Life Satisfaction and Age
People were asked to score their life satisfaction from 0 to 10, where 10 is the best possible life and 0 is the worst possible life. This is the average score by age. It might be time to rethink life.
AVERAGE SCORE
8.0
Peak of
satisfaction
7.5
LIFE
EXPECTANCY
Trough of work and responsibilties
RETIREMENT
AGE
7.0
Pit of uncertainty and the unknown
6.5
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
YEARS OLD
SOURCE: AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY, BY: FLOWINGDATA
AVERAGE SCORE
8.0
Peak of
satisfaction
7.5
LIFE
EXPECTANCY
Trough of work and responsibilties
RETIREMENT
AGE
7.0
Pit of uncertainty and the unknown
6.5
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
YEARS OLD
SOURCE: AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY, BY: FLOWINGDATA
This is based on data from the well-being module of the American Time Use Survey. I was expecting to see a trend line similar to the above, but I didn’t think it’d be so clear.
See also: our feelings at work.
Notes
I downloaded the ATUS data for 2012, 2013, and 2021 via IPUMS. The smoothed age line uses three-year bins.
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