Loneliness and isolation among older Americans have mostly returned to pre-pandemic rates, but that still means more than one third of people age 50 to 80 feel lonely, and nearly as many feel isolated, a new national study shows.

The new findings, from a review of six years of data from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, are published in JAMA by a team from the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

The groups of older adults with the highest rates of loneliness in 2024 were:

• Those who said their mental health is fair or poor: 75% (in 2018, it was 74%)
• Those who said their physical health is fair or poor: 53% (up from 50% in 2018)
• Those who were not working or received disability income (does not include retirees): 52% (up from 38% in 2018)

The groups with the highest rates of social isolation in 2024 were:

• Those who said their mental health is fair or poor: 77% (up slightly from 79% in 2018)
• Those who said their physical health is fair or poor: 52% (up from 43% in 2018)
• Those who were not working or received disability income (does not include retirees): 50% (up from 36% in 2018)

In general, adults age 50 to 64 were more likely than those age 65 to 80 to say they felt lonely or isolated across all poll years, and rates had not dropped back to pre-pandemic rates for those age 50 to 64 in 2024.

Similarly, those with household incomes below $60,000, and those who live alone, were more likely to say they sometimes or often felt lonely or isolated than those with higher incomes or those living with others, a finding that was consistent across most years. However, rates in 2024 for those who live alone were lower than for those who live with others.