There are more young people in America who identify as religious “nones” than young people who identify as Protestants.
Based on a new analysis from their 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study, Pew Research Center noted that for every eight “religiously unaffiliated” people between the ages of 18 and 29, there are only five who identify with some form of Protestantism.
Pew Research Center based their analysis on a hypothetical town with 100 people, with each person representing 1 percent of the American population with respect to religious affiliation.
The overall town, with all ages included, would have 40 Protestants, including 23 evangelicals, 11 associated with mainline denominations, and 5 affiliated with historically black denominations.
There would meanwhile be 29 religiously unaffiliated people.
“This group — sometimes called the religious ‘nones’ — is made up of people who describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or ‘nothing in particular’ when it comes to religion,” Pew Research Center noted.
More US adults identify with no religion (29%) than with the Catholic Church (19%) or evangelical Protestant denominations (23%).https://t.co/kKnCcvgAZb pic.twitter.com/zKSASzeCqM
— Conrad Hackett (@conradhackett) November 13, 2025
In other words, the religious makeup of the youngest cohort of American adults is considerably more agnostic or uninterested in religion compared to their parents and grandparents as of 2023-2024.
While Protestants still compose the plurality of the nation as a whole, the “nones” mark the plurality of younger people.
But more data from the 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study published earlier this year revealed that “after many years of steady decline, the share of Americans who identify as Christians shows signs of leveling off.”
Between 2019 and 2024, there was no significant decrease in the share of the American population identifying as Christian.
About 62 percent of the country would count themselves Christians, with Protestants at 40 percent and Roman Catholics at 19 percent.
The other 3 percent includes smaller traditions, such as Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy, as well as non-Trinitarian restorationist groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses.
While the data from Pew Research Center paints a bleak picture for the faith of American young people, the past few months have witnessed some movement toward a possible revival of Christianity.
After the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was an outspoken evangelical Protestant, churches in the tradition reported upticks in attendance.
In recent months, Bible sales have reportedly increased, especially among younger people.
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