Are your 20s really the best years of your life? A new YouGov survey finds that 22% of Americans say they will be their best decade, but about as many say their 30s were or will be the best years of their life. 12% say their 40s will be their best decade, 9% say this about their 50s, 7% about their 60s, and 4% about their 70s. Only 1% think their 80s will be the best years of their life, and none say this about their 90s or beyond.
Among people who are in their 20s, 33% think their 20s will be the best years of their life. 22% of them think their 30s will be the best years of their life.
31% of people who are currently in their 30s think their 30s will be the best years of their life; 25% say it was their 20s.
Among people who are in their 40s, 24% think their 40s will be the best years of their life. 20% say it will be their 30s and 22% say it will be their 20s.
20% of people in their 50s say that their 50s are the best years of their life, 11% say it will be their 40s, 17% say it will be their 30s, and 21% say it will be their 20s.
People in their 60s are also likely to say they’re in the best years of their life (22%). Only 5% say their 50s will be the best decade, 11% say their 40s will be, 20% say their 30s will be, and 14% say their 20s will be.
The trend continues with people in their 70s, 30% of whom say they’re currently in the best years of their life.
People who are currently parents to children under 18 are more likely than other adults to say their 30s (31% vs. 17%) or 40s (18% vs. 11%) are or will be the best years of their life.
Men are slightly more likely than women to say their 20s will be the best years of their life (25% vs. 19%).
31% of Americans think that for most people, their 20s will be the best years of life. Only 22% say it’s their 30s and 11% say their 40s. 6% say their 50s, 4% their 60s, 1% their 70s, and none say later in life.
Women are more likely than men to say the best years of life happen at 30 or later for most people (52% vs. 39%). 25% of women think ages 30 to 39 are the best years of life for most people; 19% of men agree. 35% of men and 28% of women say for most people, their 20s are their best years of life.
What about the worst years of life? Only 3% of Americans say their worst decade will prove to be the first 10 years of their life, 12% say age 10 to 19, and 10% say it will be their 20s. Similar shares say their 30s (9%), 40s (9%), and 50s (8%) will be their worst years. 6% of Americans think their 60s will be their worst years, 6% think their 70s, 7% think their 80s, 5% their 90s, and 2% say their worst years will come after turning 100.
While larger shares say the decade they’re in is their best than say it's their worst, people also are more likely to describe the decade they’re in as their worst, compared to other age ranges. For instance, among Americans in their 30s, 18% say their 30s will be their worst decade, more than say any other decade of their life. Among people in their 40s, 16% say their 40s will be their worst years.
However, among people in their 20s, the largest share describe the prior decade of life — between ages 10 and 19 — as the worst years of their life, more than say so about their 20s (14%).
Two-thirds (67%) of Americans expect they'll either live to 100 (12%) or they’ll live to 80 and die by age 100 (55%). 29% think they’ll die between ages 60 and 80.
Related:
- One in five working Americans believes their job is meaningless
- Americans say the 1970s and 1980s were the best music decades
- Tracking Americans' opinion on women from the 1930s to today
See the results for this YouGov survey.
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on November 19 - 23, 2025 among 1,131 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.
Image: Getty (Carlos Barquero)
What do you really think about President Trump, American politics in general, and everything else? Share your reality, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
