Young men in the United States surpass young women in regard to the importance of religion in their lives.
Findings from 2024-2025 Gallup data revealed that 42% of young men ages 18 to 29 said religion is "very important" to them, up 14 percentage points since 2022-2023. This jump pushes them above the 29% of young women who reported the same.
Gallup's data comes from 4,015 interviews with U.S. adults, including 295 men under 30 and 145 women under 30. The survey had a margin of error of between plus or minus 7 and 10 percentage points. It also used information from separate reports of 26,601 U.S. adults, including 1,905 men under 30 and 832 women under 30, and a report of 27,616 U.S. adults, including 1,839 men 18 to 29 and 796 women 18 to 29. The margin of error was between plus or minus 3 and 4 percentage points.
Gallup found that young women are significantly the least likely age group of women to report religion is "very important" to them, compared with 47% of women ages 30 to 49, 53% of women ages 50-64, and 64% of women 65 or older.
While young women's stance on religion has held steady at about 30% since 2020-2021, young men's has been less stable. In 2020-2021, 34% of young men said religion was "very important" in their lives; this declined to 28% in 2022-2023 and has increased again.
Further findings from Gallup's religious data also found that from 2000-2001 through 2024-2025, young men have returned to the high point of how many find religion important.
The percentage of young men who reported monthly or more frequent attendance at religious services has risen. In 2022-2023, 33% of young men reported attending, compared with 40% in 2024-2025.
According to Gallup's monthly measurement of religious attendance in 2026 so far, 40% of young men continue to attend religious services weekly or monthly, consistent with 2025.
Young women's attendance has also increased since 2022-2023, rising three points to 39% in 2024-2025. However, this rate remains below the levels recorded in the early 2000s, when the group was at 54%.
Impact of political party and religious affiliation
The research looked at how political affiliation affects how often young men and women attend religious services.
Republican women and men are far more likely to attend religious services than Democratic women and men, with 58% of Republican women and 52% of men attending at least monthly, compared with 31% of Democratic women and 26% of men.
The report noted that the partisan shifts affect the trends among young men and women differently, because of differences in party identification between them.
In 2024-2025, 48% of young men identified as or leaned Republican, compared with 41% who identified as or leaned Democratic. Among young women, 27% identified as or leaned Republican, compared with 60% who identified as or leaned Democratic.
The report also examined trends in how many young adults practice specific religions. The data found that as young men have become more religious since 2022-2023, more identify with a specific religion, but they still remain the least likely male age group to do so.
In 2024-2025, 63% of young men reported identifying with a specific religion including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or another religion. This was nearly the same as the 61% who reported the same in 2022-2023. However, it is the highest number reported by young men since 2012-2013, when the group was at 67%.
