Wellbeing priorities of employees U.S. 2021

In 2021, 81 percent of employees said not living beyond their means or staying within a budget was a high or moderate priority for them. This was a slight decrease from 2020. This statistic presents the percentage of U.S. adults who stated specific wellbeing activities were a priority to their personal lives in 2020 and 2021.

Percentage of U.S. employees who stated specific wellbeing activities were a priority to their personal lives in 2020 and 2021

Characteristic	2020*	2021
Not living beyond my means or staying within a budget	83%	81%
Eating healthy	81%	81%
Effectively managing or balancing my work and personal commitments	77%	79%
Getting enough exercise	74%	76%
Reducing or managing my stress	73%	75%
Retirement income (post regular employment income) or wealth accumulation/investments	79%	74%
Growing and maintaining relationships	75%	73%
Building an emergency fund	72%	72%
Getting routine medical screenings/annual physicals or following medical advice for managing a condition	70%	71%
Spending more time on myself and my interests (i.e., hobbies, relaxation, building new skills)	71%	71%
Reducing current debt	75%	70%
Saving up to make a large purchase or expense (car, vacation, boat, wedding or special event, etc.)	53%	60%
Gaining new job-related skills or advancing my job/career	60%	60%
Taking care of my child(ren)’s or other dependents’ needs	55%	51%
Finding good/better housing options (affordability, security, location) or buying a house	48%	49%
Education expenses (your own or others)	36%	40%

Loading statistic...

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Sources

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

May 2021

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2020 to 2021

Number of respondents

2,501 respondents

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Figures represent those citing “high priority” or “moderate priority” on a 4-point scale.
*The 2020 study was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2019 therefore before COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 study was conducted in the first quarter of 2021 around 10 months after the start of the pandemic

Citation formats