Christian youth statistics show a generation with a mixed religious profile: many teens and young adults identify as Christian or retain spiritual beliefs, while religious disaffiliation and infrequent church attendance are also substantial. The figures below are primarily U.S. estimates, and the age groups differ by source: Pew’s teen findings cover ages 13–17, Pew’s young-adult findings cover approximate cohorts such as ages 18–24 and 24–34, and Barna’s Gen Z reporting covers ages 13–24.
Table of contents
- Christian identity among teens and young adults
- Church attendance, prayer and participation
- Belief, gratitude and spiritual experience
- Religious upbringing and continuity
- Gender, region and demographic differences
- Gen Z engagement and church preferences
Christian identity among teens and young adults
The 2023–24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study found that 46% of adults ages 18–24 identified as Christian, while 43% were religiously unaffiliated. In the same age group, 67% said they were raised Christian. These measures describe both current identity and background, so they should not be read as interchangeable. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off”
Among adults ages 18–24, 75% said they were raised in a religion and 23% said they were raised religiously unaffiliated. Among those raised Christian, 41% were still Christian in 2023–24. For adults ages 24–34 who were raised Christian, the corresponding share was 42%. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study report”
The wider adult trend provides context for younger generations. Christians made up 62% of U.S. adults in 2023–24, compared with 71% in 2014 and 78% in 2007. The 2023–24 study was fielded from July 17, 2023, through March 4, 2024; these are survey estimates, not a forecast. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off”
Pew’s 2019 survey of U.S. teenagers ages 13–17 found that 63% identified as Christian, compared with 72% of their responding parents. Teenagers were 32% religiously unaffiliated, versus 24% of parents. In both groups, fewer than one in ten identified with non-Christian religions. Pew Research Center, “Religious affiliation among American adolescents”
Church attendance, prayer and participation
In Pew’s 2019 teen survey, about 34% of U.S. teenagers attended religious services weekly or more often, while about 26% never attended. About 27% prayed daily. Teenagers were 20 percentage points less likely than their responding parents to report daily prayer: 27% compared with 48%. Pew Research Center, “Religious practices of U.S. teens”
Family participation was closely associated with teen attendance. Among teens whose responding parent attended religious services monthly or more, 88% also attended at least monthly. Attendance also varied among Christian traditions: about two-thirds of evangelical Protestant teenagers attended weekly or more, compared with about four-in-ten mainline Protestant and Catholic teens. Pew Research Center, “Religious practices of U.S. teens”
Organized religious activities reached more teenagers than current frequent attendance alone suggests. Six-in-ten U.S. teenagers said they had participated in religious education at some point by 2019, and 29% still participated often or sometimes. Also, 51% had ever attended a religious youth group, while 29% still attended at least sometimes. Pew Research Center, “Religious practices of U.S. teens”
Participation differed by tradition. Among evangelical teenagers, 57% often or sometimes participated in religious education, compared with 37% of mainline Protestant teens and roughly 30% of Catholic teens. About 64% of evangelical teenagers were engaged in a religious youth group, compared with about 23% of Catholic teens. Pew Research Center, “Religious practices of U.S. teens”
The 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study found that 48% of U.S. adults ages 18–24 had attended religious services weekly or more often as children, while 14% attended once or twice a month as children. These childhood measures describe upbringing, not current attendance. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study report”
Belief, gratitude and spiritual experience
More than eight-in-ten U.S. teenagers ages 13–17 said they believed in God or a universal spirit in Pew’s 2019 survey. Belief was also present among religiously unaffiliated teens: 62% said they believed in God or a universal spirit, 36% said they did not believe in God or a higher power, and 10% were absolutely certain that God or a universal spirit exists. Pew Research Center, “Religious beliefs of American teenagers”
Differences between teenagers and parents were not always simple transfers of belief. Among teens who did not share their responding parent’s belief about God, 62% said they did not believe in God while their parent did. In the reverse pattern, 24% said they believed in God while their parent did not. Pew Research Center, “Religious beliefs of American teenagers”
Spiritual certainty varied by region. In 2019, 47% of U.S. teenagers in the South said they were absolutely certain God exists, compared with 37% in the Northeast. About 48% of teenagers felt strong gratitude or thankfulness at least weekly, and about half felt a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being at least once or twice a month. Pew Research Center, “Religious beliefs of American teenagers”; Pew Research Center, “Religious practices of U.S. teens”
Among adults ages 18–24 in 2023–24, 82% said people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical bodies. This spiritual-belief measure is broader than Christian identification and should not be treated as a measure of church membership. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off”
Religious upbringing and continuity
Childhood religious formation remains uneven among young adults. In 2023–24, 19% of U.S. adults ages 18–24 said they received seven or more years of formal religious education as children, while 42% said they received no formal religious education. Also, 47% said religion was very important to their family while they were growing up. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off”
The relationship between family importance and later importance was substantial but not universal. Among adults born in 2000–06 who were raised in families where religion was very important, 44% said religion was still very important to them in 2023–24. Among those who grew up with little or no family religious importance, 76% still said religion was not too or not at all important. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study report”
The following figures show how childhood practice and family context can align with young-adult practice:
| Childhood pattern | Young-adult outcome in 2023–24 |
|---|---|
| Born 2000–06; weekly childhood attendance in a highly religious family; still both attended weekly and said religion was very important | 28% |
| Born 2000–06; seldom or never attended in a family where religion was unimportant; still seldom or never attended and said religion was unimportant | 76% |
| Raised in a religion; weekly childhood attendance in a very religious family; still identified with childhood religion | 74% |
These are conditional percentages for specific upbringing groups, not estimates for all young adults. They show continuity patterns rather than proving that any single childhood experience causes a later outcome. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off”
Gender, region and demographic differences
Among U.S. adults born in 2000–06, 57% of women and 58% of men identified with a religion in the 2023–24 study. Daily prayer was reported by 30% of women and 26% of men. Absolute certainty that God or a universal spirit exists was reported by 42% of women and 38% of men, while religion was very important in the lives of 31% of women and 26% of men. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study report”
Pew’s 2019 teen findings also show regional variation in prayer. Daily prayer was reported by 32% of teenagers in the South, 26% in the Northeast, 25% in the Midwest and 22% in the West. Religious disaffiliation was highest among teenagers in the West at 32%, compared with 29% in the South. Pew Research Center, “Religious practices of U.S. teens”; Pew Research Center, “Religious affiliation among American adolescents”
In the same teen survey, 10% of teenagers in the Northeast identified with non-Christian religions. This is a regional figure from 2019, not a current national estimate. Pew Research Center, “Religious affiliation among American adolescents”
Birthplace differences also appear in the longer adult trend. Among U.S. adults born outside the United States, the Christian share fell from 75% in 2007 to 58% in 2023–24, while the religiously unaffiliated share rose from 16% to 26%. These figures compare two measurement points and do not describe every immigrant community in the same way. Pew Research Center, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off”
Gen Z engagement and church preferences
Barna’s commercial survey reporting offers a different snapshot of U.S. Gen Z respondents ages 13–24. In its August 23–30, 2023 survey, 64% said they had prayed to God in the previous seven days, 37% had read from the Bible, 36% had attended a church service, and 33% had read a book helping them grow in their Christian faith. Barna, “5 Things You Need to Know About Gen Z”
Barna’s 2024 reporting found that the share of U.S. Gen Z ages 13–24 attending church weekly fell from 22% in 2020 to 16% in 2024. The share attending not at all rose from 28% in 2020 to 37% in 2024. These figures come from Barna’s reporting and are not directly comparable to Pew’s estimates because the survey organizations, measures and reporting contexts differ. Barna, “How to Help Gen Z Connect Spiritually Online and at Church”
Connection remains important in the same 2024 reporting: 54% of Gen Z ages 13–24 strongly agreed that in-person relationships are more valuable than digital relationships. Among Gen Z Christians or church attendees, 41% said learning about Jesus was what they liked most about their church, 37% selected spiritual growth, and 35% selected discovering what is true and good in life. Barna, “How to Help Gen Z Connect Spiritually Online and at Church”
The Pew teen findings are from a pre-pandemic 2019 survey, while the Pew young-adult findings come from the 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study and Barna’s figures come from 2023 or 2024 reporting. Percentages may not sum to 100% because of rounding, and the different age bands and methods mean these sources should be read as complementary snapshots rather than one combined time series.