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Quantifying What Success Means, According to 2,000 Americans

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The pursuit of success is a part of our cultural DNA.

Almost everyone wants to be successful – and many see it as the basis of the American Dream, which promises that every person can achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.

However, despite a drive for obtaining success in our culture, the meaning of success isn’t fixed. It can be different things to different people, and there is no possible way of defining success in a way that is representative of every individual person.

Quantifying Success

Although there’s no objective definition of success, there are other ways to arrive at a more impartial meaning.

Today’s infographic from Thermosoft uses data from a survey of 2,000 Americans to show what “making it” means to them – and in the process, it gives us a baseline for what success means to the average person.

Quantifying Success: What It Means, According to 2,000 Americans

Survey respondents were asked what “making it” in America meant to them, and then that was compared to what they have.

A variety of individual factors were measured, and each fell within certain categories that could be important to one’s success, including career, family life, wealth, and travel.

Success, on Average

The survey data gives us a view of what success means, on average – and how close people are to “making it”.

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Respondents viewed $147,104 of income as “successful”, and this is the area people were furthest away from their ideal.

The average income of respondents was $57,426 – and 67% of respondents said that money was the major missing part of their equation for success.

Work
Respondents viewed 31 hours of work per week, a 10 minute commute, 5.3 weeks of time off, and working more from home as their ideal situation.

However, respondents were a little off on most of these measures, and far off for vacation time. The average person is working 34 hours per week, commuting 17 minutes, taking 2.8 weeks of time off, and working more from the office.

Notably, for 22% of people, a dream job was the missing part of their success equation.

Friends and Family
Respondents viewed marriage and kids, as well as four best friends, as ideal. On average, respondents fell slightly short here, though.

Property
How much would your home and vehicle be worth, if you “made it”? About $461,000 and $41,986 respectively.

Respondents fell short here, with $248,000 and $15,789 values for their home and vehicle.

What’s Missing?

Since success is subjective, the sense of what is “missing” varies considerably.

On average, income was the most important missing factor (67%) and a dream job was also a popular response (22%). Relationships and recognition were both 7%, respectively.

Answers also varied by group – for example, millennials were more likely to say their dream job was the missing factor.

While success may never be defined exactly for all people at all times, this is still an interesting amalgamation of the views that people have towards the subject.

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Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation

This graphic illustrates the amount of U.S. currency in circulation globally, by denomination, based on data from the Federal Reserve.

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Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Have you ever wondered how much U.S. currency is in circulation?

Every year, the U.S. Federal Reserve submits a print order for U.S. currency to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The BEP will then print billions of notes in various denominations, from $1 bills to $100 bills.

In this graphic, we’ve used the latest Federal Reserve data to visualize the approximate number of bills for each denomination globally, as of Dec. 31, 2022.

Breakdown of U.S. Currency in Circulation

The following table lists all of the data we used to create the visualization above. Note that value figures were rounded for simplicity.

Type of BillNumber of notes
in circulation (billions)
Value ($B)
$114.3$14B
$21.5$3B
$53.5$18B
$102.3$23B
$2011.5$230B
$502.5$125B
$10018.5$1,850B
$500-10,000*0.0004n/a

*$500-10,000 bills are listed as a range, and a total circulation of 0.0004 billion. Not included in graphic.

From these numbers, we can see that $100 bills are the most common bill in circulation, even ahead of $1 bills.

One reason for this is $100 bills have a longer lifespan than smaller denominations, due to people using $100 bills less often for transactions. Some businesses may also decline $100 bills as payment.

Based on 2018 estimates from the Federal Reserve, a $100 bill has a lifespan of over 20 years, which is significantly higher than $1 bills (7 years) and $5 bills (5 years).

If you’re interested in more visualizations on the U.S. dollar, consider this animated chart which shows how the dollar overtook the British pound as the world’s most prominent reserve currency.

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