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Whether respondents think they are better or worse off than their parents were at the same age; the GSS asks about standard of living and SHED asks about financial situation.
AI-matched An AI model grouped these questions and mapped their answers onto shared categories, and a second AI review checked and corrected the grouping and mapping. No person has checked it: compare the question wordings and the answer mapping below before reading the lines against each other.
Latest: 22% answered “Worse off” in GSS, 2024.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. GSS → web (2021).
Shares of everyone asked, including non-answers. Each column is one survey wave, evenly spaced rather than to scale in time; hover for exact shares.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. GSS → web (2021).
Shares of everyone asked, including non-answers. Each point is one survey wave at the middle of its field period. Lines from different surveys are never spliced together.
Groups differ from everyone by 7 points on average across all answers, in GSS.
| Line | Question | Match | How answers map |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSS | Own living standard compared with parents' at same age A. Compared to your parents when they were the age you are now, Do you think your own standard of living now is much better, somewhat better, about the same, somewhat worse, or much worse than theirs was? Caveat: Reference question (standard of living); 5-point scale collapsed to 3 categories | identical | Much better → Better off; Somewhat better → Better off; About the same → About the same; Somewhat worse → Worse off; Much worse → Worse off |
| Fed SHED | Financially better or worse off than parents Think of your parents when they were your age. Would you say you (and your family) are better, the same, or worse off financially than they were? Caveat: Asks about financial situation rather than standard of living; option codes run in reverse order to GSS | equivalent | Much worse off → Worse off; Somewhat worse off → Worse off; About the same → About the same; Somewhat better off → Better off; Much better off → Better off |
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. GSS → web (2021).
Groups differ from everyone by 5 points on average across all answers, in GSS.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. GSS → web (2021).
Subgroup charts are picked automatically. Of every breakdown in the data (party, ideology, age, sex, race, education, income, region, religion, and community type), these two put their groups furthest from everyone’s answers: the gap is averaged across all answer categories and waves, with each group weighted by its share of respondents. Party and ideology count as one choice, so the second chart shows a different kind of split. Groups with an effective sample under 50 in a wave are left out of that wave.