Customer Demand Is Up This Year. Nobody's Talking About It.
Between tariff headlines, inflation coverage, and rising recession chatter, it would be easy to assume 2026 has been a down year for demand. Our Mid-Year Pulse Check found the opposite.
Forty-five percent of business owners say customer demand has strengthened over the past six months, more than double the 22% who say it's softened. A third of business owners, 32%, say demand has held steady. Add it up, and more than three in four business owners are describing a demand environment that's either stable or improving, not one that's deteriorating.
Why This Finding Hasn't Made the Headlines
This is arguably the most underused finding in the entire mid-year dataset, not because it's surprising in isolation, but because it doesn't fit the narrative that's dominated economic coverage this year. Tariffs, inflation, and recession odds all make for a more dramatic story than "demand is fine, actually." But the survey data doesn't support the dramatic version.
Strong Demand Doesn't Mean the Pressure Is Gone
It's worth being precise about what this finding does and doesn't say. Strengthening demand doesn't mean the absence of pressure. The same survey found cash flow is the single most common challenge business owners report this year, and it's gotten worse, not better, since January. Demand and cash flow are two different questions. A business can have more customers and more revenue coming in the door while still struggling with the timing of when that revenue actually lands in the bank account. This year, that appears to be exactly what's happening for a lot of business owners: more demand, tighter cash flow, at the same time.
What This Means for Your Own Year
If you're trying to figure out how your own year stacks up, that combination matters more than either number alone. A business with softening demand and tight cash flow is in a fundamentally different position than a business with strengthening demand and tight cash flow. The first is a demand problem. The second is a plumbing problem, a business that's doing fine on the top line and needs help managing the timing underneath it. Most of the businesses in this survey look like the second case, not the first.
Findings are drawn from Fora Financial's 2026 Mid-Year Pulse Check, an online survey of over 300 U.S. business owners fielded between late June and mid-July 2026.
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