In a shift that may be driven by political identity, the share of young adult men who report attending a religious service at least monthly is now the highest it has been in more than a decade, according to a new report from Gallup.
In the report released Thursday, based on combined data, Gallup said 42% of men ages 18 to 29 surveyed in 2024 to 2025 said religion is “very important” to them. This represents a sharp rise from 2022 to 2023 data, when just 28% of men said religion was “very important.”
The share of young adult men saying religion is “very important” is 13 percentage points higher than the 29% of young adult women who said the same in 2024 to 2025, Gallup found. However, women in older age groups reported higher levels than young adult men. For example, 47% of women ages 30 to 49 said this, as did 64% of women ages 65 and older.
Gallup also found that the share of young men attending religious services at least monthly increased from 33% in 2022 to 2023 to 40% in 2024 to 2025, the highest level since 2012–2013.
In their analysis, Gallup researchers found no indication that the increase in religiosity among young men was affected by education or geographic location. They did, however, find a strong correlation between religiosity and party affiliation among young adult men.
“Since 2022–2023, attendance has risen seven points among young Republican men, eight points among young Republican women and three points among young Democratic men. Only young Democratic women show little change,” researchers said.
“Longer-term, however, attendance among young Republican men has been trending upward since 2018–2019, while young Democratic men’s attendance has generally declined. The recent increase in young Republican women’s attendance contrasts with no meaningful change among young Democratic women.”
Nearly half (48%) of young adult men in the 2024 to 2025 data identified as or leaned Republican, while 41% identified as or leaned Democrat. Among young adult women, 60% identified as or leaned Democratic, while 27% identified as or leaned Republican.
“Given the relatively large proportion of young men who are Republican, the upward trends in their religiosity have a significant impact on overall trends among young men. Even though young Republican women have also become more religiously engaged, they represent a relatively small proportion of all young women,” Gallup said. “As a result, the impact of changes in religiosity among young Republican women on young women as a whole is limited.”
While additional polling is needed to show whether the rise in religious attendance among young adult men is temporary or lasting, Gallup said the findings suggest that politics could be driving the trend.
“The finding that Republicans have driven heightened religious attendance among young men — and that a similar increase has occurred among young Republican women — suggests political dynamics may be playing a role in religious changes among the nation’s young adults,” Gallup said.
“Future Gallup polling will indicate whether this is a temporary phase or a lasting change that may ultimately reverse the traditional gender gap in religiosity among older Americans.”
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