Nearly 10% of Us Have No Close Friends

Your partner, kids, and how much you've got in the bank are all key to living a satisfying life—but not as much as having friends you can rely on, according to a new survey. The April poll of 5,000-plus US adults released earlier this month from the Pew Research Center found that 61% of Americans say having close pals is extremely or very important in order to live a fulfilling life. Compare that to respondents who said the same of marriage (23%), having children (26%), and even having a lot of money (24%). The only factor that ranked higher than close friendships was having an enjoyable job or career, which came in at 71%.

Of respondents who claim at least one close friend, 72% said they were either very or completely satisfied with the quality of their friendships. That number jumps the more friends you have, with 81% of those with five close friends or more saying the same. Conversations with close friends, meanwhile, cover the gamut, with 58% of those answering the survey saying work was a topic that came up often or extremely often, in addition to family (close behind at 57%) and news headlines (48%). So how many close friends do Americans have? The majority of adults (53%) say they have between one and four close friends, while 38% boast five or more. Just 8% say they don't have any close friends.

No matter how many good friends you have yourself, carving out the time to spend with them is another piece of the puzzle to life satisfaction—which we're doing less and less these days. Late last year, WBUR reported that Americans are spending less than half as much time with friends as they did a decade ago, and being able to check in online may be partly to blame, as it fools us into thinking we're staying truly connected. "I think the trickiness of social media is it gives us these snacks of connection," a friendship expert said at the time. "And it's like we've been subsisting on snacks of connection from social media rather than having the sort of nutrient-dense meal of in-person connection." Go here for more Pew results on the friendship question, or here for more insight on views of the modern American family overall. (More friendship stories.)