(TNND) — Middle-income Americans are experiencing both successes and struggles as they navigate the economy, a new survey from Santander US showed.

The financial services company, which counts Santander Bank among its businesses, conducted the survey along with Morning Consult in mid-June. The results were published Monday.

Three-quarters of middle-income Americans said they are on the right track to financial prosperity.

That’s an improvement from 72% saying as much a year ago and 68% two years ago.

But two-thirds of middle-income Americans are bracing for a recession within a year.

More than eight in 10 expect prices to keep rising.

And nearly two-thirds of middle-income Americans who recently bought a home said they are living paycheck to paycheck.

Bankrate Financial Analyst Stephen Kates, a certified financial planner, said Wednesday that middle-income Americans are “in a bit of a vise.”

“They're feeling squeezed,” he said. “Inflation has been one of the things that I think has created sort of this sentiment nightmare for most people who are average and just trying to pay the bills, pay their groceries, buy their things and ... enjoy their life a little bit.”

TARIFFS & ACCELERATED CAR BUYING

Santander found that concerns over rising prices have led more middle-income Americans to move up car purchases.

Fifty-five percent of people said they are considering buying a car, which is the highest Santander has tracked in surveys going back two years.

And 42% of those thinking about buying a car in the next year said they are now more likely to buy a car in the next three months because of uncertainty around tariffs.

“The tariffs were the incentive, as this survey calls out, for people to say, ‘OK, I know I need something soon. It's going to be now, because I don't want to be surprised with an extra $5,000 or $10,000 cost on a car six months or 12 months down the line,'" Kates said.

Automakers, too, are expecting a hit from tariffs.

Some of that has already taken place, with General Motors telling investors recently that it felt a $1.1 billion impact from tariffs last quarter.

Cox Automotive, the parent company of Kelley Blue Book, called tariffs “a major headwind for vehicle affordability” that could add thousands of dollars to the cost of each imported vehicle.

Sean Tucker, the lead editor for KBB, told The National News Desk last week that every car brand is in a unique position, so tariffs impact them all at different dates.

Generally, automakers keep about two months’ worth of cars in stock.

But Tucker said some brands, such as Audi, have more cars imported at pre-tariff prices than others that are already selling mostly post-tariff cars on their lots.

Retailers in general tried to buffer themselves from the impact of tariffs by pulling forward imports as much as possible.

Tucker said automakers operate with complex supply chains “with a billion different dials they can turn to try to keep that impact from hitting the consumer too hard.”

“But it's starting to hit them, Tucker said. “And they can't hide that (from customers) forever."

FOCUS ON MIDDLE-INCOME FAMILIES

The Santander survey focused on middle-income Americans, which the company defined as those earning between $53,000 and $161,000.

A Santander spokesman said they focused on middle-income consumers, because they make up a majority of the company’s retail bank customers.

And the survey focused on car buying, homeownership and more, because those topics are related to the financial service products that Santander provides.

The people who responded to the Santander survey said their financial prosperity relies on their ability to pay their bills, hold down a job, enjoy flexibility in how they live, avoid debt, and have enough money to deal with emergency expenses.

On some of those key areas, middle-income Americans are doing just fine.

Three-quarters are current on their bills, and 79% feel secure in their jobs.

COOLING JOB MARKET

But the labor market has become somewhat stagnated.

Companies are not laying off people. At the same time, they may have hit the pause on hiring.

RELATED STORY: Layoffs very low, but companies also aren't hiring much amid economic uncertainty

The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, or JOLTS, released Tuesday showed the firing rate was just 1%. But the hiring rate, 3.3%, remained in a range that is the lowest in over a decade.

“Despite a lot of kind of ugly news around layoffs and slow hiring, most people still do have jobs,” Kates said.

Companies are hesitant to cut their workforces, Kates said.

But, he said, “If you don't have a job, you're in a pickle, because it's harder to find a job.”

The Conference Board Senior Economist Stephanie Guichard said a day earlier that the cooling job market isn’t really showing up in the unemployment rate, which remains a low 4.1%.

But she said people are noticing that it’s harder to find a new job, she said.

That’s another impact of tariffs, with a lot of businesses unsure how the policy will evolve and how they should proceed.

SEE ALSO: Consumer confidence stabilized, but tariff concerns still weigh on Americans

The Conference Board’s new survey showed consumer confidence has stabilized after hitting a rough patch over tariff and inflation concerns.

But Guichard told TNND that consumer confidence is still lower than it was in the fall.

INFLATION

Santander found that inflation remains the top concern for middle-income Americans, though that concern has eased a bit over the last couple of years.

And middle-income Americans said they are better at managing higher prices than they were a year ago.

More than eight in 10 middle-income Americans have cut back on shopping, forgone travel or dipped into savings or taken other steps to deal with higher prices.

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Wage growth has outpaced inflation over the last couple of years, which has allowed folks to catch up a bit after the surge in prices coming out of the pandemic, Kates said.

HOMEOWNERSHIP

Santander also asked middle-income Americans about their experiences owning a home or renting a place to live.

Close to three-quarters of recent homebuyers said they make spending cuts to keep up with homeownership costs.

And over 60% of renters said that renting is more affordable than taking on a mortgage.

Sixty percent said that homeownership as a sign of financial prosperity is an outdated concept.

And over half of renters said they would be comfortable renting forever.