The United States at 250: How the Country Has Changed in the Past 50 Years
Ahead of the nation’s birthday, Pew Research Center identified some prominent trends across key areas of American life: demographics, work, family and economics.
Economy & Work
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Black Americans’ Views on Success in the U.S.
While Black adults define personal and financial success in different ways, most see these measures of success as major sources of pressure in their lives.
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From Businesses and Banks to Colleges and Churches: Americans’ Views of U.S. Institutions
Americans overwhelmingly see small businesses as having a positive effect on the way things are going in the country. By contrast, their views of large corporations are broadly negative. And most people – including identical shares in both parties – are critical of the impact of banks and financial institutions.
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Among Black adults, those with higher incomes are most likely to say they are happy
Black adults in upper-income families are about twice as likely as those in lower-income families to say they are extremely or very happy.
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Americans More Upbeat on the Economy; Biden’s Job Rating Remains Very Low
28% of Americans rate economic conditions as excellent or good, a 9 percentage point increase from last April. And the share who say economic conditions will be worse a year from now has fallen during this timespan, from 46% to 33%.
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Parents, Young Adult Children and the Transition to Adulthood
Most U.S. young adults are at least mostly financially independent and happy with their parents’ involvement in their lives. Parent-child relationships are mostly strong.
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2023 saw some of the biggest, hardest-fought labor disputes in recent decades
The nearly four-month actors’ strike against major Hollywood production studios was the second-largest labor dispute in the United States in at least three decades.
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Older Workers Are Growing in Number and Earning Higher Wages
Roughly one-in-five Americans ages 65 and older were employed in 2023 – nearly double the share of those who were working 35 years ago.
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Striking findings from 2023
Here’s a look back at 2023 through some of our most striking research findings.
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Wealth Surged in the Pandemic, but Debt Endures for Poorer Black and Hispanic Families
About one-in-four Black households and one-in-seven Hispanic households had no wealth or were in debt in 2021, compared with about one-in-ten U.S. households overall.
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Key facts about the wealth of immigrant households during the COVID-19 pandemic
The median wealth of immigrant households increased by 42% from December 2019 to December 2021.
