(OSV News) -- An increasing number of the nation's young men say religion is "very important" in their lives, marking a return to levels seen 25 years ago, and edging them ahead of young women on the issue, according to Gallup.
In addition, Gallup noted that attendance at religious services has risen by several points since 2022-2023 among young Republican men and women.
The data comes as previous polling from Pew Research Center showed a leveling off in a multiyear decline in Christianity in the U.S. -- although Pew noted there's no statistical evidence of a religious revival, and Catholics are seeing the greatest net losses of believers compared to other religions.
Gallup released its findings April 16, based on data collected as part of its Gallup Poll Social Series, which since 2001 has surveyed respondents monthly on a slate of issues to identify multiyear trends.
Each survey polls at least 1,000 U.S. adults in all 50 states and Washington, with respondents participating by either cellphone or landline. The data is weighted, or statistically adjusted, to represent the nation's demographics.
Gallup found that combined data for 2024-2025 showed 42% of men ages 18-29 ranked religion as "very important," compared to 29% of their female counterparts.
The numbers reversed a 16-point gap between the two cohorts in 2002-2003, when 57% of women ages 18-29 reported religion as "very important" compared to 41% of their male counterparts.
Gallup noted that the gap had steadily closed by the mid-2010s, with the two groups "closely aligned through 2022-2023."
But the data from 2024 and 2025 "mark a clear break, with young men now surpassing young women on this measure of religious importance," said Gallup senior scientist Frank Newport and director of U.S. social research Lydia Saad in their report.
They observed that the reversal is "unique" to the specific age bracket, with women age 30 and older remaining "more religious than men."
Young women "are now by far the least religious women," they said, with less than one third (29%) describing religion as very important -- far behind the 47% of women ages 30-49 who rank religion as a priority.
Gallup said that while young men have since 2022-2023 become more religious, the share of those identifying with a particular religion has remained largely the same for that period, with 63% naming a faith tradition in 2024-2025.
Still, that number is the highest recorded for the group since 2012-2013 -- and contrasts with a decline in religious affiliation among young women, which now stands at 60%.
Among all older age groups for both men and women, religious identity is now "at or near its low points in the trends since 2000-2001," said Newport and Saad.
Young men are also trending upward in monthly or frequent attendance at religious services, with 40% doing so in 2024-2025, the highest level since 2012-2013, and up from about 33% in 2022-2023, according to Gallup.
Young women's attendance has "increased modestly since 2022-2023" -- coming in just behind the rate for young men at 39% -- but "remains far below the levels recorded in the early 2000s," the Gallup researchers found.
Attendance rates for older men and women are currently "at or near their trend lows," they added.
Gallup said attendance at religious services has risen among young Republicans, up 7 points for men (52%) and 8 for women (58%) since 2022-2023.
Among young Democratic men, that figure rose 3 points (26%) for the same period, while remaining largely unchanged among Democratic women (31%).
Gallup highlighted the "distinct differences in party identification between the two groups," with 48% of young men identifying as Republican or leaning toward the party, and 41% as Democratic or Democratic-leaning.
Young women are significantly more likely to identify with or incline toward the Democratic Party (60%), with only over one quarter (27%) identifying as or leaning as 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," said Gallup.
On balance, said Gallup, "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."
Yet, the firm added, "young men appear to be an emerging exception to the rule."
That breakout could signal something beside a strictly spiritual inclination, noted Katherine Coolidge, director of parish and diocesan services at the Colorado-based St. Catherine of Siena Institute, which provides evangelization and apostolic formation for lay Catholics.
"Some young men especially who lean Republican may indicate they first come for reasons of community and shared values," Coolidge told OSV News.
She cautioned that "we are complex beings" and that "often there is no one single reason that drives us but perhaps one is the catalyst that gets us off the couch and in the pew."
"When I chat with young adults especially, they often give a cluster of reasons but often they center around the desire for the in-person," she said, adding that many were in their "teens and early 20s when COVID hit."
Coolidge said her encounters with young people have revealed reasons for religious affiliation that "run the spectrum."
But, she said, "two recurring themes stand out: a desire for in-person, human community and a 'safe' space where I can hang with people who share my core values and beliefs."
Another subset "leads with a spiritual question, but it is often a smaller group than the first category," she added.
Still, said Coolidge, "Whether they have come for purely human needs or are on a spiritual quest -- first, praise God they come no matter the reason."
That quest prompts a pastoral question, she said.
"Are we ready to meet them as they are, where they are, and provide a pathway to encounter, foster and deepen a living relationship with the God who loved them into being?" said Coolidge.
