey data to calculate an overall score of Rhode Islanders’ public perceptions.
The 2025 survey found a score of 57 out of 100, unchanged from last year.
The 2025 edition is the seventh annual study. This one surveyed 2,117 adults during the first half of the year.
“The real goal of why we created this survey is to create a data resource that creates a shared understanding of the health inequities that exist and to serve as a catalyst for collective action to address those disparities,” said Martha Wofford, CEO of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.
The lowest score in the tally was for cost of living, at 21, unchanged from last year’s survey. Housing affordability received a score of 30, which was also unchanged from last year but down 14 percentage points since 2020.
In contrast, food security received a score of 78, though the survey was completed last year prior to interruptions in SNAP benefits in November caused by the government shutdown.
Melissa Clark, a professor at the Brown University School of Public Health and the scientific lead for the survey, says RI Life Index scores have fallen since the survey was first conducted in 2018.
“Some of the best scores were in the midst of the pandemic when there were more resources going towards things like the Food Bank… and making sure that people that were having trouble paying their rent did not lose their housing,” Clark said.
The survey measures people’s perceptions across a range of issues. It also breaks out data
based on results from 4 “core city” communities that have the greatest percentage of children living in poverty: Woonsocket, Central Falls, Providence and Pawtucket. The results from those Core Cities are basically lower in almost every category.
There was a 12 percentage-point difference, for example, in how respondents rated programs and services available for children between non-core respondents (75) and respondents from core cities (63). There was a 14 percentage-point gap in the scores for food security, with a score of 68 from core-city respondents compared to a score of 82 among respondents from non-core communities.
“How people feel is their lived reality,” Clark said. “So it’s not only reflecting what real cost of living here is, but how that real cost of living is affecting how they feel. And how we feel affects our health too.”
Even though overall scores from the RI Life Index remain low, Clark notes that the score didn’t drop noticeably in 2025 compared to previous years.
“Given all the challenges that folks have had,” Clark said, “maybe that’s a silver lining.”
