Young Men Now Outpace Women in Religious Importance, Gallup Finds

Young American men are now telling Gallup that religion matters more to them than it does to young women, a rare reversal in a measure that had long favored women. Among adults ages 18 to 29, 42% of men said religion is very important in their lives, up from 28% in 2022-2023, while young women remained near 30%, giving men the lead for the first time in a quarter-century.

The change stands out because Gallup has tracked the question over the long term and rolls the results into two-year estimates to keep the numbers stable. It also lands against a broader backdrop in which religion remains less central for most Americans: Gallup’s March 2026 roundup said fewer than half of Americans say religion is very important in their lives, and the 2025 figure was 47%. Gallup has also said recent data show a significant and growing relationship between religiosity and partisan identity in the United States.

That makes the young-men surge more than a statistical curiosity. If it holds, it could matter for churches trying to rebuild attendance, for campus ministries competing for attention, and for political movements that increasingly cast faith as part of identity and belonging. The poll suggests a narrower but notable shift inside a country that is still, overall, far less religious than it was a generation ago.

Other recent research points to a gender gap that is narrowing because young women are pulling away. PRRI’s 2025 Census of American Religion, released April 15, 2026, found that 35% of men ages 18 to 29 were religiously unaffiliated in both 2013 and 2025. Among women in that age group, the unaffiliated share rose from 29% in 2013 to 43% in 2025. Weekly church attendance was nearly even, at 20% for young men and 21% for young women.

Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, fielded over seven months with 36,908 U.S. adults, found that 62% identify as Christian and 29% as religiously unaffiliated, down from 78% Christian in 2007. Pew later said the narrowing gender gap among young adults is being driven more by declining religiosity among women than by a sharp rise among men.

Taken together, the numbers point to a possible realignment in faith, identity and politics. The more surprising story is not a broad revival, but a generational split in which young men are moving in one direction and young women in another, with consequences that could reach far beyond the pews.