{"id":279108,"date":"2025-11-12T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?post_type=short-read&p=279108"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:00:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:00:04","slug":"on-average-americans-want-to-live-until-theyre-91","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/11\/12\/on-average-americans-want-to-live-until-theyre-91\/","title":{"rendered":"On average, Americans want to live until they\u2019re 91"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo<\/a>
Runners ages 90 and older grab water after the National Senior Games track and field race in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Jeffrey Greenberg\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you had a choice, what age would you want to live until?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recently asked 8,750 U.S. adults that question as part of a survey about aging<\/a>. Though life expectancy at birth is 78 years old in the United States<\/a>, Americans would like to live longer than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About this research<\/strong><\/summary>\n

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at how long Americans say they would like to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did we do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center does research to help the public, the media and decision-makers understand important topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This research is part of our ongoing effort to study how the United States is changing socially and demographically and how the public is reacting to these changes. It also builds on previous work we\u2019ve done on older adults and aging<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this analysis, we surveyed 8,750 adults from Sept. 2 to 8, 2025. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel<\/a>. The survey represents the views of the full U.S. adult population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the\u00a0survey questions<\/a>\u00a0used for this analysis, the\u00a0detailed responses<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

\"Bar<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A broad majority of adults (76%) say they would want to live until they\u2019re at least 80. That includes 29% who would like to reach 100 and join the rapidly growing ranks of centenarians<\/a>. On average, Americans want to live to be 91 years old.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone would prefer to live that long, though. About one-in-six adults (16%) say they would want to live to an age younger than 80. Another 8% didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bar<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are some demographic differences in the age that Americans want to live to.<\/strong> The average preferred age is higher among men than women (93 vs. 88). It is also a bit higher among Black adults (95) than among those who are White (91), Hispanic (89) or Asian (85).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life expectancy in the U.S. follows a different demographic pattern.<\/strong> As of 2023, life expectancy at birth was higher for women than men (81 vs. 76), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>. And it was highest among Asian Americans (85), followed by Hispanic (81), White (78) and Black Americans (74). American Indians and Alaska Natives had the lowest life expectancy at birth at 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to note that life expectancy increases with age<\/a>. While babies born in the U.S. today can expect to live to be 78, Americans who are 65 today can expect to live to be 85<\/a>. That\u2019s because, by the time someone reaches 65, they are unlikely to die from some causes that disproportionately affect younger people, such as pregnancy complications or congenital diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: Here are the\u00a0survey questions<\/a>\u00a0used for this analysis, the\u00a0detailed responses<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0survey methodology<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A broad majority of U.S. adults (76%) say they would want to live until they\u2019re at least 80. That includes 29% who would like to reach 100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":340,"featured_media":279105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-11-12T17:00:15Z","apple_news_api_id":"9e614def-307e-46a7-b694-5175d1a2306b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-11-12T17:00:15Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AnmFN7zB-Rqe2lFF10aIwaw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"_zae36axg8","termId":879},{"key":"_5wf876x85","termId":543}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[205,207],"bylines":[879,543],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[519],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-279108","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-age","category-older-adults-aging","bylines-john-gramlich","bylines-luona-lin","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":465,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/11\/12\/on-average-americans-want-to-live-until-theyre-91\/","art_direction":{"A2":{"id":279105,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/11\/SR_25.11.13_HowLongAmericans_featured.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/11\/SR_25.11.13_HowLongAmericans_featured.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"caption":"Women runners ages 90 and older grab water after the National Senior Games track and field race in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 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