How to Read the Emotional Map of America
State of Us: A current snapshot of how Americans are doing.
How are we doing, really?
It’s a simple question that doesn’t feel so simple anymore.
The headlines are loud. The stakes feel high. The world seems fractured. And in the middle of it all, most of us are just trying to keep going—raising kids, checking the news (or avoiding it), showing up at work, helping a neighbor, managing our stress, feeling hopeful one day and hopeless the next.
That’s why we started asking.
Through Civic Pulse, Murmuration has surveyed more than 22,000 people across the country—not about who they’re voting for, but about how they’re feeling. What’s stressing them out. What’s giving them hope. Whether they feel like they belong. Whether they think their voice matters. Whether they still trust their neighbors—or the system.
Each day, we add another 500 voices. By the end of the year, we’ll have heard from more than 150,000 Americans.
This State of Us series is our attempt to map that emotional terrain.
Not in the abstract. But with data, patterns, and stories that reflect the emotional and civic life of everyday people across the U.S.
We’ll look at:
Life satisfaction and wellbeing: How Americans are doing at a personal level and what’s helping or hurting.
Stress and hope: Two sides of the emotional coin, and how they play out differently across communities.
Belonging and connection: Where people feel seen and where they feel left out.
Power and participation: Who feels like their actions matter, and who doesn’t.
Information and engagement: Who’s paying attention, and what motivates people to show up.
And more!
Each piece in this series takes on one of these questions—not to give easy answers, but to help all of us better understand the mood of the country and the forces shaping our collective civic health.
You’ll see charts and national trends. But more importantly, you’ll see where you, and your community, fit in.
Maybe you’ll think: That’s exactly how I feel.
Or: I had no idea others were going through that, too.
Or even: I want to do something about this.
Or maybe… you won’t. Maybe you’ll scroll through and think: None of this is me. None of this reflects my life. That’s a signal too.
And that’s why all of this matters. Because before we can move forward—together—we have to understand where we’re starting from.
We talk a lot about where we want to go as a country. But without a clear sense of the emotional ground we’re standing on– what people are carrying, what they’re up against, and what still gives them hope– we risk building solutions that don’t match reality.
And not just the factual reality. We’ve seen what happens when solutions align with the data (like crime not going up) but ignore how people feel (everyone’s scared). They fall flat. If we want to build a better future, we have to meet people where they actually are and not just where we think they should be.
This data helps us close that gap. It helps organizers, community leaders, and decision-makers understand what people are really feeling so they can act with clarity, empathy, and precision.
It helps campaigns talk with people, not at them.
It helps community organizations adjust their strategies.
It helps journalists put public policy debates in context.
It helps funders and institutions invest in what matters most.
It helps those governing make decisions grounded in both data and lived experience.
It’s not just about knowing how we’re doing.
It’s also about knowing how we feel about how we’re doing. And it’s ultimately about knowing what we need.
The story of civic life in America is still unfolding. Stay with us as we track it in real time.