Community life, friendship and social support in America

Places that become part of social life

The survey asked people where they could go to be around their neighbors or talk with people in their neighborhood. This was a question about places they experienced as available for community interaction. A nearby building alone would not answer it.

Among adults with a high school education or less, 28 percent identified none of the ten types of gathering place. Among college graduates, 14 percent identified none. The difference appeared across public and commercial settings. For example, 59 percent of graduates identified parks or gardens as neighborhood gathering places, compared with 41 percent of those with a high school education or less. Libraries and community centers showed a similar divide.

Actual visits were uneven too. Forty-five percent of college graduates had visited a public library at least a few times in the previous year, compared with 27 percent of adults with a high school education or less. Public provision and participation were distinct parts of the picture. A place could be open to everyone while playing a much larger role in some people’s lives than in others’.

The range of available places also corresponded with friendship. Among respondents who identified no gathering places, 32 percent reported having no close friends, excluding relatives. Among those identifying seven or more types of place, 9 percent reported no close friends. This association does not show that adding a venue creates friendships. It does give the settings around relationships a place in our understanding of how social life is sustained.

The encounters between planned occasions

Some contact happened outside an organized gathering. People who walked through their neighborhoods regularly were more likely to speak with neighbors they did not know well. Among those walking at least a couple of times a week, 44 percent reported these conversations at least once or twice a month. Among those walking only a few times a year, 19 percent did.

Trust was part of this pattern. Regular walkers were more likely to say people could generally be trusted, especially when they also spoke with neighbors. The authors acknowledge that the relationship could work in both directions. People who already trusted others might feel more comfortable walking and starting conversations.

These findings distinguish being out in a neighborhood from interacting with someone there. They also show why the same suggestion may fit different neighborhoods differently. In the interviews, Sarah, a 37-year-old Pennsylvania resident, described avoiding introductions after difficult experiences with previous neighbors. Her account gives the trust finding a concrete meaning. Past encounters can become part of the circumstances surrounding the next one.

Having a way to take part

Groups give community life recognizable activities and roles. In the survey, hobby groups, neighborhood associations, sports groups, and parent organizations all attracted a larger share of college graduates. Twenty-five percent of graduates belonged to a hobby or activity group, compared with 9 percent of adults with a high school education or less. Among parents of children under 18, membership in parent groups or youth organizations was 23 percent and 6 percent respectively.

The pattern extended to volunteering. Thirty-nine percent of college graduates volunteered at least a few times a year, compared with 19 percent of those with a high school education or less. Parents with degrees were particularly active. Half of college-educated mothers and 42 percent of college-educated fathers reported volunteering that often.

The interviews help distinguish an interest in contributing from the resources needed to do it. Paul, a 47-year-old Texan, wanted to volunteer and described liking the opportunity to do something for other people. Health difficulties, limited funds, and a lack of transportation stood in the way. His account locates the practical work in making participation possible. For someone in those circumstances, an accessible way to get there could matter alongside an invitation.

Informal hospitality showed a smaller educational gap. Forty-two percent of college graduates had friends, relatives, or neighbors over at least once or twice a month, compared with 33 percent of adults with a high school education or less. Looking across these activities preserves a fuller picture of participation. Membership, volunteering, and welcoming people at home give us different information about someone’s social life.

Friendships within a changing community

Across the survey, 17 percent of adults reported having no close friends, excluding relatives, compared with 12 percent in the center’s 2021 survey. The difference by education was substantial. In 2024, 24 percent of adults with a high school education or less reported no close friends, compared with 10 percent of college graduates.

The report’s historical comparison gives these figures a useful context. In a 1990 survey, adults with a high school education or less were slightly more likely than college graduates to report six or more close friends. Their current disadvantage was not always present. These are comparisons across separate surveys, rather than a record of the same people’s friendships over time, but they make it harder to treat today’s pattern as an inherent feature of a group of people.

The pattern also differed by race. Thirty-five percent of Black adults with a high school education or less reported no close friends, compared with 11 percent of Black college graduates. Yet the report also identified relatively strong participation by Black respondents in neighborhood associations. Different measures reveal different parts of community life, including resources that a single overall description could obscure.

Distance added another distinction. Forty-four percent of adults said few or none of their close friends lived nearby. Brandon, a 38-year-old interviewee in Nevada, described being satisfied with the quality of his friendships while having few people he could rely on for help with a personal challenge. Two of his closest friends lived in Canada and Connecticut. Valuing a friendship and having someone available nearby can be separate experiences.

What having support means

Most respondents had more than one person they could call on for several kinds of help. About two-thirds said at least a couple of people could offer emotional support, give them a ride, or help them move. Among parents of children under 18, 62 percent knew at least a couple of people who could watch their children briefly in an emergency.

The availability of help depended on what was needed. Only half of adults reported having multiple people who could care for them if they became ill. That did not mean everyone else had nobody. Another 38 percent identified one person, while 10 percent identified no one. Being able to call on one person and having several possible sources of help are different arrangements. Andrew, a 37-year-old interviewee from Washington, described having people he could approach about money while having few he would turn to about an emotional difficulty. Counting contacts would miss that distinction.

Resources within the network mattered too. Twenty-one percent of adults with a high school education or less said there was nobody from whom they could borrow $200. Within that educational group, 30 percent of Black adults said multiple people could lend them that amount, compared with 51 percent of White adults. A financial request draws on what other people are able to provide as well as their willingness to help.

Family relationships supplied much of the support people described. Nearly half of adults said a spouse or partner would be the first person they approached with a personal problem. Among adults aged 18 to 29, 42 percent would turn first to a parent. Living arrangements also mattered. Among adults under 50 who lived alone, 18 percent said they had no one to turn to with a personal problem, compared with 4 percent of those who lived with others. Those figures leave room for many different experiences of living alone while showing why available support deserves attention in its own right.

Communities people already count on

Religious congregations remained an important part of this account. A third of adults belonged to a church or other religious organization, making it the most common form of group membership measured. Membership was higher among college graduates than among adults with a high school education or less, 39 percent compared with 27 percent. Even so, religious organizations attracted a much larger share of the latter group than any other type of organization in the survey.

Congregational membership was associated with more friends and more people available to help. It also coincided with a smaller educational divide in friendship. Among people who did not belong to a place of worship, 27 percent of those with a high school education or less reported no close friends, compared with 11 percent of college graduates. Among members, the figures were 15 percent and 7 percent.

Robert, a 43-year-old high school graduate in Nebraska, described the relationships within his own congregation. He had grown up there, knew older people he respected, and remained friends with people he had known when young. His employer was also a member. His account shows how several parts of a life can meet within one continuing community. The survey cannot establish what membership caused, but it records an existing setting in which people reported substantial friendship and support.

Unions, another institution discussed in the report, also had a different educational profile from their historical association with workers without degrees. In this survey, membership was reported by 11 percent of adults with postgraduate degrees and 6 percent of those with no college education.

Family findings added another perspective on change. Among young adults raised in two-parent households, 60 percent recalled being able to turn to their father with a personal problem, compared with 45 percent of seniors raised in two-parent households. Fifty-seven percent of the younger group recalled being able to turn to either parent, compared with 41 percent of seniors. These are adults’ recollections of childhood, rather than observations made while they were growing up. Within those accounts, support was shared across both parents more often in the younger generation.

The report also connected recalled support with present friendships. Among adults raised in two-parent households who remembered being able to turn to either parent, half reported at least five close friends. The figure was 40 percent among those who could turn to only one parent and 37 percent among those who could turn to neither. The survey cannot tell us which childhood experiences contributed to those later relationships. It does place remembered care alongside the friendships people described in adulthood, extending the account beyond the number of places or groups available to them now.