Keys to a Good Life for Americans: Relationships, Local Commerce, and Civil Society

What impacts the ability to live a good life? It’s a question long pondered — and answered — through one’s lived experiences. The American Communities Project and Ipsos asked this question to nearly 5,000 Americans recently to understand where the public stands today. Our findings underscore the significance of personal and local connections as well as a belief in commerce and civil society over government. Drs. Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz chronicled the centrality of relationships in their 2023 best-selling book The Good Life.

Strongest Roles in a Good Life

In our survey, local enterprises as well as civic, volunteer, or charitable groups emerged in the strongest positions nationally, perhaps because these are well integrated into Americans’ day-to-day, warm interactions with friends, neighbors, colleagues, and community members. Nationally, 60% of Americans said small or local businesses have a positive impact on their ability to lead a good life. This was the highest rate among the options offered; however, Americans did not speak in complete unison and reflected their distinct community cultures.

Across the community types, the standing of small/local businesses in impacting the ability to live a good life ranged 17 percentage points, from 72% in Rural Middle America, known for their collection of small towns, to 55% in the African American South, where daily business is often divided along racial lines. Other diverse communities, too, tended to have fewer residents who felt the connection of local businesses to a good life, including Big Cities and Hispanic Centers, at 56% and 57%, respectively. Nationally, 5% said small or local businesses have a negative impact, while 33% said they have no impact. These mostly positive figures also reaffirm findings in our 2023 survey when Americans said small or local businesses were the most likely of major institutions to share their values.

The Impact of Civic, Volunteer, or Charitable Organizations

Coming in second in positively impacting the ability to live a good life were civic, volunteer, or charitable organizations. Nationally, 54% said these organizations have a positive impact. There was little variability among the community types, with nearly all sitting in the low- to mid-50s. The standout was the LDS Enclaves, Mormon strongholds in the interior West, at 63%. Only 6% nationally said civic, volunteer, or charitable organizations have a negative impact, and 39% said they have no impact, similar to beliefs held about small/local businesses.

The Importance of Church or Religious Organizations

Church or religious organizations had the next highest percentage in positively impacting one’s ability to live a good life, at 48% nationally. The 19-point variability in the community types echoed that of small/local businesses. In African American South and Working Class Country, 60% and 61% of respective residents held this view. In a corresponding finding, 54% of African American South residents and 50% of Working Class Country residents reported that their faith/religion gives them hope no matter what is happening in their lives — the two highest levels of the 15 ACP types. In the Big Cities, where residents are less likely to identify as religious, 42% said church or religious organizations positively impact their ability to live a good life.

Notably, 13% of Americans nationally said religious organizations have a negative impact on living a good life. Some of this negativity may be due to the overall decline of religious affiliation among Americans, the scandals of various religious groups, and the divisions that have surfaced and deepened in congregations during American polarization. LDS Enclaves had the highest negative rate at 19%. This may come from the non-Mormon residents who must coexist in an LDS-dominated community. Last year, The Washington Post documented the decline of U.S. adults identifying as Mormon.

Local Government’s Role

Overall, 32% of Americans said local government has a positive impact, while 30% said it has a negative impact and 36% said no impact. Knowing someone in local government correlates with more positive views. While just 17% of respondents nationwide said they know an elected official or government worker, 47% of people who know an elected official believe local government is having a positive impact on living a good life.

Like small businesses and civic organizations, local government hits close to home, encompassing a myriad of functions that affect a person’s daily life, including emergency services, public schools, zoning, public spaces, libraries, property taxes, and infrastructure. But faith in commerce comes before faith in government. Notably, in our 2023 survey, more than a third of Americans said their community infrastructure was in poor condition, and about a quarter said it was underfunded. Last year’s survey also found that nearly 40% of Americans said their public school system was underfunded, and more than a quarter said it was understaffed. In addition to ongoing funding challenges, local schools and libraries across the country have been in the crosshairs of cultural change these past few years.

National Businesses

According to survey respondents, rounding out the top five kinds of organizations that positively impact one’s ability to live a good life were national businesses, at 23%. Nationally, 44% said they have no impact. Among the types deviating from the average, the African American South stood out at 52%, perhaps because they are home to fewer national businesses.

Least Positive: Local and National News Media and National Government

The remaining three — local news media, national government, and national news media — came in at positive rates of 20%, 16%, and 10%, respectively. A few trends may explain people’s tepid views of these groups. As the ACP has highlighted, local news outlets have been dwindling year by year. Based on figures from the 2024 State of Local News Report, more than 50% of the nation’s counties have one or no local news outlet in their community. Moreover, whether one is personally connected to someone in the field correlates to seeing a positive impact on one’s life. While just 7% of the 2024 survey respondents said they have an immediate family members or close friends who are journalists or work for a news organization, 35% of those who know a journalist believe that local media have a positive impact on living a good life.

Also in the realm of public service, national government and national media have consistently polled at low levels of favorability, so the low percentages of Americans who said these institutions positively affect their ability to live a good life is not surprising. Again, having personal relationships in the field counters these trends and correlates with more positive feelings: 26% of people who know a journalist said the national media has a positive impact on living a good life. Similarly, 25% who know an elected official said national government has a positive impact.

Election Exit Poll Results

In the exit polls from AP VoteCast, the good life question turned on one’s overall trajectory. More than 50% of voters surveyed in nearly all community types reported they were holding steady in their life. The exceptions were the Native American Lands, Aging Farmlands, and Evangelical Hubs, at 46%, 50%, and 50%, respectively.

Falling behind was a big concern, cited by 26% to 39% of voters in all but these three rural community types, where it stood in the 40s.

Scant numbers of voters felt they were getting ahead in life. The percentages were highest in more socioeconomically diverse places: the Big Cities at 16%, followed by the Urban Suburbs at 14%.