In short
Youth prayer runs lower than in older generations but has not collapsed. About 27% of US adults ages 18 to 24 pray daily versus 58% of those 74 and older (Pew), yet 64% of Gen Z say they prayed in the past week (Barna) and 46% of young people ages 13 to 25 pray daily or weekly (Springtide). The historic gap where young women prayed more than young men has narrowed or reversed. Pew finds no clear evidence of a nationwide youth revival, while Barna reports Gen Z weekly Bible reading jumped from 30% to 49% in one year. Springtide links prayer with higher flourishing, though as association, not cause.
- Youth prayer is moderate, not collapsed: weekly prayer stays common even as daily prayer trails older generations.
- The historic gender gap has flipped, with teen boys now praying at least as often as teen girls.
- Revival headlines are mixed: Pew sees no nationwide surge, while Barna sees a sharp one-year Bible-reading jump.
- Young faith is unbundled, blending prayer with Bible reading, services, meditation, nature, and even astrology.
Youth prayer runs lower than in older generations but has not collapsed. About 27% of US adults ages 18 to 24 pray daily, versus 58% of those 74 and older, per Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study. Yet 64% of Gen Z (ages 13 to 24) say they prayed in the past week, according to Barna Group (2023), and 46% of young people ages 13 to 25 pray daily or weekly, per Springtide Research Institute (2024). Pew found no clear evidence of a nationwide youth religious revival (December 2025), while Barna reports Gen Z weekly Bible reading jumped from 30% to 49% between 2024 and 2025. Sources below draw on Pew, Springtide, and Barna youth research.
Key findings at a glance
| Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults 18-24 who pray daily | 27% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| Gen Z who prayed in the past week | 64% | 2023 | Barna Group |
| Young people 13-25 who pray daily or weekly | 46% | 2023-24 | Springtide Research Institute |
| Teen boys who prayed in the past week | >70% | 2023 | Barna Group |
| Gen Z weekly Bible reading (up from 30% in 2024) | 49% | 2025 | Barna Group |
| Nationwide youth religious revival | No clear evidence | 2025 | Pew Research Center |
How often young people pray
Daily prayer among teens and young adults sits well below older generations, but weekly prayer remains common. Pew, Barna, and Springtide converge on a picture of moderate, not collapsed, engagement.
About 27% of US adults ages 18 to 24 pray daily, compared with 58% of adults ages 74 and older, according to Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study.
About 64% of Gen Z (ages 13 to 24) report having prayed to God within the past seven days, according to Barna Group (2023).
About 46% of young people ages 13 to 25 report praying on a daily or weekly basis, according to Springtide Research Institute (2024).
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| All US adults who pray at least once daily | 44% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| Adults born 1995-2002 who pray daily (vs 59% of oldest) | 30% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| Young adults attending services monthly (vs 49% of oldest) | 25% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
Gender patterns in youth prayer
The historic gap where young women prayed more than young men has narrowed or reversed. Barna and Pew both document teen boys now praying at least as often as teen girls, with young women showing the sharpest disengagement.
More than 70% of US teen boys ages 13 to 17 report having prayed within the past week, according to Barna Group (2023).
Among US adults ages 18 to 24, the shares who pray every day are now about the same for women and men, a notable change from 2007 to 2014 when young women were significantly more religious, according to Pew Research Center (December 2025).
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teen girls 13-17 who prayed in the past week | 63% | 2023 | Barna Group |
| Young adult women 18-24 who prayed in the past week | 58% | 2023 | Barna Group |
| Young adult women 18-24 of no faith (vs 32% of men) | 38% | 2023 | Barna Group |
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Is there a youth revival
Headlines about a Gen Z faith comeback need care. Pew finds no clear nationwide revival, while Barna reports a sharp one-year jump in Gen Z Bible reading and the highest service attendance of any generation. Both framings are presented honestly.
Pew Research Center found no clear evidence that a nationwide religious resurgence among young Americans is underway, based on recent high-quality surveys (December 2025).
Weekly Bible reading among US Gen Z rose from 30% in 2024 to 49% in 2025, according to Barna Group (2025).
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults 18-24 identifying with a religion (74% in 2007) | 56% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| Adults 18-24 who are converts to Christianity (26% are former) | 5% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| Millennials reading the Bible weekly (up 16 points) | 50% | 2025 | Barna Group |
| Gen Z religious services per month (highest of any generation) | 1.9 | 2025 | Barna Group |
Wider spiritual practices
Beyond prayer, young people blend Bible reading, service attendance, meditation, nature, and even astrology. This "faith unbundled" pattern shapes how digital prayer tools meet them.
About 79% of young people ages 13 to 25 identify as at least slightly spiritual and 71% as at least slightly religious, according to Springtide Research Institute (2024).
About 77% of US teens say they are at least somewhat motivated to keep learning about Jesus throughout their lives, according to Barna Group.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen Z who read the Bible in the past week | 37% | 2023 | Barna Group |
| Gen Z who attended a church service in the past week | 36% | 2023 | Barna Group |
| Young people 13-25 who belong to a religious community | 35% | 2023-24 | Springtide Research Institute |
| Adults 18-29 who consult astrology at least yearly | 37% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| US adults who meditate weekly for spiritual reasons | 23% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
Prayer and well-being
Springtide data associate prayer and spiritual practice with higher flourishing among young people. These are correlations, strongest for the already-religious, not evidence that prayer causes better mental health.
Among young people ages 13 to 25 who pray daily, 74% report they are flourishing, compared with 57% of those who never pray, according to Springtide Research Institute (2022).
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious young people saying practices help their mental health | 73% | 2022 | Springtide Research Institute |
| Weekly service attenders who report flourishing (vs 57% who never attend) | 79% | 2022 | Springtide Research Institute |
How we compiled these statistics
Every figure on this page is traced to a primary source and dated to the year the data was collected. Prayer-frequency, service-attendance, gender, and revival figures come from Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study and its December 2025 "Religion holds steady" report. Weekly and daily-or-weekly prayer, community belonging, and identity figures come from Springtide Research Institute's 2024 Study of Young People and Civic Life and its State of Religion 2022 report. Gen Z past-week prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, and gender figures come from Barna Group (Gen Z Volume 3, fielded 2023; The Open Generation, 2021 data; and State of the Church 2025). We label Barna as Tier 2 with its survey year, frame all prayer-and-mental-health figures as association rather than cause, cite data years rather than publication years, and source revival framing to Pew and Barna US data only. We exclude the retracted UK Quiet Revival report and "young men converting" hype that lacks a primary US source.
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Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Pew Research Center, Prayer and other religious practices (2023-24 Religious Landscape Study)
- Pew Research Center, Religion holds steady in America (December 2025)
- Springtide Research Institute, Community and Practice data drop (2024)
- Springtide Research Institute, State of Religion 2022 (mental health), via Religion Unplugged
- Barna Group, Gen Z Volume 3 / 5 Things About Gen Z (2023)
- Barna Group, Gen Z women struggling in faith (2023)
- Barna Group, Bible reading trends / State of the Church 2025
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