Pew: U.S. Religion Holds Steady, With Mixed Signals Among Youngest Adults
Seven in 10 Americans still claim a religion, and adults 18 to 22 attend services more often than the public as a whole, though they pray less.
See where this is ›WASHINGTON —
Religion in the United States is holding steady after years of decline, with a complicated picture among young adults, the Pew Research Center said in a report released Oct. 28. Authors Gregory A. Smith, Chip Rotolo and Alan Cooperman found 70 percent of adults identify with a religion in 2026, compared with 71 percent in 2020 and 83 percent in 2007.
Pew's 2026 survey, taken Jan. 30 to June 18, found 47 percent of adults pray daily, 44 percent say religion is very important in their lives and 34 percent attend services at least monthly. Each figure is one or two points above 2025.
A separate June survey found 34 percent had attended in person in the past month, and 45 percent had attended in person or watched online or on TV. Pew said both are the highest since July 2020, when they stood at 13 and 41 percent during the pandemic.
The youngest adults stood out. Among those born from 2004 to 2008, now about 18 to 22, 41 percent attend at least monthly, above the 33 percent of all adults in the combined 2025-26 data. Yet just 34 percent of them pray daily, compared with 46 percent of all adults, and 59 percent claim a religion, compared with 69 percent.
Adults born from 2000 to 2003, about 23 to 26, were the least religious age group on every core measure: 27 percent attend monthly, 26 percent pray daily and 50 percent claim a religion. Among 18- to 22-year-olds, 47 percent of men attend monthly, compared with 35 percent of women. The youngest group's sample was small, 443 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.7 points.
A companion Pew study that followed the same 5,835 adults from 2020 to 2025 found most did not change. Rotolo wrote that “nothing in the data points to a substantial religious retreat or revival over this period.” The report's authors said it is too early to tell whether high attendance among the youngest adults is a lasting change or a short-term rebound from the pandemic.
