Chapter 8.2 · Two clocks of a life

Well-being across the life span

Life evaluation in Gallup interviews from 2009 to 2017 averaged 6.84 at ages 45 to 54 and 7.38 at ages 75 to 94, with a far smaller midlife fall in households of $90,000 or more than in households under $36,000, while stress was 44.6% at ages 45 to 54 and 18.0% at ages 75 to 94.

Author: Vishal Singh
Affiliation: NYU Stern
Published: 9 October 2026

In Gallup interviews from 2009 to 2017, adults rated their lives 7.03 (95% CI 7.02 to 7.05) on average at ages 18 to 24, 6.84 (95% CI 6.82 to 6.86) at ages 45 to 54 and 7.38 (95% CI 7.37 to 7.39) at ages 75 to 94, on the Cantril ladder, which runs from the worst possible life to the best possible one. The lowest point of the profile by year of age falls at age 54 (95% CI 51 to 54). Daily feelings follow other schedules. On the day before the interview, 48.6% of adults aged 25 to 34 reported stress for a lot of the day, against 18.0% of those aged 75 to 94, and physical pain rose from 15.5% at ages 18 to 24 to 28.5% at ages 55 to 64 and stayed near that level afterward.

These profiles compare people of different ages interviewed in the same years. A person aged 75 to 94 in these data was born earlier than a person aged 45 to 54, so a difference between them reflects age and birth cohort together, the cohort being the group of people born in the same years, and the oldest interviewees are also the survivors of their cohort. None of the profiles is the path of one person's life.

Two results qualify the shape of the ladder profile. The midlife fall is much larger in households with annual income under $36,000 than in households of $90,000 or more, where the ladder is level from ages 25 to 34 to ages 35 to 44 and falls only modestly afterward (Figure 4). And the age of the lowest point depends on what is held fixed: it is 54 (95% CI 51 to 55) in the raw profile of interviews with household income, 48 (95% CI 48 to 54) after adjusting for sex, marital status, education, household income and survey year, and 44 (95% CI 44 to 45) in a quadratic fit (Figure 5).

What the poll can compare

The file holds 3,457,670 interviews of adults aged 18 to 94 with a known county, in 3,142 counties, 2,180,433 of them with a usable ladder score. The extract does not top-code age, and the cells at the oldest ages are smaller, so their intervals are wider. Gallup's extract has no survey weights, so every estimate here is unweighted, its levels can differ from the weighted figures Gallup publishes, and its intervals are clustered by the respondent's county, which is derived from the ZIP code. The poll drew a new sample every day, so it is a repeated cross-section and not a panel, and no respondent is followed from one year to the next.

The ladder asks respondents to rate their present life as a whole. The feelings are yes or no answers about whether the respondent had a feeling for a lot of the day before the interview: enjoyment, happiness, worry, stress, sadness, anger and physical pain. The two kinds of measure are never combined into an index. The ladder, enjoyment, worry, stress and physical pain were asked in 2008 to 2017, happiness and sadness in 2008 to 2016, and anger in 2008 to 2013 and 2016. From 2013 each item was asked of 49% of interviews, and the ladder reached 85% of interviews in 2009.

The ladder of 2008 is left out of every estimate. In 2008 Gallup asked political questions before the ladder, which lowered the ladder scores, and it removed them for part of the sample in January 2009 and added a transition question in April 2009.[1] The 2008 ladder averaged 6.69 (95% CI 6.68 to 6.71), against 7.03 (95% CI 7.02 to 7.04) in 2009, and the difference is between 0.29 (95% CI 0.26 to 0.32) and 0.38 (95% CI 0.35 to 0.41) ladder points in every age band. The extract has no interview month, so early 2009 interviews may carry part of the same artifact, and the 2009 ladder is kept with that caveat. The feelings keep 2008, because the question order affected them less: the largest difference between their 2008 and 2009 levels is −1.6 (95% CI −1.8 to −1.3) points, for worry, which was lower in 2008 and not higher.

The ladder is lowest in midlife and highest in old age

Figure 1 plots the mean ladder score for each year of age. The score falls from 7.25 (95% CI 7.23 to 7.28) at age 18 to 6.93 (95% CI 6.91 to 6.96) at age 25, changes little from ages 25 to 34 to ages 35 to 44, falls again to its lowest five-year average at age 54 (95% CI 51 to 54), and then rises to its highest values among the oldest adults. By age band the mean is 6.84 (95% CI 6.82 to 6.86) at ages 45 to 54, a change of −0.15 (95% CI −0.16 to −0.13) ladder points from the mean of 6.99 (95% CI 6.97 to 7.00) at ages 25 to 34, and 7.38 (95% CI 7.37 to 7.39) at ages 75 to 94, a change of +0.54 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.55) from midlife. The rise from midlife to old age is larger than the fall into midlife.

Figure 1

Mean life evaluation falls from 7.03 among adults 18 to 24 to 6.84 among adults 45 to 54 and is 7.38 among adults 75 to 94

Unweighted mean Cantril ladder score by year of age, adults aged 18 to 94 interviewed by Gallup, 2009 to 2017

Show data

Data for Mean life evaluation falls from 7.03 among adults 18 to 24 to 6.84 among adults 45 to 54 and is 7.38 among adults 75 to 94
age	conf_high	conf_low	estimate	n
18	7.28	7.23	7.25	25,104
19	7.16	7.11	7.14	20,764
20	7.06	7.01	7.03	20,566
21	7.04	6.98	7.01	21,404
22	6.99	6.93	6.96	20,267
23	6.93	6.88	6.91	20,868
24	6.91	6.85	6.88	20,651
25	6.96	6.91	6.93	22,756
26	6.95	6.89	6.92	20,582
27	6.97	6.92	6.94	21,275
28	7.01	6.96	6.98	22,607
29	7.02	6.97	6.99	21,955
30	7.04	6.99	7.01	26,817
31	7.05	7.00	7.02	21,509
32	7.03	6.98	7.00	25,123
33	7.05	7	7.03	22,981
34	7.04	6.98	7.01	23,449
35	7.06	7.01	7.04	27,289
36	7.06	7.01	7.04	23,837
37	7.04	6.99	7.01	24,074
38	7.02	6.97	7.00	25,474
39	7.05	7.00	7.02	25,043
40	7.01	6.96	6.99	33,427
41	7.02	6.96	6.99	24,465
42	6.97	6.92	6.94	30,521
43	6.93	6.88	6.91	28,188
44	6.94	6.89	6.91	27,722
45	6.94	6.88	6.91	34,003
46	6.88	6.83	6.86	31,175
47	6.86	6.81	6.84	33,763
48	6.87	6.82	6.84	34,633
49	6.86	6.81	6.83	34,790
50	6.87	6.83	6.85	49,187
51	6.87	6.82	6.84	35,575
52	6.84	6.79	6.82	43,598
53	6.82	6.77	6.79	41,271
54	6.84	6.80	6.82	42,032
55	6.86	6.82	6.84	47,470
56	6.85	6.80	6.83	43,108
57	6.87	6.83	6.85	44,152
58	6.89	6.84	6.87	45,107
59	6.93	6.89	6.91	44,432
60	7.00	6.96	6.98	54,582
61	7.03	6.99	7.01	41,935
62	7.09	7.05	7.07	51,583
63	7.12	7.08	7.10	46,017
64	7.18	7.13	7.16	46,280
65	7.22	7.19	7.21	53,072
66	7.28	7.24	7.26	43,111
67	7.30	7.26	7.28	44,121
68	7.31	7.27	7.29	42,066
69	7.34	7.30	7.32	38,080
70	7.37	7.33	7.35	46,117
71	7.36	7.31	7.33	33,149
72	7.37	7.32	7.34	35,737
73	7.37	7.32	7.34	32,279
74	7.38	7.33	7.36	29,803
75	7.38	7.33	7.36	32,359
76	7.38	7.33	7.35	26,175
77	7.38	7.33	7.36	25,447
78	7.39	7.33	7.36	24,365
79	7.40	7.35	7.37	21,647
80	7.44	7.39	7.41	26,170
81	7.44	7.38	7.41	18,844
82	7.42	7.35	7.38	19,071
83	7.38	7.31	7.35	17,079
84	7.42	7.35	7.39	14,958
85	7.39	7.32	7.36	14,462
86	7.41	7.33	7.37	10,947
87	7.41	7.32	7.37	9,423
88	7.42	7.33	7.38	8,210
89	7.47	7.36	7.42	5,902
90	7.58	7.47	7.52	5,455
91	7.57	7.43	7.50	3,335
92	7.53	7.36	7.45	2,641
93	7.56	7.36	7.46	1,754
94	7.61	7.35	7.48	1,243

The line drops from age 18 to age 25, changes little from ages 25 to 34 to ages 35 to 44, reaches its lowest five-year average near age 54, then rises to its highest values among the oldest adults. Each point is the unweighted mean ladder score for one year of age with a 95% interval clustered by county; the vertical rule marks the lowest point of the five-year moving average.Note: Each age is a different group of people interviewed in the same years, so a profile mixes age with birth cohort and does not follow anyone through life.Note: Cells at the oldest ages hold fewer interviews, so their intervals are wider; the extract has no interviews above age 94.Note: The ladder of 2008 is not used. Political questions that came before the ladder lowered it in 2008 and in the first months of 2009, and the extract has no interview month, so early 2009 interviews may carry part of the effect. Scores averaged 6.69 in 2008 and 7.03 in 2009, and the 2009 minus 2008 difference is between 0.29 and 0.38 ladder points in every age band.Note: The ladder was asked of 85% of interviews in 2009, of nearly all in 2010 to 2012 and of 49% from 2013 to 2017.Note: Gallup's extract has no survey weights, so every estimate is unweighted and levels can differ from the weighted figures Gallup publishes. County comes from the respondent's ZIP code and is approximate near county lines.Source: Gallup U.S. Daily, ladder 2009-2017; unweighted, intervals clustered by county

Stone and colleagues found the same shape in the 2008 Gallup-Healthways survey, and Blanchflower and Oswald and later Blanchflower report a low in middle age across many countries.[2][3][4] The profile here is a wave more than a parabola. It begins high at age 18, drops to a first low among young adults, flattens, falls to the lowest point around age 54 and climbs to a higher level than any it had before. Frijters and Beatton describe a similar wave in the raw profiles of three household panels.[5]

Daily feelings follow other schedules

Figure 2 shows the seven feelings. Enjoyment and happiness reach their lowest points in midlife, at ages 52 (95% CI 52 to 53) and 54 (95% CI 54 to 56), close to the ladder's lowest point. They differ from the ladder at the other end. The ladder is higher at ages 75 to 94 than at ages 18 to 24, while enjoyment is 88.3% (95% CI 88.1% to 88.6%) at ages 18 to 24, 82.6% (95% CI 82.4% to 82.8%) at ages 45 to 54 and 88.5% (95% CI 88.3% to 88.7%) at ages 75 to 94, back at its youngest level, and happiness goes from 91.9% (95% CI 91.7% to 92.1%) to 86.6% (95% CI 86.4% to 86.8%) and 90.0% (95% CI 89.8% to 90.2%), staying below its youngest level. The negative experiences do not share that shape. Stress is highest in early adulthood, at age 26 (95% CI 25 to 33), and falls to 18.0% (95% CI 17.8% to 18.2%) at ages 75 to 94 from 48.6% (95% CI 48.3% to 48.9%) at ages 25 to 34. Worry peaks in midlife, at age 48 (95% CI 47 to 49), with 35.4% (95% CI 35.2% to 35.7%) of adults at ages 45 to 54 and 18.6% (95% CI 18.4% to 18.8%) at ages 75 to 94, and anger falls from the youngest ages, from 16.5% (95% CI 16.3% to 16.8%) to 6.2% (95% CI 6.0% to 6.3%). Sadness moves in a narrow range, 14.9% (95% CI 14.6% to 15.2%) at ages 25 to 34, 18.6% (95% CI 18.3% to 18.8%) at ages 45 to 54 and 16.1% (95% CI 15.9% to 16.3%) at ages 75 to 94, and peaks near age 55 (95% CI 55 to 55). Physical pain peaks near age 60 (95% CI 58 to 61) and is 26.4% (95% CI 26.2% to 26.6%) at ages 75 to 94.

Figure 2

Stress, worry and anger are lower among older adults, enjoyment and happiness are lowest in midlife, and physical pain peaks near age 60

Share of adults who reported each feeling during a lot of the day yesterday, by year of age, and the age at which each profile turns, Gallup 2008 to 2017

Enjoyment was 88.3% among adults 18 to 24, 82.6% among adults 45 to 54 and 88.5% among adults 75 to 94

Both lines are high among the youngest adults and lowest in midlife. Enjoyment is back at its youngest level at the oldest ages, and happiness stops a little below its. Each point is an unweighted share for one year of age with a 95% interval clustered by county.

Show data

Data for Stress, worry and anger are lower among older adults, enjoyment and happiness are lowest in midlife, and physical pain peaks near age 60, Positive feelings
age	conf_high	conf_low	estimate	group	n
18	90.98	90.23	90.60	Enjoyment	28,557
19	89.84	89.06	89.45	Enjoyment	23,263
20	88.74	87.85	88.30	Enjoyment	23,009
21	88.61	87.65	88.13	Enjoyment	23,783
22	87.78	86.85	87.31	Enjoyment	22,818
23	87.72	86.80	87.26	Enjoyment	23,592
24	87.27	86.39	86.83	Enjoyment	23,437
25	87.10	86.20	86.65	Enjoyment	26,005
26	86.76	85.73	86.25	Enjoyment	23,861
27	86.46	85.54	86	Enjoyment	24,759
28	86.47	85.53	86	Enjoyment	26,621
29	86.20	85.25	85.72	Enjoyment	25,876
30	86.16	85.35	85.76	Enjoyment	31,422
31	86.64	85.74	86.19	Enjoyment	25,431
32	86	85.18	85.59	Enjoyment	29,597
33	86.08	85.15	85.62	Enjoyment	27,389
34	85.80	84.97	85.38	Enjoyment	27,933
35	85.49	84.64	85.06	Enjoyment	32,578
36	85.41	84.61	85.01	Enjoyment	28,964
37	85.25	84.41	84.83	Enjoyment	30,009
38	84.82	83.99	84.40	Enjoyment	31,592
39	84.86	84.02	84.44	Enjoyment	30,597
40	84.20	83.48	83.84	Enjoyment	40,260
41	84.69	83.81	84.25	Enjoyment	29,985
42	84.05	83.25	83.65	Enjoyment	37,089
43	84.06	83.25	83.66	Enjoyment	34,666
44	83.72	82.91	83.31	Enjoyment	34,208
45	83.99	83.17	83.58	Enjoyment	41,548
46	83.64	82.82	83.23	Enjoyment	38,143
47	83.27	82.50	82.88	Enjoyment	41,423
48	82.74	81.97	82.36	Enjoyment	42,340
49	83.18	82.34	82.76	Enjoyment	42,520
50	82.88	82.15	82.52	Enjoyment	59,198
51	82.88	82.13	82.50	Enjoyment	43,366
52	83.03	82.29	82.66	Enjoyment	52,428
53	82.23	81.44	81.83	Enjoyment	49,670
54	82.41	81.63	82.02	Enjoyment	50,885
55	83.22	82.55	82.88	Enjoyment	56,720
56	83.17	82.49	82.83	Enjoyment	51,455
57	83.74	83.08	83.41	Enjoyment	52,780
58	83.39	82.70	83.04	Enjoyment	54,014
59	84.32	83.65	83.98	Enjoyment	52,975
60	84.90	84.24	84.57	Enjoyment	64,982
61	85.46	84.73	85.10	Enjoyment	50,789
62	86.08	85.48	85.78	Enjoyment	60,227
63	86.48	85.83	86.16	Enjoyment	52,955
64	87.68	87.03	87.35	Enjoyment	53,663
65	88.18	87.58	87.88	Enjoyment	62,084
66	88.83	88.15	88.49	Enjoyment	50,067
67	88.96	88.36	88.66	Enjoyment	50,877
68	89.36	88.72	89.04	Enjoyment	48,587
69	89.83	89.24	89.54	Enjoyment	43,823
70	89.93	89.33	89.63	Enjoyment	53,175
71	89.91	89.26	89.58	Enjoyment	38,510
72	89.54	88.85	89.20	Enjoyment	41,607
73	90	89.33	89.67	Enjoyment	37,700
74	89.92	89.20	89.56	Enjoyment	34,644
75	89.95	89.29	89.62	Enjoyment	37,805
76	89.79	89.09	89.44	Enjoyment	30,749
77	89.65	88.93	89.29	Enjoyment	30,079
78	89.09	88.34	88.72	Enjoyment	28,996
79	89.22	88.41	88.81	Enjoyment	25,522
80	89.21	88.37	88.79	Enjoyment	31,021
81	89.12	88.21	88.67	Enjoyment	22,351
82	89.09	88.21	88.65	Enjoyment	22,581
83	88.28	87.32	87.80	Enjoyment	20,144
84	88.18	87.17	87.68	Enjoyment	17,710
85	88.27	87.30	87.78	Enjoyment	17,007
86	87.63	86.47	87.05	Enjoyment	12,976
87	87.93	86.65	87.29	Enjoyment	10,983
88	87.16	85.73	86.44	Enjoyment	9,723
89	87.87	86.15	87.01	Enjoyment	6,788
90	87.71	86.09	86.90	Enjoyment	6,359
91	88.42	86.24	87.33	Enjoyment	3,876
92	88.17	85.94	87.06	Enjoyment	3,083
93	88.01	85	86.51	Enjoyment	2,031
94	88.14	84.60	86.37	Enjoyment	1,438
18	93.51	92.83	93.17	Happiness	26,328
19	92.84	92.07	92.46	Happiness	21,421
20	92.27	91.45	91.86	Happiness	21,096
21	92	91.20	91.60	Happiness	21,766
22	91.75	90.97	91.36	Happiness	20,896
23	91.83	90.92	91.37	Happiness	21,564
24	91.48	90.70	91.09	Happiness	21,419
25	91.39	90.45	90.92	Happiness	23,779
26	91.05	90.19	90.62	Happiness	21,871
27	90.70	89.87	90.28	Happiness	22,747
28	90.75	89.98	90.36	Happiness	24,555
29	90.87	90.08	90.48	Happiness	23,865
30	90.27	89.55	89.91	Happiness	29,131
31	91.28	90.49	90.88	Happiness	23,608
32	90.63	89.88	90.26	Happiness	27,463
33	90.96	90.18	90.57	Happiness	25,404
34	90.82	90.01	90.41	Happiness	25,881
35	90.07	89.31	89.69	Happiness	30,143
36	90.37	89.61	89.99	Happiness	26,869
37	89.98	89.19	89.58	Happiness	28,044
38	90.08	89.26	89.67	Happiness	29,670
39	89.62	88.79	89.20	Happiness	28,734
40	88.85	88.15	88.50	Happiness	37,679
41	89.24	88.43	88.83	Happiness	28,383
42	88.70	87.95	88.33	Happiness	34,991
43	88.70	87.93	88.32	Happiness	32,863
44	88.33	87.58	87.96	Happiness	32,405
45	88.31	87.62	87.97	Happiness	39,173
46	87.93	87.19	87.56	Happiness	36,081
47	87.67	86.93	87.30	Happiness	39,096
48	87.12	86.37	86.75	Happiness	40,072
49	87.11	86.35	86.73	Happiness	40,405
50	86.54	85.85	86.19	Happiness	56,025
51	86.69	86.03	86.36	Happiness	41,286
52	86.59	85.92	86.25	Happiness	49,682
53	86.02	85.30	85.66	Happiness	47,090
54	85.96	85.25	85.60	Happiness	48,184
55	86.12	85.47	85.80	Happiness	53,676
56	86.16	85.52	85.84	Happiness	48,612
57	86.63	85.98	86.31	Happiness	49,896
58	86.29	85.63	85.96	Happiness	51,055
59	86.69	86.07	86.38	Happiness	50,127
60	87.18	86.55	86.87	Happiness	61,244
61	87.56	86.91	87.23	Happiness	48,038
62	87.87	87.27	87.57	Happiness	56,916
63	88.18	87.55	87.87	Happiness	49,996
64	89.10	88.50	88.80	Happiness	50,602
65	89.24	88.63	88.94	Happiness	58,470
66	90	89.36	89.68	Happiness	47,133
67	90.17	89.52	89.84	Happiness	47,727
68	90.42	89.79	90.11	Happiness	45,528
69	90.84	90.23	90.54	Happiness	40,978
70	90.79	90.22	90.51	Happiness	49,145
71	90.95	90.33	90.64	Happiness	36,212
72	90.68	90.04	90.36	Happiness	39,095
73	91.06	90.38	90.72	Happiness	35,328
74	90.95	90.29	90.62	Happiness	32,368
75	90.94	90.28	90.61	Happiness	35,569
76	90.93	90.18	90.56	Happiness	28,994
77	90.89	90.14	90.51	Happiness	28,398
78	90.46	89.69	90.08	Happiness	27,483
79	90.77	90	90.39	Happiness	24,133
80	90.47	89.65	90.06	Happiness	29,435
81	90.84	89.96	90.40	Happiness	21,245
82	90.75	89.87	90.31	Happiness	21,502
83	89.83	88.88	89.36	Happiness	19,117
84	90.12	89.08	89.60	Happiness	16,855
85	90.05	89.04	89.55	Happiness	16,147
86	89.85	88.76	89.31	Happiness	12,324
87	89.90	88.69	89.30	Happiness	10,388
88	89.58	88.27	88.92	Happiness	9,227
89	90.09	88.58	89.34	Happiness	6,433
90	90.27	88.64	89.45	Happiness	5,954
91	90.93	88.86	89.90	Happiness	3,643
92	90.06	87.92	88.99	Happiness	2,869
93	88.37	85.43	86.90	Happiness	1,878
94	91.68	88.41	90.05	Happiness	1,326

The first tab shows the positive feelings, the second the negative ones and the third the ages at which the profiles turn. Enjoyment and happiness reach their lowest points in midlife, near the ladder's, while stress, worry and anger are lower among older adults and physical pain stays near its peak.Note: Each age is a different group of people interviewed in the same years, so a profile mixes age with birth cohort and does not follow anyone through life.Note: Cells at the oldest ages hold fewer interviews, so their intervals are wider; the extract has no interviews above age 94.Note: Happiness and sadness were asked in 2008 to 2016, anger in 2008 to 2013 and 2016 and the other feelings in 2008 to 2017. From 2013 each item was asked of 49% of interviews. The feelings keep 2008: the largest difference from 2009 among the seven is −1.6 points.Note: Gallup's extract has no survey weights, so every estimate is unweighted and levels can differ from the weighted figures Gallup publishes. County comes from the respondent's ZIP code and is approximate near county lines.Source: Gallup U.S. Daily, ladder 2009-2017 and feelings 2008-2017; unweighted, intervals clustered by county

The contrast is therefore between two groups of measures. The ladder, enjoyment and happiness reach their lowest points in midlife, and stress, worry and anger are lower among older adults than among younger ones, while pain is more common. Stone and colleagues reported the same patterns for stress, anger and worry in the 2008 survey.[2] The daily feelings of older adults are not brighter in every respect, but they include fewer days of stress and worry, and the pain profile reaches a plateau after its peak and does not keep climbing.

Richer and poorer places

To ask whether the profile differs between richer and poorer places, each interview is placed in one of three groups of about equal numbers of interviews by the Area Deprivation Index of the respondent's county, the book's measure of neighborhood deprivation. The groups are thirds of interviews and not of counties. Interviews come mostly from large counties, so the least deprived third comes from 274 counties, the middle third from 655 and the most deprived third from 2,193. The 2023 version of the index is joined to interviews from 2008 to 2017, so it describes each county as it was later, and 931 interviews in counties with no rank are left out. Chapter 7.2, Life evaluation and daily feelings asks how the ladder and the feelings differ across places at all ages. The question here is whether the age profile changes with place.

It has a midlife low and a later rise in all three groups, and the midlife fall is deeper in the most deprived third. The fall from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.11 (95% CI −0.14 to −0.09) ladder points in the least deprived third and −0.17 (95% CI −0.19 to −0.15) in the most deprived, with intervals that do not overlap, and the difference between the two falls is −0.06 (95% CI −0.09 to −0.03) ladder points. The lowest ladder point is at age 54 (95% CI 51 to 56) in the least deprived third, 54 (95% CI 52 to 55) in the middle third and 51 (95% CI 48 to 54) in the most deprived, so it is earlier in the most deprived third, although the intervals overlap (Figure 3). The ladder gap between the most and the least deprived third is −0.07 (95% CI −0.10 to −0.04) ladder points at ages 18 to 24, −0.21 (95% CI −0.24 to −0.17) at ages 45 to 54 and −0.12 (95% CI −0.15 to −0.09) at ages 75 to 94. It is widest in midlife, where scores average 6.94 (95% CI 6.90 to 6.97) in the least deprived third and 6.73 (95% CI 6.71 to 6.75) in the most deprived.

Figure 3

The ladder falls into midlife and rises after it in every third of interviews by county deprivation, and the fall from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.17 points in the most deprived third and −0.11 in the least

Cantril ladder score and feelings yesterday by year of age, for the least deprived, middle and most deprived third of interviews ranked by the Area Deprivation Index of the respondent's county, Gallup ladder 2009 to 2017 and feelings 2008 to 2017

The ladder is lower in the most deprived third of interviews in every age band, with gaps of −0.07 points at ages 18 to 24, −0.21 at ages 45 to 54 and −0.12 at ages 75 to 94

Unweighted mean Cantril ladder score by year of age and group of interviews by county deprivation, Gallup 2009 to 2017

The three lines have a midlife low and a later rise, and the line for the most deprived third is below the line for the least deprived third at every age before the oldest, where cells are small; the gap between the lines is smallest among the youngest adults and largest in midlife. Each point is an unweighted mean for one year of age with a 95% interval clustered by county.

Show data

Data for The ladder falls into midlife and rises after it in every third of interviews by county deprivation, and the fall from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.17 points in the most deprived third and −0.11 in the least, Ladder
age	conf_high	conf_low	estimate	group	n
18	7.32	7.23	7.27	Least deprived third	9,352
19	7.19	7.11	7.15	Least deprived third	7,498
20	7.12	7.04	7.08	Least deprived third	7,314
21	7.10	7.01	7.05	Least deprived third	7,576
22	7.06	6.96	7.01	Least deprived third	7,398
23	7.00	6.91	6.96	Least deprived third	7,627
24	7.00	6.92	6.96	Least deprived third	7,574
25	7.03	6.95	6.99	Least deprived third	8,549
26	7.02	6.93	6.97	Least deprived third	7,666
27	7.00	6.92	6.96	Least deprived third	7,878
28	7.08	7.00	7.04	Least deprived third	8,371
29	7.10	7.01	7.06	Least deprived third	8,012
30	7.11	7.04	7.08	Least deprived third	10,053
31	7.16	7.06	7.11	Least deprived third	7,791
32	7.11	7.03	7.07	Least deprived third	9,162
33	7.13	7.06	7.10	Least deprived third	8,365
34	7.15	7.06	7.11	Least deprived third	8,587
35	7.16	7.08	7.12	Least deprived third	10,273
36	7.15	7.06	7.11	Least deprived third	8,688
37	7.13	7.05	7.09	Least deprived third	8,703
38	7.12	7.04	7.08	Least deprived third	9,269
39	7.14	7.06	7.10	Least deprived third	8,995
40	7.09	7.02	7.06	Least deprived third	12,478
41	7.15	7.06	7.10	Least deprived third	8,782
42	7.08	6.99	7.03	Least deprived third	10,953
43	7.06	6.97	7.01	Least deprived third	9,898
44	7.06	6.97	7.01	Least deprived third	9,810
45	7.07	6.98	7.02	Least deprived third	12,018
46	7.02	6.93	6.97	Least deprived third	10,751
47	6.98	6.89	6.93	Least deprived third	11,610
48	6.98	6.90	6.94	Least deprived third	11,867
49	6.96	6.86	6.91	Least deprived third	11,710
50	6.97	6.89	6.93	Least deprived third	17,124
51	7.00	6.92	6.96	Least deprived third	11,747
52	6.95	6.86	6.91	Least deprived third	14,482
53	6.94	6.84	6.89	Least deprived third	13,416
54	6.96	6.87	6.91	Least deprived third	13,484
55	7.00	6.91	6.96	Least deprived third	15,505
56	6.95	6.87	6.91	Least deprived third	13,706
57	6.95	6.87	6.91	Least deprived third	13,995
58	6.97	6.89	6.93	Least deprived third	14,135
59	7.04	6.95	6.99	Least deprived third	13,973
60	7.10	7.03	7.07	Least deprived third	17,630
61	7.10	7.00	7.05	Least deprived third	13,070
62	7.18	7.12	7.15	Least deprived third	16,250
63	7.22	7.13	7.17	Least deprived third	14,101
64	7.28	7.20	7.24	Least deprived third	14,308
65	7.30	7.22	7.26	Least deprived third	16,522
66	7.36	7.28	7.32	Least deprived third	13,195
67	7.43	7.35	7.39	Least deprived third	13,502
68	7.43	7.34	7.38	Least deprived third	12,771
69	7.46	7.38	7.42	Least deprived third	11,352
70	7.49	7.40	7.45	Least deprived third	14,159
71	7.49	7.41	7.45	Least deprived third	9,805
72	7.48	7.39	7.43	Least deprived third	10,531
73	7.46	7.38	7.42	Least deprived third	9,433
74	7.49	7.39	7.44	Least deprived third	8,662
75	7.49	7.41	7.45	Least deprived third	9,452
76	7.48	7.39	7.43	Least deprived third	7,525
77	7.48	7.39	7.44	Least deprived third	7,373
78	7.48	7.38	7.43	Least deprived third	6,971
79	7.46	7.36	7.41	Least deprived third	6,340
80	7.50	7.41	7.45	Least deprived third	7,924
81	7.51	7.41	7.46	Least deprived third	5,532
82	7.50	7.40	7.45	Least deprived third	5,740
83	7.43	7.31	7.37	Least deprived third	5,160
84	7.49	7.37	7.43	Least deprived third	4,468
85	7.46	7.34	7.40	Least deprived third	4,535
86	7.50	7.36	7.43	Least deprived third	3,367
87	7.46	7.30	7.38	Least deprived third	2,921
88	7.49	7.33	7.41	Least deprived third	2,641
89	7.53	7.33	7.43	Least deprived third	1,849
90	7.62	7.42	7.52	Least deprived third	1,809
91	7.73	7.51	7.62	Least deprived third	1,082
92	7.49	7.19	7.34	Least deprived third	858
93	7.57	7.22	7.40	Least deprived third	603
94	7.50	7.06	7.28	Least deprived third	419
18	7.28	7.20	7.24	Middle third	8,347
19	7.18	7.10	7.14	Middle third	6,868
20	7.07	6.98	7.02	Middle third	6,846
21	7.05	6.96	7.01	Middle third	7,168
22	6.97	6.89	6.93	Middle third	6,617
23	6.89	6.81	6.85	Middle third	6,982
24	6.89	6.80	6.84	Middle third	6,881
25	6.96	6.87	6.91	Middle third	7,385
26	6.95	6.87	6.91	Middle third	6,774
27	7.01	6.92	6.96	Middle third	7,012
28	7.05	6.97	7.01	Middle third	7,479
29	7.02	6.93	6.97	Middle third	7,269
30	7.07	6.98	7.03	Middle third	8,783
31	7.07	6.98	7.03	Middle third	7,099
32	7.07	6.99	7.03	Middle third	8,355
33	7.08	7.00	7.04	Middle third	7,621
34	7.04	6.95	7.00	Middle third	7,850
35	7.08	7.00	7.04	Middle third	8,925
36	7.11	7.02	7.07	Middle third	8,082
37	7.07	6.98	7.03	Middle third	8,174
38	7.04	6.95	7.00	Middle third	8,426
39	7.08	6.99	7.04	Middle third	8,268
40	7.07	6.98	7.03	Middle third	11,000
41	7.04	6.93	6.98	Middle third	8,098
42	7.01	6.92	6.96	Middle third	10,173
43	6.96	6.88	6.92	Middle third	9,331
44	6.96	6.88	6.92	Middle third	9,065
45	6.94	6.85	6.90	Middle third	11,236
46	6.92	6.83	6.88	Middle third	10,369
47	6.90	6.80	6.85	Middle third	11,259
48	6.90	6.82	6.86	Middle third	11,628
49	6.92	6.83	6.88	Middle third	11,452
50	6.91	6.83	6.87	Middle third	16,013
51	6.89	6.81	6.85	Middle third	11,787
52	6.88	6.80	6.84	Middle third	14,572
53	6.84	6.76	6.80	Middle third	13,756
54	6.86	6.78	6.82	Middle third	14,096
55	6.88	6.81	6.84	Middle third	15,749
56	6.86	6.78	6.82	Middle third	14,495
57	6.92	6.85	6.88	Middle third	14,703
58	6.91	6.84	6.87	Middle third	14,995
59	6.97	6.90	6.94	Middle third	14,668
60	7.03	6.96	7.00	Middle third	18,154
61	7.07	7	7.03	Middle third	14,035
62	7.10	7.04	7.07	Middle third	17,202
63	7.15	7.08	7.12	Middle third	15,501
64	7.19	7.12	7.16	Middle third	15,486
65	7.28	7.21	7.24	Middle third	18,127
66	7.34	7.27	7.31	Middle third	14,659
67	7.30	7.23	7.26	Middle third	15,038
68	7.34	7.27	7.31	Middle third	14,396
69	7.39	7.31	7.35	Middle third	12,952
70	7.38	7.31	7.34	Middle third	15,675
71	7.40	7.32	7.36	Middle third	11,443
72	7.42	7.34	7.38	Middle third	12,228
73	7.42	7.34	7.38	Middle third	10,982
74	7.42	7.33	7.38	Middle third	10,095
75	7.42	7.34	7.38	Middle third	11,066
76	7.41	7.32	7.37	Middle third	8,960
77	7.41	7.32	7.37	Middle third	8,668
78	7.46	7.37	7.41	Middle third	8,380
79	7.45	7.36	7.40	Middle third	7,402
80	7.49	7.41	7.45	Middle third	8,957
81	7.47	7.36	7.42	Middle third	6,371
82	7.47	7.36	7.42	Middle third	6,481
83	7.43	7.33	7.38	Middle third	5,825
84	7.48	7.36	7.42	Middle third	5,095
85	7.44	7.32	7.38	Middle third	4,898
86	7.42	7.28	7.34	Middle third	3,731
87	7.52	7.34	7.43	Middle third	3,244
88	7.48	7.33	7.41	Middle third	2,741
89	7.55	7.37	7.46	Middle third	2,063
90	7.62	7.42	7.51	Middle third	1,827
91	7.57	7.36	7.46	Middle third	1,146
92	7.69	7.41	7.55	Middle third	915
93	7.69	7.35	7.52	Middle third	589
94	7.85	7.42	7.64	Middle third	431
18	7.29	7.21	7.25	Most deprived third	7,397
19	7.17	7.07	7.12	Most deprived third	6,397
20	7.03	6.95	6.99	Most deprived third	6,403
21	7.00	6.92	6.96	Most deprived third	6,655
22	6.99	6.89	6.94	Most deprived third	6,249
23	6.94	6.85	6.90	Most deprived third	6,257
24	6.87	6.77	6.82	Most deprived third	6,188
25	6.93	6.83	6.88	Most deprived third	6,815
26	6.91	6.80	6.86	Most deprived third	6,129
27	6.93	6.84	6.89	Most deprived third	6,377
28	6.92	6.83	6.88	Most deprived third	6,754
29	6.98	6.89	6.94	Most deprived third	6,661
30	6.97	6.88	6.92	Most deprived third	7,974
31	6.97	6.87	6.92	Most deprived third	6,612
32	6.94	6.84	6.89	Most deprived third	7,600
33	6.97	6.88	6.92	Most deprived third	6,992
34	6.96	6.87	6.91	Most deprived third	7,006
35	6.97	6.88	6.93	Most deprived third	8,085
36	6.97	6.88	6.92	Most deprived third	7,063
37	6.94	6.85	6.90	Most deprived third	7,190
38	6.95	6.85	6.90	Most deprived third	7,775
39	6.96	6.88	6.92	Most deprived third	7,775
40	6.90	6.82	6.86	Most deprived third	9,938
41	6.91	6.82	6.87	Most deprived third	7,575
42	6.86	6.77	6.81	Most deprived third	9,387
43	6.82	6.73	6.77	Most deprived third	8,954
44	6.84	6.75	6.80	Most deprived third	8,845
45	6.84	6.76	6.80	Most deprived third	10,741
46	6.77	6.68	6.72	Most deprived third	10,046
47	6.76	6.68	6.72	Most deprived third	10,883
48	6.76	6.68	6.72	Most deprived third	11,130
49	6.76	6.68	6.72	Most deprived third	11,621
50	6.78	6.71	6.74	Most deprived third	16,033
51	6.76	6.68	6.72	Most deprived third	12,032
52	6.75	6.67	6.71	Most deprived third	14,532
53	6.74	6.67	6.70	Most deprived third	14,083
54	6.77	6.70	6.73	Most deprived third	14,436
55	6.77	6.70	6.73	Most deprived third	16,199
56	6.79	6.72	6.75	Most deprived third	14,892
57	6.80	6.73	6.77	Most deprived third	15,441
58	6.84	6.77	6.80	Most deprived third	15,961
59	6.85	6.79	6.82	Most deprived third	15,776
60	6.92	6.86	6.89	Most deprived third	18,786
61	6.98	6.91	6.94	Most deprived third	14,814
62	7.02	6.96	6.99	Most deprived third	18,116
63	7.04	6.98	7.01	Most deprived third	16,397
64	7.11	7.05	7.08	Most deprived third	16,468
65	7.15	7.09	7.12	Most deprived third	18,407
66	7.21	7.14	7.17	Most deprived third	15,247
67	7.22	7.16	7.19	Most deprived third	15,574
68	7.23	7.16	7.19	Most deprived third	14,892
69	7.25	7.18	7.22	Most deprived third	13,762
70	7.30	7.23	7.27	Most deprived third	16,259
71	7.25	7.17	7.21	Most deprived third	11,890
72	7.27	7.20	7.23	Most deprived third	12,971
73	7.28	7.20	7.24	Most deprived third	11,858
74	7.31	7.24	7.27	Most deprived third	11,042
75	7.30	7.22	7.26	Most deprived third	11,833
76	7.31	7.23	7.27	Most deprived third	9,683
77	7.33	7.24	7.28	Most deprived third	9,399
78	7.30	7.21	7.26	Most deprived third	9,009
79	7.36	7.27	7.32	Most deprived third	7,892
80	7.39	7.30	7.34	Most deprived third	9,286
81	7.40	7.30	7.35	Most deprived third	6,937
82	7.35	7.24	7.30	Most deprived third	6,844
83	7.35	7.24	7.30	Most deprived third	6,092
84	7.38	7.26	7.32	Most deprived third	5,395
85	7.36	7.24	7.30	Most deprived third	5,029
86	7.41	7.28	7.35	Most deprived third	3,847
87	7.37	7.22	7.29	Most deprived third	3,256
88	7.40	7.25	7.32	Most deprived third	2,828
89	7.46	7.26	7.36	Most deprived third	1,989
90	7.63	7.44	7.53	Most deprived third	1,816
91	7.57	7.29	7.43	Most deprived third	1,106
92	7.61	7.28	7.44	Most deprived third	868
93	7.65	7.28	7.47	Most deprived third	562
94	7.73	7.29	7.51	Most deprived third	393

The first two tabs show the ladder and physical pain for the three groups, and the third shows the gap in each feeling by age band. The groups are thirds of interviews, not of counties: they hold 274, 655 and 2,193 counties, so they describe the place a person lives in and not the person's own circumstances.Note: Each age is a different group of people interviewed in the same years, so a profile mixes age with birth cohort and does not follow anyone through life.Note: Cells at the oldest ages hold fewer interviews, so their intervals are wider; the extract has no interviews above age 94.Note: County deprivation is the mean Area Deprivation Index 2023 national rank of the county's tracts, weighted by tract population (1 is least deprived), joined to interviews from 2008 to 2017, so it describes counties as they were later than the interviews. Interviews are ranked on it and cut into three groups of about equal size; a county sits in one group. 931 interviews are in counties with no rank and are left out of this figure.Note: The ladder of 2008 is not used. Political questions that came before the ladder lowered it in 2008 and in the first months of 2009, and the extract has no interview month, so early 2009 interviews may carry part of the effect. Scores averaged 6.69 in 2008 and 7.03 in 2009, and the 2009 minus 2008 difference is between 0.29 and 0.38 ladder points in every age band.Note: Gallup's extract has no survey weights, so every estimate is unweighted and levels can differ from the weighted figures Gallup publishes. County comes from the respondent's ZIP code and is approximate near county lines.Source: Gallup U.S. Daily, ladder 2009-2017 and feelings 2008-2017; unweighted, intervals clustered by county; county Area Deprivation Index 2023 joined on the county of the interview

Most feelings show little place gap (the last tab of Figure 3). The largest difference between the extreme thirds in any age band is 1.3 points for stress, 1.5 for enjoyment, 2.1 for sadness and 2.9 for worry. Physical pain is the exception. It is more common in the most deprived third, with gaps of +0.9 (95% CI 0.3 to 1.4) points at ages 18 to 24 and +6.8 (95% CI 6.0 to 7.6) points at ages 45 to 54. The groups describe where a person lives, and counties differ in income, age mix and much else, so the comparison does not say what place does to well-being.

The midlife fall is much larger in lower-income households

Figure 4 repeats the profiles within three groups of households: those with annual income under $36,000, those between $36,000 and $90,000, and those at $90,000 or more. Income is the household's and includes a partner's earnings. It is reported in dollars of the interview year, and 81% of interviews report it. Each line holds the household's income bracket fixed, so it compares people of similar income at different ages. The figure uses interviews in 2009 to 2014 only. The share of income reporters at $90,000 or more was 23% (95% CI 22% to 24%) in 2014 and 35% (95% CI 34% to 36%) in 2017, a jump larger than inflation can explain, so the income groups mean something different in 2015 to 2017, and those years are reported separately below. The smallest cell of the income profiles, the highest income group at the oldest ages, holds 51 interviews, so the intervals there are wide.

Within households under $36,000, the ladder averages 6.85 (95% CI 6.83 to 6.88) at ages 18 to 24, 5.89 (95% CI 5.86 to 5.91) at ages 45 to 54 and 7.04 (95% CI 7.03 to 7.06) at ages 75 to 94. The fall from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.59 (95% CI −0.62 to −0.56) ladder points there and −0.27 (95% CI −0.29 to −0.26) between the cutoffs, where the mean at ages 45 to 54 is 6.86 (95% CI 6.85 to 6.88). The profile of households of $90,000 or more is different but not flat. Its mean is 7.50 (95% CI 7.48 to 7.52) at ages 25 to 34, 7.51 (95% CI 7.50 to 7.53) at ages 35 to 44 and 7.45 (95% CI 7.43 to 7.46) at ages 45 to 54, so the fall from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.05 (95% CI −0.07 to −0.03) ladder points, and the fall from ages 35 to 44 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.07 (95% CI −0.08 to −0.05), against −0.27 (95% CI −0.30 to −0.24) and −0.12 (95% CI −0.13 to −0.10) in the other two groups. The midlife fall in the highest group is far smaller and not absent. The rise after midlife is +1.15 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.18) in the lowest group, +0.69 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.71) in the middle group and +0.37 (95% CI 0.33 to 0.40) in the highest.

Figure 4

The fall in life evaluation from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.59 ladder points in households under $36,000 and −0.05 in households of $90,000 or more, where the fall from ages 35 to 44 is −0.07

Cantril ladder score and feelings yesterday by year of age, for interviews in 2009 to 2014 in households with annual income under the lower cutoff, between the cutoffs and above the upper cutoff, Gallup

Ladder scores fall to 5.89 at ages 45 to 54 in households under $36,000, while in households of $90,000 or more they are 7.51 at ages 35 to 44 and 7.45 at ages 45 to 54

Unweighted mean Cantril ladder score by year of age and household income group, Gallup 2009 to 2014

The lowest income group has a deep midlife low and a large rise at older ages, the middle group has a smaller version of the same shape, and the highest group's line is level from ages 25 to 34 to ages 35 to 44 and has a much smaller midlife fall. Each point is an unweighted mean for one year of age with a 95% interval clustered by county.

Show data

Data for The fall in life evaluation from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.59 ladder points in households under $36,000 and −0.05 in households of $90,000 or more, where the fall from ages 35 to 44 is −0.07, Ladder
age	conf_high	conf_low	estimate	group	n
18	7.14	7.04	7.09	Under $36,000	5,686
19	7.00	6.91	6.96	Under $36,000	5,858
20	6.97	6.87	6.92	Under $36,000	6,592
21	6.94	6.85	6.89	Under $36,000	7,219
22	6.85	6.76	6.81	Under $36,000	6,854
23	6.75	6.66	6.71	Under $36,000	6,753
24	6.71	6.60	6.65	Under $36,000	6,544
25	6.71	6.62	6.66	Under $36,000	6,878
26	6.60	6.50	6.55	Under $36,000	5,908
27	6.56	6.45	6.50	Under $36,000	5,783
28	6.57	6.46	6.52	Under $36,000	6,052
29	6.49	6.37	6.43	Under $36,000	5,352
30	6.56	6.43	6.49	Under $36,000	6,511
31	6.47	6.33	6.40	Under $36,000	4,588
32	6.46	6.33	6.40	Under $36,000	5,552
33	6.43	6.30	6.37	Under $36,000	4,611
34	6.41	6.27	6.34	Under $36,000	4,532
35	6.41	6.28	6.34	Under $36,000	5,368
36	6.38	6.22	6.30	Under $36,000	4,409
37	6.29	6.14	6.21	Under $36,000	4,486
38	6.29	6.16	6.23	Under $36,000	4,752
39	6.25	6.12	6.19	Under $36,000	4,443
40	6.28	6.16	6.22	Under $36,000	6,404
41	6.15	6.01	6.08	Under $36,000	4,289
42	6.08	5.95	6.02	Under $36,000	5,550
43	6.06	5.93	5.99	Under $36,000	5,208
44	6.10	5.97	6.04	Under $36,000	5,001
45	6.03	5.91	5.97	Under $36,000	6,302
46	5.95	5.83	5.89	Under $36,000	5,860
47	5.97	5.85	5.91	Under $36,000	6,436
48	5.94	5.82	5.88	Under $36,000	6,715
49	5.95	5.83	5.89	Under $36,000	6,802
50	5.96	5.86	5.91	Under $36,000	9,698
51	5.97	5.86	5.92	Under $36,000	7,178
52	5.93	5.83	5.88	Under $36,000	8,699
53	5.87	5.77	5.82	Under $36,000	8,438
54	5.90	5.80	5.85	Under $36,000	8,402
55	5.93	5.83	5.88	Under $36,000	9,412
56	5.87	5.77	5.82	Under $36,000	8,579
57	5.95	5.84	5.89	Under $36,000	9,010
58	5.96	5.86	5.91	Under $36,000	8,977
59	6.05	5.94	5.99	Under $36,000	8,763
60	6.10	6	6.05	Under $36,000	10,465
61	6.20	6.09	6.14	Under $36,000	8,360
62	6.28	6.19	6.23	Under $36,000	10,210
63	6.31	6.22	6.26	Under $36,000	9,070
64	6.43	6.34	6.39	Under $36,000	8,947
65	6.53	6.44	6.48	Under $36,000	10,348
66	6.59	6.50	6.54	Under $36,000	8,602
67	6.62	6.53	6.57	Under $36,000	8,867
68	6.65	6.56	6.60	Under $36,000	8,512
69	6.73	6.64	6.68	Under $36,000	8,076
70	6.78	6.70	6.74	Under $36,000	9,664
71	6.81	6.71	6.76	Under $36,000	7,672
72	6.84	6.74	6.79	Under $36,000	8,342
73	6.85	6.75	6.80	Under $36,000	7,729
74	6.91	6.81	6.86	Under $36,000	7,424
75	6.94	6.85	6.89	Under $36,000	8,139
76	6.93	6.83	6.88	Under $36,000	6,945
77	7.00	6.90	6.95	Under $36,000	6,834
78	7.03	6.93	6.98	Under $36,000	6,649
79	7.01	6.90	6.96	Under $36,000	6,142
80	7.11	7.01	7.06	Under $36,000	7,443
81	7.11	7	7.05	Under $36,000	5,617
82	7.14	7.02	7.08	Under $36,000	5,792
83	7.10	6.98	7.04	Under $36,000	5,125
84	7.18	7.06	7.12	Under $36,000	4,628
85	7.18	7.05	7.12	Under $36,000	4,351
86	7.28	7.13	7.20	Under $36,000	3,386
87	7.29	7.12	7.21	Under $36,000	2,842
88	7.26	7.09	7.18	Under $36,000	2,474
89	7.31	7.10	7.21	Under $36,000	1,867
90	7.37	7.16	7.26	Under $36,000	1,616
91	7.61	7.34	7.47	Under $36,000	981
92	7.46	7.13	7.29	Under $36,000	755
93	7.53	7.15	7.34	Under $36,000	521
94	7.70	7.21	7.45	Under $36,000	310
18	7.38	7.29	7.34	$36,000 to $89,999	4,315
19	7.25	7.14	7.19	$36,000 to $89,999	3,545
20	7.22	7.12	7.17	$36,000 to $89,999	3,432
21	7.22	7.11	7.16	$36,000 to $89,999	3,725
22	7.21	7.11	7.16	$36,000 to $89,999	3,852
23	7.16	7.07	7.12	$36,000 to $89,999	4,534
24	7.12	7.03	7.07	$36,000 to $89,999	4,926
25	7.20	7.11	7.16	$36,000 to $89,999	5,718
26	7.18	7.10	7.14	$36,000 to $89,999	5,657
27	7.22	7.14	7.18	$36,000 to $89,999	6,142
28	7.21	7.13	7.17	$36,000 to $89,999	6,743
29	7.19	7.12	7.15	$36,000 to $89,999	6,811
30	7.17	7.10	7.14	$36,000 to $89,999	7,970
31	7.18	7.11	7.14	$36,000 to $89,999	6,785
32	7.14	7.07	7.10	$36,000 to $89,999	7,577
33	7.15	7.08	7.11	$36,000 to $89,999	7,028
34	7.13	7.05	7.09	$36,000 to $89,999	7,113
35	7.13	7.06	7.09	$36,000 to $89,999	7,780
36	7.09	7.00	7.05	$36,000 to $89,999	7,073
37	7.05	6.97	7.01	$36,000 to $89,999	7,115
38	7.05	6.98	7.02	$36,000 to $89,999	7,564
39	7.05	6.98	7.02	$36,000 to $89,999	7,347
40	7.01	6.94	6.98	$36,000 to $89,999	9,294
41	7.02	6.95	6.99	$36,000 to $89,999	7,481
42	6.95	6.88	6.91	$36,000 to $89,999	8,922
43	6.92	6.84	6.88	$36,000 to $89,999	8,202
44	6.93	6.85	6.89	$36,000 to $89,999	7,958
45	6.96	6.88	6.92	$36,000 to $89,999	9,379
46	6.90	6.83	6.86	$36,000 to $89,999	8,579
47	6.87	6.80	6.84	$36,000 to $89,999	9,507
48	6.88	6.81	6.85	$36,000 to $89,999	9,611
49	6.86	6.79	6.82	$36,000 to $89,999	9,826
50	6.90	6.83	6.87	$36,000 to $89,999	12,927
51	6.92	6.84	6.88	$36,000 to $89,999	9,986
52	6.87	6.80	6.83	$36,000 to $89,999	12,058
53	6.90	6.83	6.87	$36,000 to $89,999	11,152
54	6.93	6.86	6.89	$36,000 to $89,999	11,437
55	6.91	6.84	6.88	$36,000 to $89,999	12,738
56	6.94	6.87	6.90	$36,000 to $89,999	12,024
57	6.97	6.90	6.93	$36,000 to $89,999	12,157
58	6.98	6.91	6.95	$36,000 to $89,999	12,474
59	7.04	6.98	7.01	$36,000 to $89,999	12,419
60	7.12	7.06	7.09	$36,000 to $89,999	14,550
61	7.16	7.09	7.13	$36,000 to $89,999	11,886
62	7.19	7.13	7.16	$36,000 to $89,999	14,832
63	7.24	7.17	7.21	$36,000 to $89,999	13,321
64	7.29	7.23	7.26	$36,000 to $89,999	13,534
65	7.33	7.27	7.30	$36,000 to $89,999	14,666
66	7.41	7.34	7.38	$36,000 to $89,999	11,987
67	7.43	7.37	7.40	$36,000 to $89,999	11,910
68	7.44	7.37	7.40	$36,000 to $89,999	10,820
69	7.48	7.41	7.44	$36,000 to $89,999	9,902
70	7.50	7.43	7.46	$36,000 to $89,999	11,374
71	7.54	7.46	7.50	$36,000 to $89,999	8,453
72	7.54	7.46	7.50	$36,000 to $89,999	8,691
73	7.55	7.47	7.51	$36,000 to $89,999	7,438
74	7.58	7.49	7.53	$36,000 to $89,999	6,774
75	7.55	7.47	7.51	$36,000 to $89,999	7,325
76	7.56	7.47	7.52	$36,000 to $89,999	5,726
77	7.57	7.48	7.53	$36,000 to $89,999	5,546
78	7.61	7.51	7.56	$36,000 to $89,999	5,173
79	7.67	7.57	7.62	$36,000 to $89,999	4,559
80	7.65	7.55	7.60	$36,000 to $89,999	5,116
81	7.66	7.54	7.60	$36,000 to $89,999	3,742
82	7.64	7.51	7.58	$36,000 to $89,999	3,591
83	7.62	7.48	7.55	$36,000 to $89,999	3,174
84	7.66	7.52	7.59	$36,000 to $89,999	2,650
85	7.57	7.42	7.50	$36,000 to $89,999	2,556
86	7.61	7.44	7.52	$36,000 to $89,999	1,838
87	7.64	7.44	7.54	$36,000 to $89,999	1,561
88	7.57	7.37	7.47	$36,000 to $89,999	1,303
89	7.78	7.52	7.65	$36,000 to $89,999	890
90	7.79	7.49	7.64	$36,000 to $89,999	773
91	7.92	7.62	7.77	$36,000 to $89,999	505
92	7.81	7.43	7.62	$36,000 to $89,999	397
93	7.81	7.30	7.56	$36,000 to $89,999	226
94	7.78	7.20	7.49	$36,000 to $89,999	198
18	7.58	7.47	7.52	$90,000 or more	2,731
19	7.61	7.47	7.54	$90,000 or more	2,035
20	7.45	7.31	7.38	$90,000 or more	1,825
21	7.46	7.31	7.38	$90,000 or more	1,817
22	7.31	7.16	7.24	$90,000 or more	1,638
23	7.24	7.08	7.16	$90,000 or more	1,635
24	7.27	7.11	7.19	$90,000 or more	1,547
25	7.30	7.15	7.22	$90,000 or more	1,718
26	7.41	7.27	7.34	$90,000 or more	1,673
27	7.47	7.34	7.41	$90,000 or more	2,028
28	7.55	7.44	7.50	$90,000 or more	2,337
29	7.57	7.45	7.51	$90,000 or more	2,627
30	7.60	7.49	7.54	$90,000 or more	3,223
31	7.59	7.50	7.54	$90,000 or more	3,225
32	7.58	7.49	7.54	$90,000 or more	3,704
33	7.59	7.50	7.55	$90,000 or more	3,774
34	7.58	7.50	7.54	$90,000 or more	4,031
35	7.58	7.50	7.54	$90,000 or more	4,750
36	7.61	7.53	7.57	$90,000 or more	4,481
37	7.60	7.53	7.57	$90,000 or more	4,744
38	7.56	7.49	7.53	$90,000 or more	5,116
39	7.57	7.50	7.53	$90,000 or more	5,415
40	7.56	7.48	7.52	$90,000 or more	6,509
41	7.55	7.47	7.51	$90,000 or more	5,541
42	7.52	7.46	7.49	$90,000 or more	6,799
43	7.48	7.41	7.45	$90,000 or more	6,276
44	7.50	7.43	7.46	$90,000 or more	6,156
45	7.50	7.43	7.46	$90,000 or more	7,061
46	7.46	7.39	7.43	$90,000 or more	6,785
47	7.47	7.39	7.43	$90,000 or more	7,090
48	7.45	7.39	7.42	$90,000 or more	7,421
49	7.47	7.40	7.44	$90,000 or more	7,424
50	7.46	7.40	7.43	$90,000 or more	9,246
51	7.49	7.42	7.45	$90,000 or more	7,276
52	7.51	7.45	7.48	$90,000 or more	8,649
53	7.48	7.41	7.45	$90,000 or more	8,237
54	7.50	7.43	7.47	$90,000 or more	8,045
55	7.50	7.43	7.46	$90,000 or more	8,899
56	7.49	7.43	7.46	$90,000 or more	7,975
57	7.52	7.46	7.49	$90,000 or more	8,058
58	7.55	7.48	7.51	$90,000 or more	8,057
59	7.58	7.52	7.55	$90,000 or more	7,770
60	7.62	7.55	7.58	$90,000 or more	8,768
61	7.68	7.61	7.65	$90,000 or more	6,864
62	7.71	7.65	7.68	$90,000 or more	7,960
63	7.72	7.65	7.68	$90,000 or more	6,937
64	7.76	7.69	7.73	$90,000 or more	6,546
65	7.83	7.75	7.79	$90,000 or more	6,757
66	7.85	7.77	7.81	$90,000 or more	5,407
67	7.88	7.79	7.83	$90,000 or more	5,156
68	7.95	7.86	7.90	$90,000 or more	4,582
69	7.93	7.83	7.88	$90,000 or more	3,858
70	7.95	7.85	7.90	$90,000 or more	4,316
71	7.98	7.86	7.92	$90,000 or more	3,016
72	7.95	7.83	7.89	$90,000 or more	3,036
73	7.91	7.78	7.84	$90,000 or more	2,624
74	8.02	7.88	7.95	$90,000 or more	2,227
75	7.94	7.79	7.87	$90,000 or more	2,316
76	7.94	7.78	7.86	$90,000 or more	1,798
77	7.98	7.81	7.90	$90,000 or more	1,747
78	7.87	7.69	7.78	$90,000 or more	1,550
79	7.87	7.67	7.77	$90,000 or more	1,297
80	7.93	7.75	7.84	$90,000 or more	1,568
81	8	7.80	7.90	$90,000 or more	1,108
82	7.93	7.73	7.83	$90,000 or more	1,101
83	7.79	7.54	7.67	$90,000 or more	892
84	7.88	7.64	7.76	$90,000 or more	756
85	7.95	7.68	7.82	$90,000 or more	712
86	7.91	7.58	7.75	$90,000 or more	518
87	7.82	7.46	7.64	$90,000 or more	449
88	7.98	7.59	7.79	$90,000 or more	402
89	7.89	7.37	7.63	$90,000 or more	275
90	8.02	7.48	7.75	$90,000 or more	253
91	7.75	7.14	7.45	$90,000 or more	166
92	8.13	7.43	7.78	$90,000 or more	129
93	8.16	7.23	7.70	$90,000 or more	69
94	8.27	7.22	7.75	$90,000 or more	51

Each tab shows one measure for three household income groups, so each line compares people of similar income at different ages. Income is the household's, in dollars of the interview year, and household income includes a partner's earnings.Note: Each age is a different group of people interviewed in the same years, so a profile mixes age with birth cohort and does not follow anyone through life.Note: Cells at the oldest ages hold fewer interviews, so their intervals are wider; the extract has no interviews above age 94.Note: This figure uses interviews in 2009 to 2014. The share of income reporters at $90,000 or more was 23% in 2014 and 35% in 2017, more than inflation explains, so household income is not comparable across 2015 to 2017. 81% of interviews in 2009 to 2014 report a household income bracket. Gallup's brackets are in dollars of the interview year and are not adjusted for inflation; the groups are the harmonized six brackets collapsed to three.Note: Gallup's extract has no survey weights, so every estimate is unweighted and levels can differ from the weighted figures Gallup publishes. County comes from the respondent's ZIP code and is approximate near county lines.Source: Gallup U.S. Daily, 2009-2014 (household income is not comparable across 2015-2017); unweighted, intervals clustered by county

In 2015 to 2017 the same contrasts for the highest group are +0.09 (95% CI 0.06 to 0.12) from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 and −0.02 (95% CI −0.04 to 0.01) from ages 35 to 44 to ages 45 to 54. The first changes sign between the periods and the second loses its size, so a pooled value would hide a difference between periods, and the change in the bracket mix makes the later years unsuitable for this comparison.

The feelings show the same split, except for stress. Physical pain at ages 45 to 54 is 41.2% (95% CI 40.6% to 41.8%) in households under $36,000 and 15.7% (95% CI 15.4% to 16.0%) in households of $90,000 or more, and enjoyment is 72.7% (95% CI 72.3% to 73.0%) and 87.6% (95% CI 87.3% to 87.9%). The pain gap narrows at older ages, to 30.5% (95% CI 30.2% to 30.9%) and 20.9% (95% CI 20.3% to 21.5%) at ages 75 to 94. Stress is higher in the lowest income group in every age band, but it falls after midlife in every group, from 52.6% (95% CI 52.1% to 53.2%) at ages 45 to 54 to 20.2% (95% CI 19.9% to 20.5%) at ages 75 to 94 in the lowest group and from 42.4% (95% CI 42.0% to 42.8%) to 16.6% (95% CI 15.9% to 17.2%) in the highest. The decline of stress after midlife does not depend on income.

Holding income fixed removes one source of composition, since the mix of incomes differs by age. It does not remove all of it. Who is in the lowest income group in midlife differs from who is in it in early adulthood, and income is partly a consequence of health and well-being as well as a source of them. Chapter 8.1, Disability, retirement and Medicare covers income, disability and retirement at older ages.

What changes the age of the lowest point

Figure 5 reports the age of the lowest point under each adjustment. In the 1,355,746 interviews from 2009 to 2014 that report sex, marital status, education and household income, the lowest point of the raw profile is at age 54 (95% CI 51 to 55). Adjusting for sex leaves it at 54 (95% CI 51 to 55), for marital status at 54 (95% CI 48 to 54) and for household income at 48 (95% CI 48 to 54), and adjusting for all five gives 48 (95% CI 48 to 54). The point estimates for income and for all five are earlier than the raw age, and their intervals reach almost to it, because the bottom of the profile is flat with a low stretch near each age and the bootstrap lands on one or the other. Adding self-rated health to the five, in the 1,354,627 interviews that report it, gives 48 (95% CI 47 to 48), a narrower interval. A quadratic in age puts the turning age at 44 (95% CI 44 to 45) raw and 47 (95% CI 47 to 47) adjusted. The profile is not symmetric, so a parabola turns earlier than the profile does, and the narrow intervals of the quadratic describe the fit and not whether the shape is right. The raw five-year average varies by only 0.06 ladder points between ages 46 and 56, so small differences in the sample move the lowest point within that range. Within income groups, the lowest point is at age 54 (95% CI 54 to 55) in households under $36,000 and 48 (95% CI 48 to 51) between the cutoffs. The highest group is not given a lowest point: the search starts at age 20, and its lowest five-year average over the whole search is at age 24, in early adulthood, so its midlife fall is described by the change from ages 35 to 44 to ages 45 to 54 instead.

Figure 5

Adjusting for household income moves the lowest point of the ladder profile from age 54 to age 48 with overlapping intervals, and a quadratic fit puts it at age 44, so no single age is the turning point

Cantril ladder score by year of age, raw and adjusted, the age of its lowest point under different adjustments and for groups, and the fall and rise between age bands, Gallup 2009 to 2017

Adjusting for sex, marital status, education, household income and survey year deepens the fall from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 to −0.32 ladder points from −0.20

The adjusted line is higher than the raw line among the youngest adults and lower in midlife, so the fall is steeper, and the adjusted low comes earlier. The adjusted line holds sex, marital status, education, household income and survey year at their sample mix. Bands are 95% intervals from a bootstrap over counties that refits the regression in each replicate.

Show data

Data for Adjusting for household income moves the lowest point of the ladder profile from age 54 to age 48 with overlapping intervals, and a quadratic fit puts it at age 44, so no single age is the turning point, Raw and adjusted profiles
age	conf_high	conf_low	estimate	group	n
18	7.30	7.23	7.27	Raw	12,653
19	7.17	7.10	7.13	Raw	11,389
20	7.09	7.03	7.06	Raw	11,795
21	7.07	7.01	7.04	Raw	12,694
22	7.01	6.94	6.98	Raw	12,286
23	6.94	6.88	6.91	Raw	12,871
24	6.91	6.83	6.87	Raw	12,949
25	6.96	6.90	6.93	Raw	14,254
26	6.94	6.87	6.90	Raw	13,185
27	6.96	6.90	6.93	Raw	13,893
28	6.99	6.93	6.96	Raw	15,054
29	6.99	6.92	6.96	Raw	14,739
30	7.00	6.95	6.98	Raw	17,613
31	7.03	6.97	7.00	Raw	14,543
32	7.00	6.93	6.97	Raw	16,745
33	7.03	6.97	7.00	Raw	15,325
34	7.02	6.96	6.99	Raw	15,611
35	7.02	6.96	6.99	Raw	17,824
36	7.02	6.96	6.99	Raw	15,895
37	6.98	6.92	6.95	Raw	16,277
38	6.98	6.92	6.95	Raw	17,359
39	7.00	6.94	6.97	Raw	17,119
40	6.95	6.89	6.92	Raw	22,087
41	6.96	6.90	6.93	Raw	17,268
42	6.89	6.84	6.87	Raw	21,197
43	6.86	6.80	6.83	Raw	19,594
44	6.88	6.82	6.85	Raw	19,040
45	6.86	6.80	6.83	Raw	22,646
46	6.81	6.75	6.78	Raw	21,122
47	6.79	6.73	6.76	Raw	22,931
48	6.78	6.73	6.75	Raw	23,652
49	6.78	6.72	6.75	Raw	23,942
50	6.77	6.71	6.74	Raw	31,687
51	6.80	6.74	6.77	Raw	24,325
52	6.77	6.71	6.74	Raw	29,269
53	6.75	6.70	6.72	Raw	27,701
54	6.77	6.72	6.75	Raw	27,744
55	6.77	6.72	6.75	Raw	30,907
56	6.76	6.71	6.73	Raw	28,442
57	6.79	6.74	6.77	Raw	29,066
58	6.82	6.76	6.79	Raw	29,341
59	6.88	6.82	6.85	Raw	28,808
60	6.92	6.88	6.90	Raw	33,569
61	6.99	6.93	6.96	Raw	26,962
62	7.03	6.98	7.00	Raw	32,851
63	7.05	7.00	7.03	Raw	29,174
64	7.12	7.08	7.10	Raw	28,851
65	7.16	7.11	7.14	Raw	31,582
66	7.22	7.17	7.19	Raw	25,857
67	7.23	7.18	7.21	Raw	25,770
68	7.24	7.19	7.22	Raw	23,753
69	7.27	7.21	7.24	Raw	21,674
70	7.29	7.24	7.27	Raw	25,178
71	7.30	7.24	7.27	Raw	19,021
72	7.30	7.23	7.27	Raw	19,910
73	7.29	7.23	7.26	Raw	17,652
74	7.33	7.26	7.29	Raw	16,282
75	7.31	7.25	7.28	Raw	17,652
76	7.29	7.22	7.25	Raw	14,355
77	7.33	7.26	7.29	Raw	13,990
78	7.33	7.26	7.30	Raw	13,249
79	7.33	7.26	7.30	Raw	11,898
80	7.38	7.31	7.35	Raw	13,990
81	7.38	7.30	7.34	Raw	10,362
82	7.37	7.29	7.33	Raw	10,372
83	7.32	7.23	7.27	Raw	9,106
84	7.39	7.30	7.34	Raw	7,941
85	7.36	7.27	7.31	Raw	7,534
86	7.41	7.30	7.36	Raw	5,655
87	7.41	7.29	7.35	Raw	4,787
88	7.39	7.26	7.33	Raw	4,116
89	7.45	7.30	7.37	Raw	2,983
90	7.51	7.33	7.42	Raw	2,596
91	7.66	7.46	7.57	Raw	1,626
92	7.56	7.32	7.44	Raw	1,256
93	7.59	7.28	7.43	Raw	802
94	7.67	7.31	7.50	Raw	548
18	7.60	7.53	7.56	Adjusted	12,653
19	7.54	7.47	7.50	Adjusted	11,389
20	7.50	7.43	7.47	Adjusted	11,795
21	7.47	7.40	7.44	Adjusted	12,694
22	7.34	7.26	7.30	Adjusted	12,286
23	7.20	7.14	7.17	Adjusted	12,871
24	7.13	7.05	7.09	Adjusted	12,949
25	7.14	7.08	7.11	Adjusted	14,254
26	7.07	7.01	7.04	Adjusted	13,185
27	7.05	7.00	7.02	Adjusted	13,893
28	7.05	6.99	7.02	Adjusted	15,054
29	6.99	6.93	6.96	Adjusted	14,739
30	7.00	6.94	6.97	Adjusted	17,613
31	6.96	6.89	6.92	Adjusted	14,543
32	6.93	6.87	6.90	Adjusted	16,745
33	6.92	6.86	6.89	Adjusted	15,325
34	6.90	6.84	6.87	Adjusted	15,611
35	6.90	6.84	6.87	Adjusted	17,824
36	6.88	6.82	6.85	Adjusted	15,895
37	6.83	6.77	6.80	Adjusted	16,277
38	6.83	6.78	6.80	Adjusted	17,359
39	6.82	6.76	6.79	Adjusted	17,119
40	6.82	6.76	6.79	Adjusted	22,087
41	6.78	6.72	6.75	Adjusted	17,268
42	6.73	6.67	6.70	Adjusted	21,197
43	6.70	6.64	6.67	Adjusted	19,594
44	6.72	6.67	6.70	Adjusted	19,040
45	6.72	6.67	6.69	Adjusted	22,646
46	6.67	6.61	6.64	Adjusted	21,122
47	6.67	6.61	6.64	Adjusted	22,931
48	6.66	6.60	6.63	Adjusted	23,652
49	6.67	6.61	6.64	Adjusted	23,942
50	6.67	6.63	6.65	Adjusted	31,687
51	6.69	6.64	6.67	Adjusted	24,325
52	6.67	6.63	6.65	Adjusted	29,269
53	6.66	6.61	6.64	Adjusted	27,701
54	6.68	6.63	6.66	Adjusted	27,744
55	6.68	6.64	6.66	Adjusted	30,907
56	6.68	6.63	6.65	Adjusted	28,442
57	6.71	6.66	6.69	Adjusted	29,066
58	6.74	6.69	6.71	Adjusted	29,341
59	6.80	6.75	6.77	Adjusted	28,808
60	6.85	6.80	6.83	Adjusted	33,569
61	6.92	6.87	6.89	Adjusted	26,962
62	6.96	6.92	6.94	Adjusted	32,851
63	7.00	6.95	6.97	Adjusted	29,174
64	7.07	7.03	7.05	Adjusted	28,851
65	7.13	7.09	7.11	Adjusted	31,582
66	7.20	7.15	7.17	Adjusted	25,857
67	7.23	7.18	7.20	Adjusted	25,770
68	7.26	7.21	7.23	Adjusted	23,753
69	7.30	7.25	7.28	Adjusted	21,674
70	7.34	7.29	7.32	Adjusted	25,178
71	7.38	7.32	7.35	Adjusted	19,021
72	7.39	7.33	7.36	Adjusted	19,910
73	7.41	7.35	7.38	Adjusted	17,652
74	7.47	7.40	7.43	Adjusted	16,282
75	7.46	7.40	7.43	Adjusted	17,652
76	7.46	7.40	7.43	Adjusted	14,355
77	7.51	7.45	7.48	Adjusted	13,990
78	7.54	7.47	7.50	Adjusted	13,249
79	7.55	7.49	7.52	Adjusted	11,898
80	7.62	7.55	7.59	Adjusted	13,990
81	7.64	7.56	7.60	Adjusted	10,362
82	7.64	7.56	7.60	Adjusted	10,372
83	7.61	7.52	7.57	Adjusted	9,106
84	7.70	7.61	7.66	Adjusted	7,941
85	7.68	7.59	7.63	Adjusted	7,534
86	7.75	7.64	7.70	Adjusted	5,655
87	7.76	7.64	7.70	Adjusted	4,787
88	7.75	7.62	7.69	Adjusted	4,116
89	7.84	7.68	7.76	Adjusted	2,983
90	7.89	7.72	7.80	Adjusted	2,596
91	8.05	7.84	7.94	Adjusted	1,626
92	7.94	7.70	7.82	Adjusted	1,256
93	7.99	7.69	7.84	Adjusted	802
94	8.04	7.67	7.86	Adjusted	548

The first tab compares the raw and adjusted profiles, the second the age of the lowest point under each adjustment and for each group, and the third the size of the fall to midlife and the rise after it. The profile is flat near its bottom, so the exact age is less certain than the intervals suggest.Note: Each age is a different group of people interviewed in the same years, so a profile mixes age with birth cohort and does not follow anyone through life.Note: Adjusted rows and income groups use interviews in 2009 to 2014, because the income distribution of reporters shifts in 2015 to 2017; the rows marked 2015 to 2017 are shown separately. Adjusted rows use the 1,355,746 interviews that report sex, marital status, education and household income; the row with self-rated health uses the 1,354,627 interviews that also report health.Note: The age of the lowest point is searched over ages 20 to 92 on the five-year moving average and refined between whole years; the intervals come from a bootstrap over counties (replicates and seed in the methods note).Note: The ladder of 2008 is not used. Political questions that came before the ladder lowered it in 2008 and in the first months of 2009, and the extract has no interview month, so early 2009 interviews may carry part of the effect. Scores averaged 6.69 in 2008 and 7.03 in 2009, and the 2009 minus 2008 difference is between 0.29 and 0.38 ladder points in every age band.Note: Gallup's extract has no survey weights, so every estimate is unweighted and levels can differ from the weighted figures Gallup publishes. County comes from the respondent's ZIP code and is approximate near county lines.Source: Gallup U.S. Daily, ladder 2009-2017 (2009-2014 where household income is used, 2015-2017 where stated); unweighted, intervals clustered by county or from a bootstrap over counties; county Area Deprivation Index 2023 joined on the county of the interview

The adjustments deepen the dip as well as moving its low point earlier. The fall from ages 25 to 34 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.20 (95% CI −0.22 to −0.19) ladder points in the raw profile of these interviews and −0.32 (95% CI −0.33 to −0.30) after the five adjustments, and the fall from ages 18 to 24 to ages 45 to 54 is −0.28 (95% CI −0.30 to −0.26) raw and −0.71 (95% CI −0.73 to −0.69) adjusted. The rise from ages 45 to 54 to ages 75 to 94 is +0.56 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.57) raw and +0.91 (95% CI 0.90 to 0.93) adjusted. Adjusting for marital status alone changes the fall to −0.23 (95% CI −0.25 to −0.22), the largest change among the single adjustments after household income. The raw profile already has a midlife low without any adjustment, and the adjustments deepen it, mostly through household income.

This is where the literature disagrees. Blanchflower and Oswald report a low in middle age after holding other characteristics fixed.[3] Glenn argues that part of the U shape comes from the controls, marital status above all, because happier people are more likely to marry and stay married, and a variable influenced by the outcome should not be held fixed.[6] The same objection applies to household income and to self-rated health, which are partly consequences of well-being. The adjusted profile in Figure 5 answers what the profile would be among adults with the same mix of characteristics. It does not isolate age.

Study evidenceIndividual fixed-effects panels

Whether the midlife low happens within a person's own life

A cross-section cannot say whether the dip happens to individuals. Two studies follow the same people. Frijters and Beatton used three household panels, the German Socio-Economic Panel, the British Household Panel Survey and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. Once each person's own average level was removed, the middle-age U shape disappeared in all three. The largest age effect was a rise in happiness around age 60, followed by a decline after age 75, with almost no change between early adulthood and middle age.[5] Cheng, Powdthavee and Oswald used four data sets and only within-person changes, and reported support for a U shape.[7]

The two studies compare people with themselves over time, which removes differences between people that do not change. Neither randomizes anything. A within-person design needs an assumption that separates age from calendar year, because the two move together for everyone, and the studies reach opposite results on the shape. Neither uses the Gallup poll, whose respondents are interviewed once.

Birth cohorts

A cross-section mixes age with cohort, but repeated cross-sections can follow a cohort on average. Figure 6 follows six birth cohorts, each covering a decade of birth years, across the interview years. People born in 1950 to 1959 were aged 50 to 59 in 2009 and 58 to 67 in 2017. Their stress changed by −7.9 (95% CI −8.5 to −7.2) points between those years, against −10.6 (95% CI −11.1 to −10.1) points between the two age groups in the 2009 cross-section. The comparison with all adults must allow for the sample's age. The interview sample was younger in 2017 (mean age 52.3) than in 2009 (55.1), and a change in the average age of the sample moves averages that differ by age for reasons unrelated to aging. The change among all adults is therefore taken at each single year of age from 50 to 67, the ages the cohort passes through, and averaged. Stress changed by +1.7 (95% CI 1.3 to 2.2) points at those ages over the same years, and relative to that the cohort's change was −9.6 (95% CI −10.1 to −9.1). The ladder score of the cohort changed by +0.41 (95% CI 0.39 to 0.44) ladder points, against +0.28 (95% CI 0.26 to 0.30) in the cross-section and +0.19 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.21) for adults at the same ages, and relative to them the cohort's change was +0.22 (95% CI 0.20 to 0.24).

Figure 6

Relative to adults at the same ages, stress among people born in 1950 to 1959 changed by −9.6 points and their ladder score by +0.22 points between 2009 and 2017, against −10.6 and +0.28 across the same ages in 2009

Birth cohorts of a decade followed across Gallup interview years, for the ladder (2009 to 2017), stress and physical pain (2008 to 2017), with the profile by year of age from all interviews

The ladder score of people born in 1950 to 1959 changed by +0.41 points between 2009 and 2017, as they went from ages 50 to 59 to ages 58 to 67, against +0.28 points across the same ages in 2009 and +0.19 points among all adults at ages 50 to 67

Mean Cantril ladder score for six birth cohorts in each interview year from 2009 to 2017, and for all interviews by year of age

Born 1930 to 1939
Born 1940 to 1949
Born 1950 to 1959
Born 1960 to 1969
Born 1970 to 1979
Born 1980 to 1989
All interviews, by age

Age (years): mean age of the cohort in each interview year, or year of age for all interviews

Each colored line follows one birth cohort of a decade across the interview years from 2009, moving right as its members age; the black line is the profile by year of age from all interviews. The ladder of 2008 is not used, so every cohort line starts in 2009. The lines of the older cohorts rise as the cohorts age past midlife, and every line also lifts with the interview year.

Show data

Data for Relative to adults at the same ages, stress among people born in 1950 to 1959 changed by −9.6 points and their ladder score by +0.22 points between 2009 and 2017, against −10.6 and +0.28 across the same ages in 2009, Ladder
age	conf_high	conf_low	estimate	group	n
74.10	7.33	7.29	7.31	Born 1930 to 1939	41,505
75.20	7.36	7.32	7.34	Born 1930 to 1939	46,954
76.10	7.33	7.29	7.31	Born 1930 to 1939	42,886
77.10	7.36	7.31	7.33	Born 1930 to 1939	41,176
78	7.41	7.34	7.38	Born 1930 to 1939	17,029
78.80	7.41	7.35	7.38	Born 1930 to 1939	17,391
79.90	7.45	7.38	7.42	Born 1930 to 1939	15,911
80.80	7.48	7.41	7.45	Born 1930 to 1939	14,280
81.70	7.49	7.41	7.45	Born 1930 to 1939	10,517
64.10	7.18	7.14	7.16	Born 1940 to 1949	62,066
65.30	7.20	7.17	7.18	Born 1940 to 1949	72,110
66.20	7.17	7.14	7.16	Born 1940 to 1949	68,765
67.20	7.22	7.19	7.20	Born 1940 to 1949	69,475
68	7.33	7.28	7.31	Born 1940 to 1949	32,334
69	7.33	7.28	7.31	Born 1940 to 1949	32,845
70.10	7.41	7.36	7.38	Born 1940 to 1949	32,230
71	7.46	7.41	7.44	Born 1940 to 1949	31,175
71.90	7.51	7.45	7.48	Born 1940 to 1949	24,982
54.50	6.82	6.78	6.80	Born 1950 to 1959	63,588
55.70	6.83	6.80	6.82	Born 1950 to 1959	73,724
56.60	6.83	6.80	6.82	Born 1950 to 1959	71,179
57.60	6.86	6.83	6.84	Born 1950 to 1959	72,420
58.60	6.91	6.86	6.89	Born 1950 to 1959	36,053
59.50	6.99	6.94	6.97	Born 1950 to 1959	35,610
60.70	7.11	7.07	7.09	Born 1950 to 1959	35,426
61.60	7.17	7.12	7.14	Born 1950 to 1959	35,866
62.50	7.24	7.19	7.22	Born 1950 to 1959	31,360
44.70	6.86	6.81	6.83	Born 1960 to 1969	48,157
46	6.87	6.83	6.85	Born 1960 to 1969	55,779
46.90	6.83	6.78	6.80	Born 1960 to 1969	54,906
48	6.81	6.76	6.78	Born 1960 to 1969	54,915
48.90	6.87	6.82	6.84	Born 1960 to 1969	28,541
49.80	6.92	6.86	6.88	Born 1960 to 1969	28,214
50.90	6.98	6.93	6.95	Born 1960 to 1969	27,677
51.80	7.02	6.97	7.00	Born 1960 to 1969	29,045
52.70	7.10	7.04	7.07	Born 1960 to 1969	26,572
34.80	7.00	6.95	6.98	Born 1970 to 1979	33,172
36	7.06	7.01	7.04	Born 1970 to 1979	38,714
36.70	6.99	6.95	6.97	Born 1970 to 1979	39,699
37.80	6.97	6.92	6.95	Born 1970 to 1979	39,318
38.70	7.00	6.94	6.97	Born 1970 to 1979	21,440
39.60	7.05	6.99	7.02	Born 1970 to 1979	20,381
40.70	7.10	7.04	7.07	Born 1970 to 1979	19,588
41.70	7.12	7.05	7.08	Born 1970 to 1979	21,500
42.60	7.16	7.10	7.13	Born 1970 to 1979	20,619
24.90	6.94	6.89	6.91	Born 1980 to 1989	21,259
25.90	7.04	6.98	7.01	Born 1980 to 1989	26,119
26.60	6.99	6.94	6.96	Born 1980 to 1989	34,816
27.60	6.99	6.94	6.97	Born 1980 to 1989	35,952
28.60	6.99	6.93	6.96	Born 1980 to 1989	20,750
29.60	7.00	6.94	6.97	Born 1980 to 1989	19,525
30.60	7.04	6.98	7.01	Born 1980 to 1989	18,831
31.60	7.06	7.01	7.04	Born 1980 to 1989	20,494
32.50	7.08	7.02	7.05	Born 1980 to 1989	21,095
18	7.28	7.23	7.25	All interviews, by age	25,104
19	7.16	7.11	7.14	All interviews, by age	20,764
20	7.06	7.01	7.03	All interviews, by age	20,566
21	7.04	6.98	7.01	All interviews, by age	21,404
22	6.99	6.93	6.96	All interviews, by age	20,267
23	6.93	6.88	6.91	All interviews, by age	20,868
24	6.91	6.85	6.88	All interviews, by age	20,651
25	6.96	6.91	6.93	All interviews, by age	22,756
26	6.95	6.89	6.92	All interviews, by age	20,582
27	6.97	6.92	6.94	All interviews, by age	21,275
28	7.01	6.96	6.98	All interviews, by age	22,607
29	7.02	6.97	6.99	All interviews, by age	21,955
30	7.04	6.99	7.01	All interviews, by age	26,817
31	7.05	7.00	7.02	All interviews, by age	21,509
32	7.03	6.98	7.00	All interviews, by age	25,123
33	7.05	7	7.03	All interviews, by age	22,981
34	7.04	6.98	7.01	All interviews, by age	23,449
35	7.06	7.01	7.04	All interviews, by age	27,289
36	7.06	7.01	7.04	All interviews, by age	23,837
37	7.04	6.99	7.01	All interviews, by age	24,074
38	7.02	6.97	7.00	All interviews, by age	25,474
39	7.05	7.00	7.02	All interviews, by age	25,043
40	7.01	6.96	6.99	All interviews, by age	33,427
41	7.02	6.96	6.99	All interviews, by age	24,465
42	6.97	6.92	6.94	All interviews, by age	30,521
43	6.93	6.88	6.91	All interviews, by age	28,188
44	6.94	6.89	6.91	All interviews, by age	27,722
45	6.94	6.88	6.91	All interviews, by age	34,003
46	6.88	6.83	6.86	All interviews, by age	31,175
47	6.86	6.81	6.84	All interviews, by age	33,763
48	6.87	6.82	6.84	All interviews, by age	34,633
49	6.86	6.81	6.83	All interviews, by age	34,790
50	6.87	6.83	6.85	All interviews, by age	49,187
51	6.87	6.82	6.84	All interviews, by age	35,575
52	6.84	6.79	6.82	All interviews, by age	43,598
53	6.82	6.77	6.79	All interviews, by age	41,271
54	6.84	6.80	6.82	All interviews, by age	42,032
55	6.86	6.82	6.84	All interviews, by age	47,470
56	6.85	6.80	6.83	All interviews, by age	43,108
57	6.87	6.83	6.85	All interviews, by age	44,152
58	6.89	6.84	6.87	All interviews, by age	45,107
59	6.93	6.89	6.91	All interviews, by age	44,432
60	7.00	6.96	6.98	All interviews, by age	54,582
61	7.03	6.99	7.01	All interviews, by age	41,935
62	7.09	7.05	7.07	All interviews, by age	51,583
63	7.12	7.08	7.10	All interviews, by age	46,017
64	7.18	7.13	7.16	All interviews, by age	46,280
65	7.22	7.19	7.21	All interviews, by age	53,072
66	7.28	7.24	7.26	All interviews, by age	43,111
67	7.30	7.26	7.28	All interviews, by age	44,121
68	7.31	7.27	7.29	All interviews, by age	42,066
69	7.34	7.30	7.32	All interviews, by age	38,080
70	7.37	7.33	7.35	All interviews, by age	46,117
71	7.36	7.31	7.33	All interviews, by age	33,149
72	7.37	7.32	7.34	All interviews, by age	35,737
73	7.37	7.32	7.34	All interviews, by age	32,279
74	7.38	7.33	7.36	All interviews, by age	29,803
75	7.38	7.33	7.36	All interviews, by age	32,359
76	7.38	7.33	7.35	All interviews, by age	26,175
77	7.38	7.33	7.36	All interviews, by age	25,447
78	7.39	7.33	7.36	All interviews, by age	24,365
79	7.40	7.35	7.37	All interviews, by age	21,647
80	7.44	7.39	7.41	All interviews, by age	26,170
81	7.44	7.38	7.41	All interviews, by age	18,844
82	7.42	7.35	7.38	All interviews, by age	19,071
83	7.38	7.31	7.35	All interviews, by age	17,079
84	7.42	7.35	7.39	All interviews, by age	14,958
85	7.39	7.32	7.36	All interviews, by age	14,462
86	7.41	7.33	7.37	All interviews, by age	10,947
87	7.41	7.32	7.37	All interviews, by age	9,423
88	7.42	7.33	7.38	All interviews, by age	8,210
89	7.47	7.36	7.42	All interviews, by age	5,902
90	7.58	7.47	7.52	All interviews, by age	5,455
91	7.57	7.43	7.50	All interviews, by age	3,335
92	7.53	7.36	7.45	All interviews, by age	2,641
93	7.56	7.36	7.46	All interviews, by age	1,754
94	7.61	7.35	7.48	All interviews, by age	1,243

Each tab shows six birth cohorts as short colored lines over the profile by year of age. A cohort line combines aging with whatever changed in the country across the interview years, so the lines are compared with the change among all adults at the same ages.Note: A cohort is the interview year minus age, in groups of ten birth years. The cohorts shown were aged 18 to 94 in every interview year from 2008 to 2017; cohorts born before 1930 leave the age range and those born after 1989 enter it, so they are left out. The comparison of the 1950 to 1959 cohort starts in 2009 for every measure, because the ladder of 2008 is not used.Note: The comparison group is all adults at ages 50 to 67, averaging the change at each single year of age, because the interview sample was younger in 2017 (mean age 52.3) than in 2009 (55.1), and a younger sample would bias a change in all adults. All adults include the cohort itself, and the correction cannot separate aging from the changes that affected every age.Note: The ladder of 2008 is not used. Political questions that came before the ladder lowered it in 2008 and in the first months of 2009, and the extract has no interview month, so early 2009 interviews may carry part of the effect. Scores averaged 6.69 in 2008 and 7.03 in 2009, and the 2009 minus 2008 difference is between 0.29 and 0.38 ladder points in every age band.Note: Gallup's extract has no survey weights, so every estimate is unweighted and levels can differ from the weighted figures Gallup publishes. County comes from the respondent's ZIP code and is approximate near county lines.Source: Gallup U.S. Daily, ladder 2009-2017 and feelings 2008-2017; unweighted, intervals clustered by county

For stress and for the ladder, the changes within the cohort, relative to adults at the same ages, have the sign and most of the size of the differences across ages in one year. They are somewhat smaller, −9.6 against −10.6 for stress and +0.22 against +0.28 for the ladder, with intervals that do not overlap for the ladder, so a cohort difference of that size is possible. The cross-sectional differences in these two measures are not only cohort differences. Physical pain is different. It changed by +5.9 (95% CI 5.3 to 6.5) points within the cohort and by +5.1 (95% CI 4.6 to 5.6) points among adults at the same ages, which leaves +0.8 (95% CI 0.3 to 1.2) points, against 0.0 (95% CI −0.4 to 0.4) across the same ages in 2009. Pain rose within every cohort in Figure 6, and it also rose among adults at ages 50 to 67 by almost as much as in this cohort, so nearly all of this cohort's rise is a rise in the period and not aging. The cross-sectional plateau after the peak is not contradicted by the cohort lines. The check covers one cohort, and the correction using all adults is rough because all adults include the cohort itself.

What these data cannot show

The profiles are differences between people of different ages in a repeated cross-section. They mix age, birth cohort and the years in which each group was interviewed, and the three cannot be separated with data from one decade. The oldest adults are survivors, so the oldest cells describe the people who lived to be interviewed there, and these data cannot say in which direction survival moves a profile. The panel studies in the box reach opposite conclusions about the middle-age dip, and these data cannot arbitrate between them.

Every estimate is unweighted, and the poll was a telephone survey, so the levels describe the people interviewed and not the national population. County comes from the respondent's ZIP code and is approximate near county lines. The feelings are yes or no answers about the previous day, so they measure how often a feeling was present and not how strong it was. The ladder of 2008 is left out and the 2009 ladder may carry part of the same question-order artifact, which the extract cannot separate without an interview month.

The adjusted profiles are statistical constructs. Household income, marital status and self-rated health are partly consequences of well-being, so adjusting for them does not isolate the part of the profile that belongs to age, and the profile is flat near its low point, so the age of that low is less certain than its bootstrap intervals suggest. Household income is nominal, includes a partner's earnings and was missing for a share of interviews. The mix of income brackets changes in 2015 to 2017 for reasons the extract does not document, so results by income use 2009 to 2014, and the cutoffs between groups are fixed dollar amounts across that period. The deprivation groups describe the county where a respondent lives and not the respondent, the groups hold very different numbers of counties, the index describes counties as of 2023, and the Area Deprivation Index understates deprivation in high-cost cities.

The poll ends in 2017, and later years may differ. Chapter 7.3, Mental distress in young adults follows frequent mental distress among young adults from 2014 in a different survey, and Chapter 7.1, Civic life, loneliness and partnership shows how the ladder gap between partnered and other adults varies by age band in the same Gallup data. No figure in this chapter follows a person through life.

Data sources

Gallup U.S. Daily PollGallup U.S. Daily tracking poll, 2008-2017: Cantril ladder score (2009-2017), feelings yesterday, age, household income, sex, marital status, education and self-rated health; aggregates onlyYears: 2008-2017 · Weights: none (unweighted) · License: Proprietary Gallup microdata; respondent-level rows are not published
Area Deprivation IndexArea Deprivation Index 2023, national rank, tract ranks averaged to counties and joined to the county of each interview (2008-2017)Years: 2023 release (version 4.0.1; built on ACS 2019-2023) · Weights: 2019-2023 tract population · License: Free for non-commercial use; cite the Neighborhood Atlas and Kind and Buckingham
American Community SurveyACS 2019-2023 tract population, the weight for averaging tract deprivation ranks to countiesYears: 2019-2023 (5-year) · Weights: 2019-2023 tract population · License: Public domain (U.S. Census Bureau)

All data sources

Methods

This chapter compares Gallup interviewees by year of age, age band, household income group, deprivation third and birth cohort. The extract has no survey weights, so all estimates are unweighted, and the county deprivation measure is dated after the interviews. The ladder of 2008 is set to missing, the income groups and adjusted profiles use interviews in 2009 to 2014 only, and the ladder and the feelings are different measures asked in different years and are never combined. Intervals are clustered by the respondent's county.

Who was interviewed

Gallup respondent rows are read inside Box through the project loader and aggregated; nothing at respondent level is published. All estimates are unweighted.

Age is whole years at interview, 18 to 94 (the extract has no age above 94 and does not top-code it); interviews with no county are left out.

Figures explained here: Figure 1 and Figure 2

Which questions and years each measure covers

The ladder of 2008 is set to missing for every estimate, because political questions that preceded the ladder in 2008 and the first months of 2009 lowered it (Deaton 2012); the extract has no interview month, so early 2009 interviews may carry part of the effect. The feelings keep 2008.

The ladder was asked of 85% of interviews in 2009, of nearly all in 2010 to 2012 and of 49% from 2013 to 2017; the feelings follow a similar pattern in the years they were asked, so the pooled profiles weight 2008 to 2012 most.

The ladder (an evaluation of life as a whole) and the feelings (yes or no answers about the previous day) are different measures and are never combined.

Why household income covers 2009 to 2014

Everything that uses household income, the income groups and the adjusted profiles, uses interviews in 2009 to 2014, because the share of income reporters at $90,000 or more rises from 23% in 2014 to 35% in 2017; the same contrasts for 2015 to 2017 are shown separately.

Household income is Gallup's harmonized six brackets in dollars of the interview year, collapsed to under $36,000, $36,000 to $89,999 and $90,000 or more.

Figure explained here: Figure 4

How deprivation thirds are built

Deprivation thirds rank interviews by the Area Deprivation Index 2023 of the respondent's county (the mean of the county's tract national ranks weighted by 2019-2023 tract population; Connecticut tracts move to the eight legacy counties; Puerto Rico is excluded), a measure dated after the interviews, and cut them into three groups of about equal numbers of interviews, with a county in one group; the groups hold different numbers of counties.

Figure explained here: Figure 3

How profiles, turning ages and cohorts are built

The age of the lowest or highest point of a profile is the minimum or maximum of its five-year moving average (each age averaged with the two ages on either side), searched over ages 20 to 92 and refined between whole years by the vertex of a parabola through the extreme and its two neighbours (at most half a year).

Adjusted profiles come from an unweighted least-squares regression of the outcome on a fixed effect for each year of age and fixed effects for sex, marital status (three groups), education (three groups), household income (six brackets) and survey year, and are evaluated at the sample's mix of the controls. The quadratic fit replaces the age effects with a constant, (age - 50) / 10 and its square, and its turning age is 50 - 5b/c for linear coefficient b and quadratic coefficient c, defined when c is positive.

The difference between age bands in a profile is the mean of the profile over the later band minus the mean over the earlier band, each year of age weighted by its number of interviews, so for a raw profile it is the difference of the two band means.

A birth cohort is the interview year minus age, in groups of ten birth years. The change among all adults that a cohort is compared with is age-standardized: the mean over single years of age 50 to 67 of the change at that age between 2009 and 2017, because the interview sample was younger in 2017 than in 2009.

Figures explained here: Figure 5 and Figure 6

How uncertainty is measured

Means and shares by year of age, age band, household income group, deprivation third or birth cohort have 95% intervals clustered by the respondent's county (derived from the ZIP code), from the linearized variance with counties as clusters and t distributions with the number of counties minus one degrees of freedom.

Intervals for turning ages, adjusted profiles and differences between age bands come from a bootstrap that resamples whole counties with replacement (2,000 replicates, seed 12345) and refits the regression or recomputes the group means in every replicate from the redrawn county sums.

References

Deaton, Angus (2012). The financial crisis and the well-being of Americans: 2011 OEP Hicks Lecture. Oxford Economic Papers 64(1): 1-26. doi:10.1093/oep/gpr051
Stone, Arthur A.; Schwartz, Joseph E.; Broderick, Joan E.; Deaton, Angus (2010). A snapshot of the age distribution of psychological well-being in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(22): 9985-9990. doi:10.1073/pnas.1003744107
Blanchflower, David G.; Oswald, Andrew J. (2008). Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?. Social Science & Medicine 66(8): 1733-1749. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.01.030
Blanchflower, David G. (2021). Is happiness U-shaped everywhere? Age and subjective well-being in 145 countries. Journal of Population Economics 34(2): 575-624. doi:10.1007/s00148-020-00797-z
Frijters, Paul; Beatton, Tony (2012). The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 82(2-3): 525-542. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2012.03.008
Glenn, Norval (2009). Is the apparent U-shape of well-being over the life course a result of inappropriate use of control variables? A commentary on Blanchflower and Oswald (66: 8, 2008, 1733-1749). Social Science & Medicine 69(4): 481-485. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.05.038
Cheng, Terence C.; Powdthavee, Nattavudh; Oswald, Andrew J. (2017). Longitudinal evidence for a midlife nadir in human well-being: results from four data sets. The Economic Journal 127(599): 126-142. doi:10.1111/ecoj.12256

How to cite

@misc{singh2026wellbeingacrossthelifespan,
  author = {Singh, Vishal},
  title = {Well-being across the life span},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://vishalsingh.org/zipcode/well-being-across-the-life-span},
  note = {In ZIP Code Destiny. Published 9 October 2026.}
}

Same question at another grain

These chapters take up the same axis with a different unit of analysis.

Age and well-being
- Chapter 7.3, Mental distress in young adults Individuals