New York Can't Get No Satisfaction, Siena Poll Finds

NEW YORK CITY — New Yorkers can't get no satisfaction, a new poll has found.

Only 32 percent of New Yorker City residents are more satisfied with their lives than they were a year ago, according to a Siena College poll released Wednesday morning.

“It has been a trying time for many New Yorkers," said Siena College Research Institute Director, Don Levy. "After Covid, political turmoil and now inflation, we see a significant drop among state residents in every category of life satisfaction.”

The number drops to 27 percent on the statewide level, a 17-point drop from 2018 when researchers found 44 percent of New Yorkers felt more satisfied with life than they had the year before, researchers note.

The Siena College Poll includes data collected from 402 random telephone calls to New Yorkers between June 14 and 27, researchers said.

While roughly 70 percent of those polled said they were satisfied with relationships, community and health, it appears to be money and world affairs that have New Yorkers down.

Only 12 percent of New Yorkers are completely satisfied with their financial condition and 46 percent said they were either not very or not at all satisfied, pollsters said.

And about 75 percent said they were not satisfied with the world they live in politically, economically or socially.

The poll also found variance in satisfaction levels across gender, ethnic, income and age divides, said Levy.

Young New Yorkers are the least satisfied by their lives and older New Yorkers the most and, not shocking, satisfaction levels rose with income.

Men are more satisfied than women and white people more satisfied than Black or Latinx New Yorkers, the poll found.

“Today women are less satisfied with their lives than are men," Levy said. “The racial satisfaction gap is striking."

Siena College first began asking New Yorkers to rank their satisfaction levels in 2008 and noted a significant decline in 2018, before the pandemic hit, researchers said.

It appears what's keeping New Yorker going is their own inner lives, Levy said.

"When considering all residents we see the largest drops in satisfaction with family relationships, where they live, their finances, what they do for work and their health,” said Levy.

"Those areas that give us comfort remain our relationships with others and our religious or spiritual life."

Find the full results here.