Life Satisfaction Test: See Your Overall Score Plus a Domain-by-Domain Look
This test is informed by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin, 1985): five original statements on the same 1 to 7 scale researchers use for global life satisfaction, plus an original eight-item look at which specific areas of your life are pulling your satisfaction up or down. Instant result, optional PDF report.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Life Satisfaction Test is a free, confidential 13-question self-assessment, informed by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985) · original items. It takes about 4 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 7 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
One overall score, and where it's actually coming from
The Satisfaction With Life Scale is one of psychology's most used measures of how satisfied you feel with your life overall, but on its own it doesn't say why. This test is informed by that scale's approach, using original statements on the same 1 to 7 format, then adds an original set of questions about specific life domains, so your result comes with a plain-language read on where it's coming from.
Informed by the Satisfaction With Life Scale
Five original statements, informed by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin, 1985), using the same 7-point agreement format researchers use for global life satisfaction.
Life domains, our own addition
An original scale asking how satisfied you feel in eight specific areas: health, relationships, work, money, purpose, and more, so a low or high overall score has somewhere to point.
Higher means better here
Unlike most tests on this site, a higher score on this one is the good outcome. The bands run from extremely dissatisfied at the bottom to extremely satisfied at the top, using the same descriptive ranges Diener's team published for the original scale, shown here as context for our own similarly structured items.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Items informed by a validated framework | Sometimes vague or unsourced | Yes, informed by the SWLS, clearly original |
| Published interpretation ranges shown as context | Rarely shown at all | Yes, alongside our own descriptive bands |
| Domain-by-domain breakdown | No | Yes, 8 life areas |
| Explains what life satisfaction does and doesn't measure | Rarely | Yes, in methodology |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Answers stay on your device | Often tracked | Scored in your browser; we only receive anonymous completion counts unless you ask for a PDF or report |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–35 in total. Your result falls into one of 7 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–9 | Extremely dissatisfied | Your score falls in the lowest range on this scale. That's a genuinely heavy place to be, and it's worth taking seriously. |
| 10–14 | Dissatisfied | Your score falls in the dissatisfied range. You're feeling a real, sustained gap between the life you have and the life you want. |
| 15–19 | Slightly dissatisfied | Your score falls just below neutral. Something is pulling your overall satisfaction down, even if life isn't in crisis. |
| 20–20 | Neutral | Your score lands exactly at neutral, the midpoint of the scale, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied on balance. |
| 21–25 | Slightly satisfied | Your score leans toward satisfied. On balance, life is working reasonably well, with room to grow in specific places. |
| 26–30 | Satisfied | Your score falls in the satisfied range. Most areas of your life appear to be aligned with what you actually want. |
| 31–35 | Extremely satisfied | Your score falls in the highest range on this scale. By your own considered judgment, life is very close to your ideal. |
How the Score Is Calculated
The five statements are informed by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin, 1985) and answered on the same 1 to 7 agreement scale researchers use for that instrument, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Your total across the five items runs from 5 to 35. We interpret it using the same descriptive ranges Diener's team published for the original scale, shown here as context for what a given number tends to mean, since our items are original and measure the same construct in the same format: 31 to 35 extremely satisfied, 26 to 30 satisfied, 21 to 25 slightly satisfied, 20 exactly neutral, 15 to 19 slightly dissatisfied, 10 to 14 dissatisfied, and 5 to 9 extremely dissatisfied.
The eight life-domain statements that follow are a separate, original scale, each rated from 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree) on how satisfied you feel in that specific area. They don't affect your overall score at all; they're shown alongside it as their own metric, so you can see which parts of your life are lifting your overall satisfaction and which are dragging on it. A high overall score with one clearly low domain, money, say, or health, is common and genuinely useful information.
What Life Satisfaction Is, and What It Isn't
Life satisfaction, as researchers define it, is a cognitive judgment: when you consciously step back and weigh your life against the standard you've set for yourself, how does it measure up. That's different from happiness in the moment-to-moment sense, feeling good right now, and different again from the absence of a mental health condition. You can feel fairly satisfied with your life overall while still having hard days, and you can be going through a genuinely difficult stretch, like grief or a health scare, without your considered judgment of your life as a whole collapsing.
It's also different from optimism, which is more about your expectations for the future than your judgment of the present, and from meaning, which is more about purpose and significance than satisfaction per se. All of these overlap, but they're measuring different angles on wellbeing, which is part of why researchers use several scales together rather than relying on just one.
Reading Your Domain Breakdown
If your overall score is lower than you'd like, the domain breakdown is usually the more useful place to look than the headline number itself. A specific low domain, say, work or money, gives you something concrete to work on, while a global 'I'm dissatisfied' feeling is much harder to act on directly. Likewise, a high overall score alongside one quietly low domain is worth noticing rather than dismissing just because the overall picture looks fine; it's often the area most likely to slip if left unattended.
It's normal for domains to be uneven. Very few people report high satisfaction across health, relationships, work, money, and purpose all at once, and life satisfaction research consistently finds that people weigh domains differently based on what matters most to them personally, so an uneven profile isn't itself a problem to fix.
Methodology & sources
The five statements on this page are informed by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin, 1985), published in the Journal of Personality Assessment and one of the most widely used and well-validated measures of global life satisfaction in psychological research, translated into dozens of languages and used in national wellbeing surveys around the world. They are original statements written by Psychology.com, not the published SWLS items, and this page is not the validated SWLS instrument. Ed Diener's own site states that use of the SWLS is permitted for non-commercial, research purposes, which does not cover a commercial site like this one, so we did not reproduce it. We use the same 1 to 7 response format and the same descriptive interpretation ranges the original researchers published, shown here as context, because our items measure the same construct in the same way.
The eight life-domain statements are an original addition written by Psychology.com, reported as a separate metric and not folded into the life-satisfaction score. This page is provided for education and self-reflection, not a clinical evaluation or a validated psychometric instrument. It measures a global cognitive judgment about your life as a whole; it does not diagnose depression, anxiety, or any other condition, and a low score, while worth taking seriously, is not by itself evidence of a mental health condition.
References
- Diener E, Emmons RA, Larsen RJ, Griffin S. The Satisfaction With Life Scale. J Pers Assess. 1985;49(1):71-75.
- Pavot W, Diener E. Review of the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Psychol Assess. 1993;5(2):164-172.
- Diener E. Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). eddiener.com/scales (use permitted for non-commercial, research purposes only; accessed 2026-09-23).
- Diener E, Suh EM, Lucas RE, Smith HL. Subjective well-being: three decades of progress. Psychol Bull. 1999;125(2):276-302.
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 23). Life Satisfaction Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/life-satisfaction
Life Satisfaction Test FAQ
What is the Satisfaction With Life Scale?
It's a five-item scale developed by Ed Diener and colleagues in 1985 to measure your overall cognitive judgment of your life, not your mood in the moment. It's one of the most widely used wellbeing measures in psychology. This test is informed by that scale's approach and response format, but the five statements here are original, written by Psychology.com, not the published SWLS wording.
Does this test use the exact SWLS wording?
No. Ed Diener's own site states that use of the SWLS is permitted for non-commercial, research purposes only, which doesn't cover a commercial site like this one. So instead of reproducing the published items, we wrote five original statements on the same 1 to 7 scale that measure the same construct. If you need the validated SWLS wording itself for research or clinical use, the original 1985 publication and Diener's own site are the places to find it.
What counts as a high or low life satisfaction score?
Using the same descriptive ranges Diener's team published for the original scale, shown here as context: 31 to 35 is extremely satisfied, 26 to 30 satisfied, 21 to 25 slightly satisfied, 20 neutral, 15 to 19 slightly dissatisfied, 10 to 14 dissatisfied, and 5 to 9 extremely dissatisfied.
What's the difference between life satisfaction and happiness?
Life satisfaction is a considered judgment, stepping back and weighing your life against your own standards. Happiness usually refers to moment-to-moment mood. You can be satisfied with your life overall while having an unhappy day, or feel happy in the moment while your longer-term satisfaction is lower.
Is this test a diagnosis?
No. It measures a global judgment of life satisfaction for education and self-reflection, not a clinical condition. It cannot diagnose depression or any other condition. If your score is low and it's weighing on you, consider talking with a licensed mental-health professional.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. The test runs and is scored in your browser, and your individual answers are never sent to us. We count completions anonymously, and if you request the free PDF or a report we receive your summary scores with the email you give us, never your answers. No account is needed.
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