The United States has experienced one of the largest declines in religiosity globally over the past decade, new research shows. According to recent Gallup polls, there has been a 17-percent drop in the number of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life, falling from 66 percent in 2015 to 49 percent in 2025. This represents the largest decline Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.
### Why It Matters
The U.S. has long been regarded as one of the world’s more religious developed nations. However, Gallup’s data reveals that the country is now drawing closer to the secular norms found in other advanced economies. This substantial shift reflects profound social and cultural changes, as generational replacement and broader secularization reshape the nation’s religious landscape.
### What To Know
Gallup’s survey is based on results from the World Poll, which questioned people in 160 countries. While the global median for the importance of religion has remained steady at about 81 percent since 2007, the U.S. figure has declined significantly, currently standing at 49 percent.
Only 14 out of the 160 countries surveyed experienced a drop of more than 15 percent in religiosity. Although religion remains more important in daily life for Americans than for many of their economic peers, the gap has never been narrower in Gallup’s history.
As a result, the U.S. now occupies a unique position—maintaining a medium-high Christian identity with middling religiosity compared to global norms. This trend aligns with findings from other research organizations, such as the Pew Research Center.
Previous Pew data shows that Christian disaffiliation, or religious “switching,” is driving the decline. Only 83 percent of adults raised as Christians still identify as Christian, which is a lower retention rate than that of Muslims or Hindus. Notably, most religious switching results in adults becoming unaffiliated rather than adopting a new faith.
Nationally, just 46 percent of Americans born after 1990 still identify as Christian. Young adults are much more likely to report no religion compared to older generations, according to Pew Research.
However, the geographic pattern of religious decline is uneven across the U.S. Newsweek has mapped out which states are losing religion the fastest. Pew data shows the proportion of non-religious people is growing in every U.S. state except South Dakota.
States including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Utah, Wisconsin, Missouri, Montana, and Pennsylvania have seen the largest growth in people identifying as “religiously unaffiliated” since 2007.
### What People Are Saying
Gallup researchers Benedict Vigers and Julie Ray commented in their study:
*“The long-term decline in religiosity places the U.S. in a unique position on the global religious landscape. Most countries fall into one of four patterns: high religiosity with Christian identity; high religiosity with another religious identity (often Muslim majority); low religiosity with Christian identity; or low religiosity with no religious identity. The U.S. no longer fits neatly into any of these categories, having a medium-high Christian identity but middling religiosity.”*
Yunping Tong, research associate at Pew Research Center, added:
*“The decline is largely due to people shedding their religious identity after having been raised in a religion.”*
### What Happens Next
While Gallup and Pew data suggest the decline in religiosity may be plateauing after a long period of sustained growth in religious “nones,” the long-term trajectory remains uncertain. Researchers and religious leaders alike will continue to track whether this stabilization persists as younger, less religious cohorts become a larger share of the adult population.
https://www.newsweek.com/us-decline-in-religion-among-biggest-in-world-11047526