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January 10, 2025New Year’s resolutions offer a glimpse into people’s hopes and priorities as they step into a fresh calendar year. While health remains the dominant focus for nearly half of all respondents, financial goals closely follow, reflecting a strong desire for balance between personal well-being and fiscal responsibility. Social connections and career aspirations also play key roles, though a significant portion of people opt out of resolutions entirely. By examining trends across gender, income, ethnicity, and panel data, this blog uncovers what drives people’s goals and how these preferences vary among different groups.
General
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, health is the most popular category, with 48% of people setting goals like improving fitness, eating better, or focusing on mental well-being. However, financial resolutions are a close contender, with 39% prioritizing goals like saving more or reducing debt. Social goals, such as improving relationships and friendships, come in at 29%, while career-focused resolutions, like job growth or skill development, trail slightly at 20%. Interestingly, 1 in 4 people (25%) opt out of making resolutions altogether, showing that not everyone feels the need to set new goals at the start of the year.
Whether it’s health, wealth, or connections, it’s clear that people approach the New Year with a variety of priorities, though improving well-being seems to dominate the conversation.
Gender
While health remains the top New Year’s resolution for both men and women, the data reveals some key gender differences. Men prioritize finances (41%) and career goals (25%) more than women (36% and 16%, respectively). On the other hand, women lean slightly more toward health-focused resolutions (49% vs. 47%). Interestingly, social goals, like improving relationships and friendships, are more common among men (33%) than women (26%). Notably, women are also more likely to skip making resolutions altogether, with 28% saying they don’t have any, compared to just 22% of men.
These differences suggest that while health dominates both lists, men appear to focus more on career and finances, while women are less likely to set resolutions overall.
Income
New Year’s resolutions show a clear link to income levels. Health goals increase steadily with earnings, from 44% among those earning under $20,000 to 56% for those making $100,000 or more. Similarly, financial resolutions are most prominent in middle- and higher-income groups (43% for $40,000-$99,999 and 42% for $100,000+), compared to 34% for those earning less than $20,000. Career goals follow a similar trend, peaking at 25% for the highest earners.
Interestingly, individuals with lower incomes are more likely to skip resolutions altogether—29% of those earning under $20,000 don’t set goals, compared to just 20% of the $100,000+ group. Overall, health and financial goals dominate across all income brackets but become increasingly prioritized as income rises.
Ethnicity
The data highlights distinct differences in New Year’s resolution priorities across ethnic groups. Health remains the most common resolution for all, but it’s especially prominent among Asian or South Asian respondents (59%) compared to 47% of Caucasians. Financial goals are a top focus for African-Americans (48%) and Hispanic/Latino respondents (48%), significantly higher than 35% among Caucasians.
Career goals also show notable differences, with African-Americans (30%) and Hispanics (29%) leading the way, compared to just 16% of Caucasians. Conversely, Caucasians are most likely to skip resolutions altogether (28%), while African-American and Hispanic/Latino groups report the lowest rates at 17%.
These insights reveal that while health goals unite most groups, financial and career priorities resonate more strongly among certain ethnic communities, highlighting varied focus areas for the New Year.
Panel
The panels show significant contrasts in New Year’s resolutions, particularly in finance and career goals. Panel L leads in financial resolutions at 49%, far above Panel D (31%) and Panel P (32%). Similarly, Panel F stands out in career goals at 28%, nearly double Panel D (15%) and higher than most other panels.
Health remains a consistent priority across the groups, with Panel F reporting the highest at 53%, while Panel P lags behind at 42%. Social goals are most common in Panel F (37%) but drop to just 21% in Panel P. Notably, Panel P also reports the highest percentage of respondents with no resolutions (35%), compared to only 15% in Panel F.
These variations suggest that Panel F and Panel L are the most goal-oriented, particularly around career and financial priorities, while Panel P stands out for its lower engagement in setting resolutions overall.
This is an excellent representation of where quality data sampling matters. At EMI, we prioritize strategically blending sample sources to balance demographics as well as behaviors and attitudes to ensure that we provide the most representative and accurate data. Download The Sample Landscape: 2024 Edition to better understand how panels differ from one another and how they impact your data. Stay tuned for 2025 when we launch our new Sample Landscape.
