The American Dream Prosperity Index (formerly the United States Prosperity Index) provides a holistic assessment of all aspects of prosperity in 50 states and Washington D.C., and counties in 12 selected states, from as early as 2004 for some indicators up to 2021. It shows that:

The United States is one of the most prosperous countries in the world, ranking 18th out of 167 nations.

On the global stage, the U.S. remains one of the most prosperous nations. It has a particularly strong and open economy, ranking 4th in the world for Enterprise Conditions and 10th for Investment Environment.

Prosperity is distributed unevenly across the country.

Prosperity is not equally shared across the U.S., with disparities at state and county level and among different groups of society. Massachusetts continues to be the strongest-performing state and Mississippi the weakest.

U.S. prosperity had been rising continuously for more than a decade, as a result of long-term improvements across many areas.

Increasing productivity and competitiveness, a more educated adult population, reductions in smoking and drinking, and lower levels of property crime had all contributed to more than a decade-long rise in prosperity.

Prosperity weakened between 2020 and 2021 as COVID- 19 impacted many aspects of U.S. society, but a strong resurgence in new business applications signals hope for the recovery.

The direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic resulted in many aspects of prosperity deteriorating over the past year and further consequences are still to be felt, but the number of new business applications has been the highest on record, signaling hope for a strong post-pandemic recovery.

Even prior to COVID-19, there were some significant challenges acting as a brake on U.S. prosperity.

Pre-pandemic, the increase in mass shootings, rising obesity and mental health issues, and people interacting less with neighbors were already impeding further progress and stopping the U.S. performing more strongly on the global stage.

Find out more about the Key Findings from the 2021 U.S. Prosperity Index: