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B. When your children are at the age you are now, do you think their standard of living will be much better, somewhat better, about the same, somewhat worse, or much worse than yours is now?
Children's expected standard of living compared with own · Asked in 15 waves, 1994–2024 · 22,446 responses · weighted estimates computed from individual responses
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. → mixed mode (2022).
Shares of people who gave an answer. Each column is one wave, evenly spaced rather than to scale in time; hover for exact shares.
| Group | Much better | Somewhat better | About the same |
|---|
| Poll | Field dates | Mode | Respondents | Responses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Social Survey 2024 | 2024-04-05 to 2024-12-02 | mixed | 3,309 | 952 |
| General Social Survey 2022 | 2022-05-08 to 2023-01-08 | mixed | 3,544 | 1,200 |
| General Social Survey 2018 | 2018-04-12 to 2018-11-10 | face to face | 2,348 | 1,563 |
| General Social Survey 2016 | 2016-04-05 to 2016-11-19 | face to face | 2,867 | 1,955 |
| General Social Survey 2014 | 2014-03-31 to 2014-10-13 | face to face | 2,538 | 1,687 |
| General Social Survey 2012 | 2012-03-20 to 2012-09-05 | face to face | 1,974 | 1,338 |
| General Social Survey 2010 | 2010-03-15 to 2010-08-12 | face to face | 2,044 | 1,377 |
| General Social Survey 2008 | 2008-04-17 to 2008-09-13 | face to face | 2,023 | 1,365 |
| General Social Survey 2006 | 2006-03-07 to 2006-08-07 | face to face | 4,510 | 1,989 |
| General Social Survey 2004 |
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. → mixed mode (2022).
Shares of people who gave an answer. A group’s column is left blank in waves where its effective sample is under 50; hover for exact shares.
| Somewhat worse |
|---|
| Much worse |
|---|
| No children |
|---|
| n |
|---|
| MoE |
|---|
| All respondents | 29% | 26% | 15% | 16% | 7% | 7% | 952 | ±4 | |
| Less than high school | 35% | 29% | 17% | 9% | 6% | 4% | 113 | ±14 | |
| High school | 31% | 22% | 12% | 21% | 8% | 6% | 292 | ±8 | |
| Some college | 33% | 28% | 11% | 15% | 8% | 5% | 293 | ±8 | |
| Bachelor's | 22% | 23% | 21% | 17% | 8% | 8% | 167 | ±10 | |
| Postgraduate † | 15% | 28% | 32% | 9% | 3% | 13% | 87 | ±14 |
General Social Survey 2024 · US adults 18+ living in households (English, and Spanish since 2006). Shares of people who gave an answer. n is unweighted; ± is the 95% margin of error at 50% from the weighted effective sample. Groups with an effective sample under 50 are grayed; under 20, hidden.
| 2004-08-18 to 2005-01-04 |
| face to face |
| 2,812 |
| 876 |
| General Social Survey 2002 | 2002-02-06 to 2002-06-26 | face to face | 2,765 | 912 |
| General Social Survey 2000 | 2000-02-01 to 2000-06-25 | face to face | 2,817 | 1,896 |
| General Social Survey 1998 | 1998-02-01 to 1998-06-19 | face to face | 2,832 | 1,911 |
| General Social Survey 1996 | 1996-02-01 to 1996-05-25 | face to face | 2,904 | 1,925 |
| General Social Survey 1994 | 1994-01-04 to 1994-06-29 | face to face | 2,992 | 1,500 |