In May 2021 the Survey Center on American Life asked 2,019 adults about their friendships. Twelve percent said they had no close friends. In a 1990 Gallup poll, only 3 percent had said so. The survey also asked where friendships begin. “Americans are now more likely to make friends at work than any other way.” Of people with close friends, 54 percent had met one at their own or their spouse’s workplace.
A Pew Research Center survey in July 2023 used different questions. In it, 8 percent said they had no close friends, and 38 percent said they had five or more.