The share of Americans who say they are “very satisfied” with their personal lives reached a new low in 2025, according to Gallup’s annual Mood of the Nation poll published Thursday.
In the survey, 44 percent of respondents said they are “very satisfied” with the way things are going in their personal lives — the lowest level since Gallup started asking the question in 2001.
Another 37 percent said they are “somewhat satisfied,” while 9 percent said they are “somewhat dissatisfied” and 8 percent said they are “very dissatisfied.”
The previous low point in the share of Americans who said they were “very satisfied” was in 2011, when 46 percent gave that answer as the country was still recovering from the recession.
The highest point for the “very satisfied” share came in January 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Nearly two-thirds, 65 percent, of Americans said at the time that they were “very satisfied” with their personal lives.
Since then, the share of adults who said they are “very satisfied” in their personal lives has fallen by 21 points. That downward trend was seen across demographics, but the biggest variation is evident in political party associations.
Republicans who said they are “very satisfied” in their personal lives fell 43 points, from 80 percent in 2020 to 37 percent in 2025. By contrast, the share of “very satisfied” Democrats declined by 5 points, from 56 percent in 2020 to 51 percent in 2025; and the share of “very satisfied” independents declined by 13 points, from 60 percent to 47 percent.
The poll was conducted on Jan. 2-15 and included 1,005 adults. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
