Conditions people say are part of their personal American Dream
Percent of U.S. adults naming each condition, 2008 (in percent)
Key finding
Highest: Good physical health (85%). Lowest: Achieving fame or public recognition (7%).
- Good physical health: 85%
- Living with a high degree of integrity: 85%
- Having one marriage partner for life: 80%
Source: Barna Group, Survey Details Current Vision of the American Dream · Margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level for the aggregate sample. Article published 2023-08-16.
See all 19 categories, the full chart and more
Free account: full chart, CSV and PNG downloads, ready-to-paste citation, branded share image, and a discussion question for your team.
Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
Highest: Good physical health (85%). Lowest: Achieving fame or public recognition (7%). Good physical health: 85%. Living with a high degree of integrity: 85%. Having one marriage partner for life: 80%.
Who published this data?
Barna Group, 2008. Source: Barna Group, Survey Details Current Vision of the American Dream (https://www.barna.com/research/survey-details-current-vision-of-the-american-dream/).
Where can I get the full data and a citation?
Create a free Leader Insights account to open the full chart, download CSV or PNG, copy a citation and save the statistic to your own library.
More Belief & Culture statistics
- Age at which people switched religious identification Lifeway Research, 2026
- Americans' views of Pope Leo XIV Public Religion Research Institute, 2026
- Americans who at least somewhat believe calling is a spiritual experience American Bible Society, 2026
- Americans who say they have changed faith or significantly changed their faith views Barna Group, 2009
- Certainty that Jesus speaks to them personally Barna Group, 2009
- Adults who say Christianity is no longer the default faith of Americans Barna Group, 2008
About this data
Leader Insights collects statistics about U.S. churches from published research by organizations such as Lifeway Research, Barna Group, Springtide, the American Bible Society and PRRI. Every number is checked against the wording of the original source before it is published, and each statistic links back to the study it came from. Figures are reproduced from the publishers named above; see the source for full methodology.