About the Satisfaction With Life Scale
This calculator scores the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), a well-established measure of subjective well-being published by Ed Diener, Robert Emmons, Randy Larsen, and Sharon Griffin in 1985. Unlike mood scales that ask how you feel right now, the SWLS asks for a cognitive judgment: how does your life, taken as a whole, compare with your own standards and expectations? It has been used in thousands of studies across dozens of countries and remains one of the most widely cited self-report measures of life satisfaction.
How the score is built
You rate five statements on a 7-point scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree):
- In most ways my life is close to my ideal.
- The conditions of my life are excellent.
- I am satisfied with my life.
- So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.
- If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.
The five ratings are simply added together - there is no reverse scoring and no weighting - giving a total between 5 and 35. This calculator also reports the average per item (total divided by five) and the total as a percentage of the 35-point maximum.
Putting the result in context
Diener and colleagues published interpretive bands for the total score: 31-35 is extremely satisfied, 26-30 satisfied, 21-25 slightly satisfied, 20 neutral, 15-19 slightly dissatisfied, 10-14 dissatisfied, and 5-9 extremely dissatisfied with life. These bands describe where a score falls relative to research samples, not a judgment about how you should feel - a single questionnaire is one data point about one moment in your thinking.
When to consult a professional
The SWLS measures overall life satisfaction, not depression, anxiety, or any clinical condition, and this calculator does not screen for those. If your score is persistently low, or if you are experiencing distress, please talk with a doctor, licensed therapist, or counselor - this tool is not a substitute for professional evaluation.