Living near close friends can make you healthy, wealthy, and wise

The Future. Americans are lonely, which is having measurable effects on our health and well-being. After decades of preaching the benefits of finding happiness within ourselves, culture is shifting to cultivating it by prioritizing close — in quality and proximity — community. Those changes could immensely influence migration patterns over the next several years.

Relationship radius
The ultimate health and wellness hack may be just living closer to your friends, writes Melody Song in her headlines newsletter.

• The longest study on human happiness found living within a mile of a friend who’s happy can increase your happiness by 25%. 
• Having a friend you see most days can improve your well-being as much as making an extra $100,000 per year.

But unfortunately, the modern American is more friendless than ever, with only 13% saying they have 10 close friends (a 33% drop from the ‘90s) and 12% saying they have no close friends at all. No wonder 60% of American adults say they feel lonely.

But several movements hope to change that.

• The LiveNearFriends site, launched by Phil Levin, helps people coordinate living within a five-minute walk of each other.
• Apps like Geneva, Saturday, and even Bumble are putting a focus on friend discovery within your area.
• Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced legislation to create a national game plan for combating loneliness.

All in all, we could get by better with a little help from our friends.