For what it’s worth, Gallup’s number deserves to be taken seriously. So the surging number of Americans who say that they’re thriving is meaningful, and it’s worth asking for an explanation. What do we know about life satisfaction? When we’re looking at either changes in national life satisfaction or differences among countries, however, the social aspects of happiness tend to average out, so income stands out more clearly. There is a strong correlation across countries between per capita income and life satisfaction, although with some interesting deviations:

Source: International New York Times July 09, 2021 18:45 UTC