Roughly one in three American adults has a will, and Pennsylvania, an older-than-average state with more than 13 million residents, largely mirrors that national gap.
Below are the key numbers on will ownership in the United States and what they imply for Pennsylvania, drawn from federal data and the leading annual estate-planning surveys. Every figure is linked to its source at the foot of the page. Updated July 2026.
The national baseline
1. About a third of US adults have a will
A November 2025 Pew Research Center study found that 32% of US adults have created a will, and a similar 31% have a living will or advance health care directive.1 Estimates vary by how the question is asked: an earlier Gallup poll put the share of adults with a will at 46%.2 There is no reason to think Pennsylvania sits far from this national band.
2. The share has fallen since the pandemic peak
Caring.com's annual Wills and Estate Planning Study, the most-cited yearly tracker, found that 24% of respondents had a will in its 2025 report, down from 33% in 2022, a decline of nine percentage points in three years.3
3. More than half of adults hold no core documents
Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report found that 56% of US adults lack all five core documents (a will, a trust, medical and financial powers of attorney, and a HIPAA authorization), with 26% reporting a will, down from 31% the year before.4
Will ownership by age
4. Older adults are three to four times likelier to have a will
Gallup's age breakdown shows the gradient clearly: 76% of adults 65 and older reported a will, versus 53% of those 50 to 64, 36% of those 30 to 49, and just 20% of adults 18 to 29.5
5. Will ownership climbs sharply after 70
Pew's 2025 data tells the same story with newer numbers: 46% of adults 60 to 69 have a will, rising to 66% of those 70 to 79 and roughly 80% of those 80 and over.6 This matters for Pennsylvania, which skews older than the country as a whole.
6. Only about half of the 50-plus group is covered
An AARP survey of adults 50 and older found that just 51% currently have a legal will, including 38% of those 50 to 64 and 66% of those 65 and up, even though 93% say having an updated will is important to them.7
7. Young adults are the one group moving up
Will ownership among adults 18 to 34 rose from 16% to 24% since 2020, a roughly 50% jump, even as the overall rate fell.8
Income and education
8. Higher earners are twice as likely to have a will
Gallup found that 61% of adults in households earning $100,000 or more had a will, compared with 49% in the $40,000 to $99,999 band and 30% of those earning under $40,000.9
9. The income gap persists even among the oldest adults
Among adults 70 and older, Pew found that 83% of upper-income respondents had a will versus 51% of lower-income respondents, a gap of 32 percentage points inside the age group most likely to plan.10
10. Homeowners plan; renters mostly do not
Trust & Will's 2026 report found that 40% of homeowners have a will versus only 16% of renters, and 37% of married adults versus 16% of single adults.11 Pennsylvania's homeownership rate runs well above the national average, which nudges its expected will rate slightly higher than a renter-heavy state.
Race and gender
11. White adults are nearly twice as likely to have a will as Hispanic adults
Caring.com's 2025 race breakdown reported that 28% of White respondents had a will, versus 16% of Black respondents and 14% of Hispanic respondents; Black respondents saw the steepest year-over-year drop.12
12. The gender gap is small but consistent
In the same data, 25% of men reported a will versus 23% of women, a narrow but persistent gap seen across survey years.13
The pandemic bump and decline
13. COVID-19 pushed a wave of younger adults to write wills, then interest faded
Nearly one in three adults under 35 said they wrote a will because of COVID-19, and those who had a serious case were far more likely to plan; yet overall will ownership has slid back since the 2020 to 2021 peak.14
14. Long term, will ownership has drifted down for decades
Historical Gallup readings show 51% of adults had a will in 2005 and 48% in 1990, both higher than the 44% recorded in 2016 and today's roughly one-third across newer surveys.15
Why people skip it
15. Procrastination and "not enough assets" top the list
Caring.com found that 43% of adults without a will simply "haven't gotten around to it," and 24% said nothing could motivate them to make one.16 Trust & Will's leading reason was "I don't have enough assets" at 27%, followed by procrastination at 23%.17 Separately, about four in ten Americans have said they do not think they have enough to warrant a will.18
| Metric | US figure | Source year |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a will | 24% to 32% | 2025 |
| Adults 65+ with a will | 66% to 76% | 2021 to 2025 |
| Adults 18 to 29 with a will | 20% to 24% | 2021 to 2025 |
| No core estate documents | 56% | 2026 |
| Top reason to skip: procrastination | 43% | 2025 |
Pennsylvania in numbers
16. Pennsylvania has about 10.6 million adults, and most likely have no will
Pennsylvania's population was about 13.08 million in the 2024 American Community Survey, with a median age of 41.2 (above the US median) and a median household income of $77,545.19 The Census Bureau puts roughly one in five residents at 65 or older, a larger senior share than most states.20 No survey publishes a Pennsylvania-only will rate, so applying the national one-third figure to the state's roughly 10.6 million adults implies that around 3.5 million Pennsylvanians have a will and close to 7 million do not. The state's older age profile likely pulls its true rate a little above the US average, while its band of lower-income and renter households pulls the other way.
If you are in the majority without one, you do not need a lawyer to start. Our guided will builder walks you through a valid Pennsylvania will step by step, and if you want more local context first, see our companion piece on will statistics for Pennsylvania.
Sources
- 1Pew Research Center: Experiences with Estate Planning and End-of-Life Preferences (2025) (pewresearch.org)
- 2Gallup: How Many Americans Have a Will? (news.gallup.com)
- 3Caring.com: 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study (caring.com)
- 4Trust & Will: 2026 Estate Planning Report (trustandwill.com)
- 5Gallup: How Many Americans Have a Will? (age breakdown) (news.gallup.com)
- 6Pew Research Center: Estate Planning by Age (2025) (pewresearch.org)
- 7AARP: Only Half of Adults 50-Plus Have a Legal Will (aarp.org)
- 8Caring.com: 2025 Wills Study (young-adult trend) (caring.com)
- 9Gallup: How Many Americans Have a Will? (income breakdown) (news.gallup.com)
- 10Pew Research Center: Estate Planning by Income (2025) (pewresearch.org)
- 11Trust & Will: 2026 Estate Planning Report (homeowners vs renters) (trustandwill.com)
- 12Caring.com: Race and Gender Disparities in Estate Planning (2025) (caring.com)
- 13Caring.com: Race and Gender Disparities in Estate Planning (gender) (caring.com)
- 14RetirementLiving: How Many Americans Have a Will (COVID impact) (retirementliving.com)
- 15LegalZoom: Estate Planning Statistics (historical Gallup) (legalzoom.com)
- 16Caring.com: 2025 Wills Study (reasons for not planning) (caring.com)
- 17Trust & Will: 2026 Estate Planning Report (reasons) (trustandwill.com)
- 18PRWeb: Caring.com Study, 4 in 10 Don't Think They Have Enough Assets (prweb.com)
- 19Census Reporter: Pennsylvania Profile (ACS 2024) (censusreporter.org)
- 20US Census Bureau QuickFacts: Pennsylvania (census.gov)
About the author
Max Kuch
Max Kuch writes about estate planning, wills and inheritance for Pennsylvania Will Template. He gathers the numbers from official Pennsylvania and US public data, then explains what they mean for anyone thinking about putting their wishes in writing.