A new Gallup poll found that 42 percent of men ages 18 to 29 now say religion is “very important” in their lives, up from 28 percent in 2022-2023 — a 14-point jump that offers one of the clearest data points yet that young men are becoming more serious about faith.
The shift is notable not just because of the size of the increase, but because of what Gallup was measuring. This wasn’t simply about church attendance, Bible reading or cultural affiliation. It was about whether religion holds real weight in a person’s life. On that question, young men now surpass young women by a statistically significant margin, with young women slightly decreasing from 32% to 29%.
Gallup also found that 40 percent of young men now report attending religious services at least monthly, up seven points from 2022-2023 and the highest level for that group since 2012-2013. Young women were close behind at 39 percent. On religious identity, 63 percent of young men said they identify with a religion, statistically unchanged from two years ago but still above their recent low point.
The findings add hard numbers to a trend that’s been getting harder to ignore. Until now, much of the evidence has centered on attendance patterns, Bible sales and pastors reporting more young men in church. Gallup’s new data gets at something deeper: not just whether young men are around religion, but whether they see it as central to their lives.
In earlier reporting on Gen Z men and faith, Barna Group CEO David Kinnaman called the broader movement “the clearest indication of spiritual renewal in the U.S. in more than a decade.”
“This generation has been shaped by uncertainty,” he said. “They’re asking deep questions about purpose, identity, community. And some are finding those answers in faith.”
Russ Ewell, executive minister of the Bay Area Christian Church, wrote in a 2025 op-ed for RELEVANT that young men “often report feeling devoid of purpose or meaning” and are increasingly drawn to the church in search of something deeper.
Gallup’s political breakdown suggests one likely factor behind the trend: growth is concentrated most heavily among young Republicans. Attendance rose among both young Republican men and women, while movement among young Democrats was smaller. Because young men are more likely than young women to identify as Republican or lean that direction, Gallup said those partisan dynamics may be helping drive the overall increase.
