Americans have grown far less likely to strike up a conversation with a stranger or get to know people living closeby, and it could be costing the country a lot more than neighborhood quaintness.
The average American now finds themselves living next to strangers. Around 25% of adults age 18 to 29 say they talk with their neighbors at least a few times a week, according to a survey released earlier this month by the American Enterprise Institute, down from 59% in 2012. That has implications for the country’s declining social engagement and rising rates of loneliness, but there’s an economic cost to losing neighborhood ties, too.
