Gallup Poll: In 'exception to the rule,' young men's religiosity surpasses women's

Young men are now ahead of young women in their self-reported levels of religiosity, a recent Gallup Poll found, flipping the traditional gender gap as women were historically more likely to be religious.

“The religiosity of Americans as a whole remains at a low ebb, with the importance of religion to people, their self-reported attendance and their identification with a religion all holding at or near the lowest levels in Gallup’s long-term trends,” Gallup reported April 16. “Yet young men appear to be an emerging exception to the rule.”

Forty-two percent of men ages 18-29 said religion is “very important” in 2024-2025, the poll revealed, marking a significant jump from the 28% of very religious young men in 2022–2023.

Meanwhile, about 30% of young women have called religion “very important” for the past five years. Their religiosity peaked most recently in 2018–2019, at 41%, and has since declined .  

This reversal of gender gaps only exists in young women, and young women are the least religious demographic group. Older women say that religion is “very important” at a higher rate compared with older men, with 64% of women at least 65 years old stating that religion is very important compared to 50% of men of the same age group.

Young men and young women have similar rates of monthly church attendance, (40% of men 39% of women), and comparable rates of religious affiliation, with 63% of young men affiliating with a specific religion, and about 60% women having a religious affiliation. 

The poll adds that religious growth is strongest among young Republican men and women, with 58% and 52%, respectively, attending religious services once a month. Thirty-one percent of young Democrat men and 26% of young Democrat women attend religious services at least monthly.

“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,” the poll explains. “Even though young Republican women have also become more religiously engaged, they represent a relatively small proportion of all young women. As a result, the impact of changes in religiosity among young Republican women on young women as a whole is limited.”

The poll concluded that future data will show if the current gender gap in religiosity is a temporary phase or lasting change.