Next week, as President Trump delivers his State of the Union address, he’ll almost certainly follow a tradition of modern American politics. Over the last hundred years, presidents have described the state of the union in various ways—”good” (Truman), “sound” (Carter), “not good” (Ford). But it was Ronald Reagan who started the “strong” trend in 1983 by referring to the state of the union like this: “Strong, but the economy is troubled.” Since then, “strong” has been used to refer to the state of the union almost three dozen times.
But do Americans truly feel the state of the union is strong? A new report reveals a profound contradiction between America’s material abundance and its spiritual emptiness—a nation blessed with unprecedented economic prosperity yet increasingly impoverished in spirit and relationship.
The recently released “State of the Nation Project” can be useful in providing American Christians, and especially church leaders, a reality-based assessment of our current condition. This project was led by an ideologically diverse board of scholars and leaders from seven leading think tanks across the political spectrum, including members who advised the last five presidential administrations. Under the direction of Douglas N. Harris of Tulane University, this group set out to determine what could be objectively measured about America’s well-being and where consensus might emerge about our nation’s strengths and challenges.
Through a deliberative process of debate and supermajority voting, they identified 15 topics and 37 measures that together create a nuanced portrait of America’s condition. They then validated their findings through a survey of 1,000 representative American adults. The result is a rare achievement in our polarized age—a shared assessment of reality that transcends partisan narratives.
Disconnect Between Prosperity and Well-Being
Perhaps the most striking conclusion from the report is that America exists as a nation of profound contradictions—a people blessed with unprecedented material abundance yet increasingly impoverished in spirit and relationship. This divide between America’s economic strength and emotional health isn’t just a statistic in a report. It’s what pastors see every day in counseling sessions with successful entrepreneurs battling depression, during hospital visits with teenagers who’ve attempted suicide, and in conversations with church members who seem to have everything but feel profoundly empty inside.
America is blessed with unprecedented economic prosperity yet increasingly impoverished in spirit and relationship.
America’s economic strength is an undisputed reality. The data confirms what many have long recognized: America’s economy continues to outpace nearly all global competitors. Our GDP per capita ranks among the world’s highest; our workers produce more per hour than in almost 90 percent of other nations, with our output consistently growing year after year. Despite weathering economic storms and navigating the unprecedented disruptions of a global pandemic, America’s productive capacity continues its impressive upward trajectory—a testament to our resilience and innovative spirit even in challenging times.
Our educational achievements also show encouraging signs of improvement relative to other nations, with increasing years of education and greater percentages of young adults either working or in school.
Beneath this gleaming surface of prosperity lies a landscape of growing spiritual and emotional desolation that reveals itself most painfully in our children’s lives. One of the most troubling findings is that America ranks second-to-last among 112 higher-income countries for youth depression. This crisis didn’t emerge gradually but accelerated dramatically beginning around 2007—precisely when smartphones began transforming adolescent social dynamics. Our teenagers now inhabit digital worlds their parents barely comprehend, worlds that promise connection but often deliver isolation, comparison, and despair.
The story of America’s youth cannot be separated from the story of America’s families. The data reveals a nation where family stability remains elusive for many children. Despite a recent stabilization in single-parent household rates, we still rank near the bottom internationally on this measure. When combined with concerning trends in low-birthweight babies and merely average child mortality rates, we see a portrait of families under significant strain—families that form the foundation of our social fabric yet increasingly struggle to provide the stability children desperately need to thrive.
Growing Mental Health Crisis
The mental health statistics paint a similarly sober spiritual portrait. They reveal a nation that has achieved unprecedented affluence while gradually losing touch with the fundamental relationships and meaningful practices that sustain human well-being.
America ranks near the absolute bottom among high-income nations for depression and anxiety disorders. Our rates of fatal drug overdoses are unmatched among comparable countries. The suicide rate also places us among the worst in the developed world, with only a handful of countries reporting higher numbers. These aren’t merely data points but expressions of profound despair.
What makes this portrait particularly disturbing is the trajectory—each of these measures is steadily worsening over time. With each passing year, more Americans fall into depression, more families lose loved ones to suicide and overdose, and more communities struggle to address the growing mental health crisis. The report’s authors note that “America is doing worse in mental health than any other topic in this report.”
Decline of Trust and Social Capital
This deterioration extends to our relationships. Social isolation has increased since 2007, with growing numbers of Americans reporting they have no friends or family members they can count on in times of need. We now live in an age where a person can have thousands of “followers” on social media and zero close friends or acquaintances in the nonvirtual world. Americans interact with other people more than ever before but are increasingly alone in their struggles.
The bonds of social trust that once held communities together have likewise frayed. Trust in the federal government has declined from between 60 percent and 70 percent in 2000 to less than 50 percent today—one of the sharpest drops of any measure in the report. Similar patterns appear in attitudes toward police, higher education, and other institutions. While local governments maintains relatively high trust levels, institutions more distant from daily life experience greater skepticism. Trust in science has remained relatively stable, even seeing slight increases before COVID-19, but higher education—once among our most trusted institutions—has experienced a precipitous decline.
America ranks near the absolute bottom among high-income nations for depression and anxiety disorders.
Our democratic culture itself shows worrying signs of erosion. While voter participation remains relatively stable, belief in democracy as the best system of government has declined. Most concerning is America’s deepening political polarization. We rank worst among all comparison countries on measures of negative views toward members of opposing political parties. This hyperpartisanship threatens not just political unity but even the very foundation of democratic governance.
Life satisfaction—a broad measure of our subjective well-being—has been declining for nearly two decades. On a scale of 0 to 10, Americans rate their current lives at about 6.7, indicating that while we’re closer to our best lives than our worst, most people feel a significant gap between their lived reality and their highest aspirations. This measure, too, shows a clear downward trend since 2006.
One of the few trends not headed in a negative direction is crime. Contrary to common perception, violent crime has declined substantially since the early 1990s. While America continues to rank among the highest murder rates in the high-income world, the temporary spike during COVID-19 has since returned to prepandemic levels. This reality contradicts many fearful narratives and reminds us of the importance of factual assessment over alarmist rhetoric.
The timing of these declines is revealing. Many measures of subjective well-being and social connection took a marked turn for the worse around 2007—a year that saw both the introduction of the first iPhone and the beginning of the Great Recession. While economic indicators eventually rebounded from that financial crisis, our measures of psychological and social health never fully recovered. Some researchers suggest the smartphone revolution, with its profound reshaping of human interaction, may be as significant a factor as economic disruption in explaining these troubling trends.
God’s Solution to the American Contradiction
In Luke 12, Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool who built bigger barns to store his abundance while remaining “not rich toward God” (v. 21). America has built magnificent barns indeed—our economic achievements are truly worthy of recognition—yet we seem increasingly impoverished in the things that matter most: meaningful connection, emotional well-being, and a sense of purpose beyond consumption.
For the church, this contradiction presents both a profound challenge and a unique opportunity. While we navigate the same cultural waters as our neighbors—the same technological disruptions, economic pressures, and social fragmentations—we have the resources that speak directly to this moment of material plenty and spiritual poverty. We understand that human beings aren’t merely economic beings but relational creatures made for communion with God and one another. We recognize that convenience cannot replace community, that digital connection proves a poor substitute for embodied presence, and that consumption alone cannot satisfy souls created to glorify God.
Christians understand that human beings aren’t merely economic beings but relational creatures made for communion with God and one another.
We know the gospel speaks directly to the spiritual poverty revealed in this report. To the Americans who rate their life satisfaction less than their ideal, we proclaim a Savior who offers life “abundantly” (John 10:10). To those experiencing depression and anxiety in record numbers, we offer not just therapeutic techniques but the comforting presence of the One who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Ps. 147:3). To families struggling to maintain stability, we embody the redemptive love of the Father who runs to embrace prodigals (Luke 15:20).
The Gospel and American Renewal
All Christians, especially pastors and ministry leaders, must resist the temptation to either uncritically embrace America’s economic achievements or fatalistically lament its spiritual decline. Instead, we’re called to a more nuanced engagement that acknowledges both strengths and weaknesses, celebrating the genuine goods of material prosperity while prophetically naming the idolatries that distort our understanding of the good life. We bear the one message that speaks directly to this contradiction—the gospel of Jesus.
Our proclamation, though, must be matched by demonstration. If Americans suffer increasingly from social isolation, our churches must be authentic communities of belonging where people can set aside their carefully crafted public images and form real, meaningful relationships with one another. If trust in institutions continues to erode, our congregations must model transparent leadership and genuine accountability. If polarization divides our nation, our fellowship must exemplify the reconciliation that Christ has accomplished, making “one new man in place of the two” (Eph. 2:15).
The data reveals not just sobering statistics but also eternal souls created in God’s image: neighbors, colleagues, and family members trapped in patterns that fail to satisfy their deepest longings. These figures represent people Christ loved enough to die for, people we’re called to love enough to offer a better story. In a nation that’s increasingly anxious, isolated, and dissatisfied despite its affluence, the gospel—with its power to reconcile, heal, and transform—becomes not just relevant but our only genuine hope.