Civic trust is not one opinion measured one way. Recent evidence spans confidence in government, faith in public services, relationships with neighbors, willingness to help, and participation in community life. In June 2024, 22% of U.S. adults said they trusted the federal government to do what is right just about always or most of the time, while 44% of adults in March 2025 said they trusted all or most people in their neighborhood. These figures come from different questions and periods, so they are indicators rather than a single trust scale.
Contents: National government · Public services · Neighbors · Gaps · Participation · Institutions
National government trust remains low
Pew Research Center’s June 2024 survey found that 22% of U.S. adults trusted the federal government to do what is right just about always or most of the time. Another 59% trusted it only some of the time, and 17% said they never trusted it. The share trusting the federal government at least most of the time was 16% in June 2023 and 22% in June 2024. Pew Research Center, “Americans’ trust in federal government and attitudes toward it”
The longer U.S. series places the recent figures in a wider historical frame. The share saying they trusted the federal government to do the right thing was 77% in 1964 and 36% in 2004. In 2023, 26% of Americans viewed Congress favorably in Pew’s long-term institutional-attitudes comparison. These are measurements from different years and should not be read as a continuous estimate of the same current population.
The OECD’s October-November 2023 Trust Survey offers a cross-national comparison. Across 30 OECD countries, 44% reported low or no trust in their national government, while 39% reported high or moderately high trust. Average trust in national government fell by 2 percentage points between the 2021 and 2023 survey waves among countries included in both waves. In the same 2023 survey, 37% reported high or moderately high trust in national Parliament and 24% reported that level of trust in political parties. OECD, “Executive summary: OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions – 2024 Results”
Public services and democratic responsiveness
Trust is higher for several public institutions than for national political bodies in the OECD results. Across the 30 countries, 63% reported high or moderately high trust in the police, 54% in the judicial system, 45% in the civil service, and 45% in local government. The results suggest that everyday institutions and local government are important parts of the civic-trust picture, while still showing that fewer than half reported high or moderately high trust in local government.
Service experiences also provide a practical measure of institutional performance. Among recent users surveyed in the OECD countries, 52% were satisfied with national health services, 57% with national education services, and 66% with administrative services. In addition, 52% believed public institutions would use their personal data only for legitimate purposes, and 52% were confident that an application for a public service or benefit would be treated fairly.
The democratic responsiveness indicators were weaker. Only about 30% thought their political system lets people have a say in what government does, and only about 30% thought government would adopt opinions expressed in a public consultation. Just 38% believed parliamentary checks and balances were effective. These measures matter for community leadership because trust depends not only on whether services are delivered, but also on whether residents believe their participation can influence decisions.
| OECD trust or responsiveness indicator | Share | Survey period |
|---|---|---|
| Police, high or moderately high trust | 63% | October-November 2023 |
| Judicial system, high or moderately high trust | 54% | October-November 2023 |
| Local government, high or moderately high trust | 45% | October-November 2023 |
| Political system lets people have a say | About 30% | October-November 2023 |
| Parliamentary checks and balances effective | 38% | October-November 2023 |
Trust in neighbors and social trust
Pew’s March 10-16, 2025 survey found that 44% of U.S. adults trusted all or most people in their neighborhood, 46% trusted some people, and 9% trusted none. The share trusting all or most neighbors was 52% in 2015, indicating a lower neighborhood-trust result in the 2025 measurement. The same 2025 survey found that 26% knew all or most of their neighbors, while 12% did not know any of them. Pew Research Center, “Do Americans know and trust their neighbors, and would they help them?”
Generalized social trust is measured differently. In Pew’s 2023-24 survey, 34% of U.S. adults said most people can be trusted, compared with 44% who trusted all or most people in their neighborhood in the March 2025 survey. The difference should not be interpreted as a change between two time points because the questions, field dates, and reference groups differ. Pew Research Center, “Americans’ Declining Trust in Each Other and Reasons Behind It”
Neighbor reciprocity remains more common than broad trust might suggest. In March 2025, 76% said they would be extremely or very likely to bring in mail or water plants for an out-of-town neighbor. Fifty-two percent said it was extremely or very likely that a neighbor would do the same if asked. During an emergency, 72% said they would conserve water or electricity if a public official asked. These are willingness and expectation measures, not direct measures of institutional trust.
Demographic and partisan gaps
Federal-government trust varies substantially across political groups. In June 2024, 35% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents trusted the federal government at least most of the time. Among Republicans, the figure was 7% for conservative Republicans and 17% for moderate and liberal Republicans. In the same survey, 28% of Democrats were content with the federal government, compared with 8% of Republicans; 34% of Republicans said they felt anger toward the federal government, compared with about 10% of Democrats.
Pew reported racial and ethnic differences in the June 2024 federal-government measure: trust was 36% among Asian adults, 30% among Hispanic adults, 27% among Black adults, and 19% among White adults. Trust was 20% among adults under 50 and 25% among adults 50 and older. It was 21% among adults without a college degree and 26% among college graduates.
The 2025 Pew social-trust analysis also found demographic differences, using the 2023-24 survey question about whether most people can be trusted. Fifty-two percent of adults with a master’s degree or higher said most people can be trusted, compared with 44% of bachelor’s degree holders. The figure was 44% among adults ages 65 and older and 26% among adults ages 18 to 29. Thirty-seven percent of men and 32% of women gave that response. By race and ethnicity, the figures were 40% for White adults, 38% for Asian adults, 21% for Black adults, and 23% for Hispanic adults.
Civic participation and reciprocity
Civic capacity is visible in what people do as well as what they believe. The U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps estimated that 28.3% of U.S. residents age 16 and older formally volunteered through an organization between September 2022 and September 2023. That represented more than 75.7 million people. Formal volunteers served an estimated 4.99 billion hours, with an estimated economic value of more than $167.2 billion. U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps, “New U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps Research Tracks Virtual Volunteering for First Time”
Informal neighborhood support was more widespread than formal volunteering. Between September 2022 and September 2023, 54.2% of residents age 16 and older informally helped or exchanged favors with neighbors. An estimated 137.5 million U.S. residents did so during that period. These measures are related indicators of civic capacity and reciprocity, not substitutes for trust in government or other institutions.
The form of participation is changing. In 2023, 18% of U.S. formal volunteers served completely or partially online. Average annual hours per formal volunteer fell from 96.5 hours in 2017 to 70 hours in 2023. The decline in average hours does not erase the scale of participation, but it distinguishes the number of participants from the amount of time each participant contributed.
Institutional confidence and information trust
Gallup’s June 2-26, 2025 U.S. survey found the highest confidence among the listed institutions in small business: 70% expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence. The comparable figures were 62% for the military, 61% for science, and 45% for the police. Only 10% expressed that level of confidence in Congress. Gallup, “Democrats’ Confidence in U.S. Institutions Sinks to New Low”
Across nine consistently tracked U.S. institutions, average confidence was 28% in that June 2025 survey. The average was 26% among Democrats and 37% among Republicans, an 11-percentage-point partisan gap. The nine-institution average is an aggregate measure and should not be treated as the confidence level for any one institution.
Information habits also correlate with trust in government in the OECD survey. Across the 30 countries, 39% reported high or moderately high trust in the media, roughly matching the share trusting national government. Among people who followed political news in some way, 40% reported high or moderate trust in government, compared with 22% among those who preferred not to follow political news. This association does not establish that following political news causes higher trust.
For community leaders, the measurements point to a mixed civic environment: national political confidence is low, local and service institutions perform better on several trust measures, neighbors still report meaningful reciprocity, and millions participate in formal or informal civic activity. The surveys use different populations, questions, and field dates; percentages should therefore be interpreted within each source and period rather than combined into a single score.