Religious switching among 18 to 24 year olds
Percent of young adults who joined or left, 2023-24 (in percent)
Key finding
For every young person who converts to Christianity, five leave it.
- Left Christianity: 26%
- Became unaffiliated: 25%
- Became Christian: 5%
Source: Pew Research Center, Religion Holds Steady in America · Pew NPORS 2025 and RLS 2023-24. Published Dec 8, 2025.
See all 4 categories, the full chart and more
Free account: full chart, CSV and PNG downloads, ready-to-paste citation, branded share image, and a discussion question for your team.
Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
For every young person who converts to Christianity, five leave it. Left Christianity: 26%. Became unaffiliated: 25%. Became Christian: 5%.
Who published this data?
Pew Research Center, 2025. Source: Pew Research Center, Religion Holds Steady in America (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/12/08/religion-holds-steady-in-america/).
Where can I get the full data and a citation?
Create a free Leader Insights account to open the full chart, download CSV or PNG, copy a citation and save the statistic to your own library.
More Next Generation statistics
- Childhood faith experiences of those who stayed Protestant vs. left Lifeway Research, 2026
- Churchgoers who say their church is multigenerational Lifeway Research, 2026
- Pastors who say engagement among men ages 18 to 35 has increased Barna Group, 2026
- Pastors who say their church is multigenerational, by church attendance Lifeway Research, 2026
- Pastors who say their church is multigenerational Lifeway Research, 2026
- Senior pastors reporting higher engagement among Gen Z Barna Group, 2026
About this data
Leader Insights collects statistics about U.S. churches from published research by organizations such as Lifeway Research, Barna Group, Springtide, the American Bible Society and PRRI. Every number is checked against the wording of the original source before it is published, and each statistic links back to the study it came from. Figures are reproduced from the publishers named above; see the source for full methodology.