Only 47% of Americans Say Religion Is ‘Very Important’ as Religious ‘Nones’ Reach Record High

• For the first time in modern polling history, fewer than half of Americans — just 47% — say religion is “very important” in their lives.
• Religious “Nones,” those with no formal religious affiliation, have reached a record high of 24%, up from just 2% in 1948.
• 57% of Americans now say they seldom or never attend religious services, up from 42% in 1992.
• Young adults are the least religious demographic, with 35% identifying as “Nones” and 61% rarely or never attending services.
• Black Americans have experienced the steepest decline of any group, dropping from 85% calling religion very important in 2001–2005 to 63% by 2021–2025.
• Republicans have held relatively steady at 64% saying religion is very important, while Democrats have plummeted from 60% to 37% over two decades.
• Experts say there is no data suggesting a reversal, with generational replacement driving a long-term structural decline in American religious life.

A sweeping new Gallup survey has confirmed what many observers of American culture have long suspected: the nation’s relationship with religion is in serious and sustained decline. For the first time since Gallup began tracking the question in the modern era, fewer than half of American adults — just 47% — say religion is “very important” in their lives. The findings, drawn from interviews with more than 13,000 U.S. adults throughout 2025, paint a picture of a country quietly but decisively drifting away from faith.

The shift has been decades in the making. In the 1950s and 1960s, roughly 70 to 75 percent of Americans called religion very important to them. As recently as 2012, that number stood at 58%. The steady erosion since then has now crossed a threshold that would have seemed unthinkable a generation ago. Meanwhile, the share of Americans who say religion is “not very important” has climbed to 28% — more than double the rate recorded in the early 2000s.

Perhaps the most striking single statistic in the report is the rise of the religious “Nones” — Americans who claim no formal religious affiliation. That group now stands at a record 24% of the adult population. To put that in historical perspective, only 2% of Americans identified as religiously unaffiliated in 1948. The transformation represents one of the most significant cultural shifts in the country’s history.

The decline is not evenly distributed. Young adults are the most disengaged demographic: 35% of Americans under 30 now identify as “Nones,” and 61% say they seldom or never attend religious services. Gallup notes that as this generation grows as a share of the overall population, its lower religiosity will continue to reshape the national numbers for years to come.

Among racial groups, Black Americans have experienced the steepest drop. Historically one of the most religiously engaged demographics in the country, Black adults who said religion was very important to them fell from 85% in the early 2000s to 63% by 2021–2025 — a 22-point decline that stands as one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in the entire dataset.

The partisan divide tells its own story. Republicans have remained relatively stable, with 64% saying religion is very important today compared to 66% two decades ago. Democrats, by contrast, have fallen sharply — from 60% down to 37% over the same period. But political scientist Ryan Burge cautions against reading Republican stability as genuine religious vitality. Even among conservatives, he notes, actual church attendance has quietly declined. “They like the idea of religion — that hasn’t changed — but they don’t actually go as much,” Burge said. He describes the phenomenon as “symbolic religion” — a cultural identity detached from regular practice.

On the question of church attendance, the numbers are unambiguous. Weekly attendance has dropped from 44% in 1992 to just 31% today. The share of Americans who seldom or never attend has risen from 42% to 57% over the same period. More than half the country has, for practical purposes, stopped going to church altogether.

Experts see little reason for optimism about a turnaround. Gallup attributes the trajectory primarily to generational replacement — each new cohort entering adulthood is measurably less religious than the one before it. Burge was blunt in his assessment: “There is nothing here that would represent any sort of major reversal or significant change in the trajectory of religion in America.”

The data arrives at a moment when faith-based communities, policymakers, and cultural commentators across the political spectrum are grappling with what a less religious America means — for civil society, for moral formation, and for the institutions that have long depended on religious engagement to sustain them.