Institute for Family Studies summarizes 15 years of Gallup research on living our best lives. The strongest indicator of well-being? Marriage
Jonathan Rothwell writes (excerpt):
[M]arried people enjoy higher well-being, when asked to reflect upon their life. They evaluate their current and future lives as being closer to the best possible life. . . . Likewise, communities are happier when more married people live there and when children are being raised in married households. At the individual level, marriage has a larger predicted effect on well-being than other common demographic variables, except household income, which marriage usually raises.