Most people in Pennsylvania will leave behind a house, a bank account, and a set of wishes, yet only a minority ever put those wishes in writing. The numbers behind wills, deaths, and inheritance in the Commonwealth are striking once you line them up.
This page collects more than 25 statistics on will ownership, mortality, estate values, and the historic wealth transfer now underway, focused on Pennsylvania wherever state-level data exists and the United States as a whole where it does not. Every figure is linked to its source in the list at the foot of the page. Updated July 2026.
How many Pennsylvanians have a will
1. Only about 24% of American adults have a will
In the 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Survey, just 24% of respondents said they had a will, the lowest share the annual study has recorded and down from 33% in 2022.1 Pennsylvania mirrors this national pattern closely.
2. Gallup puts will ownership at 46% of adults
A separate Gallup poll found that slightly less than half of U.S. adults, 46%, have a will describing how they want their estate handled, a figure that has barely moved in three decades.2 The gap with the Caring.com number reflects different question wording, but both point the same direction: the majority go without.
3. Roughly 6 in 10 adults have no estate documents at all
AARP reporting on estate readiness found that about 60% of American adults lack a will or any core estate-planning document.3 For a state of 13 million people, that translates into millions of Pennsylvania households with no plan on file.
4. Will ownership climbs steeply with age
Gallup found that more than three-quarters of Americans aged 65 and older have a will, compared with just 20% of adults under 30, with each younger age band less prepared than the one above it.2 Because roughly a fifth of Pennsylvanians are 65 or older, the state skews toward the more-prepared end of that curve.
5. "Just haven't gotten around to it" is the top excuse
Among adults without a will, 43% say they simply have not gotten around to it, and 56% believe they do not have enough assets to bother planning.1 Procrastination, not cost, is the dominant barrier.
6. Young adults are the one group getting more prepared
The number of Americans aged 18 to 34 with a will has risen by about 50% since 2020, the only age group moving in the right direction.4 Awareness among younger Pennsylvanians appears to be catching up.
Population, aging, and deaths
7. Pennsylvania is home to about 13.0 million people
The Commonwealth had roughly 13.0 million residents and about 5.36 million households as of the most recent Census estimates, making it the fifth-most-populous U.S. state.5 The size of that population is what makes its estate and mortality figures so large in absolute terms.
8. The U.S. recorded more than 3 million deaths in a single year
The CDC registered 3,072,666 resident deaths across the United States in 2024.6 As the fifth-largest state, Pennsylvania accounts for one of the highest death counts of any state each year, well over 100,000 residents.
9. Heart disease and cancer drive most Pennsylvania deaths
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Pennsylvania at about 22% of all deaths (251 per 100,000 people), followed by cancer at roughly 19% (213 per 100,000).7 Together with accidents, those three causes account for nearly half of deaths in the state.
10. Life expectancy at birth is about 77 years
Life expectancy at birth in Pennsylvania was 77.3 years in the most recent CDC state profile.8 That long horizon is part of why so many people treat a will as something to handle "later."
11. Nearly one in five Pennsylvanians is 65 or older
About 19% of Pennsylvania residents are aged 65 and over, one of the older age structures among large U.S. states.5 An older population means a steady, sizable flow of estates each year.
Homes, estates, and net worth
12. About 69% of Pennsylvania homes are owner-occupied
Pennsylvania's homeownership rate sits near 69%, comfortably above the U.S. figure of roughly 65%.9 For most families, the home is the single largest asset a will has to deal with.
13. The median Pennsylvania home is worth about $254,500
The median value of an owner-occupied home in Pennsylvania was around $254,500 in the latest data, up from $240,500 the year before.5 Property of that size alone is usually enough to require formal estate administration.
14. The typical U.S. family is worth about $192,900
The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances put median family net worth at $192,900, while the mean reached $1.06 million, a gap that shows how concentrated wealth is at the top.10 Most Pennsylvania estates cluster near that median, not the mean.
15. Household net worth jumped 37% in three years
Median U.S. net worth rose 37% between 2019 and 2022 after inflation, the largest three-year jump on record.11 Rising home and account balances mean more Pennsylvanians now have meaningful assets to pass on.
| Measure | Pennsylvania | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Homeownership rate | ~69% | ~65% |
| Median home value | ~$254,500 | higher, varies |
| Median family net worth | near U.S. median | $192,900 |
| Share of adults with a will | similar to U.S. | 24% to 46% |
The great wealth transfer
16. About $84 trillion will change hands by 2045
Cerulli Associates projects that $84.4 trillion in wealth will transfer through 2045, with $72.6 trillion going to heirs and $11.9 trillion to charity.12 Pennsylvania's older, home-owning population means the state holds a large slice of that total.
17. Baby boomers own roughly half of all U.S. wealth
Boomers, who control about half the country's wealth, are the generation driving the transfer, passing an estimated $53 trillion to their heirs.13 Much of that will flow through wills, or through intestacy where none exists.
18. Most transfer volume comes from the wealthiest 1.5%
Cerulli estimates that $35.8 trillion, about 42% of the total, will come from high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth households that make up just 1.5% of all families.12 The remaining majority is spread across ordinary households, exactly the ones least likely to have a plan.
Dying without a will in Pennsylvania
19. Well over half of people die without a will
Because will ownership sits in the 24% to 46% range, the majority of estates are settled with no will at all, and estate guides commonly note that most decedents die intestate.14 When that happens in Pennsylvania, state law decides who inherits.
20. Intestacy law, not your wishes, controls the split
If a Pennsylvanian dies without a valid will, the estate passes by the Commonwealth's intestate succession rules, which divide property among a surviving spouse, children, and other relatives in fixed shares regardless of what the deceased might have wanted.14 Unmarried partners and friends receive nothing.
21. Pennsylvania levies an inheritance tax of 4.5% to 15%
Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states with an inheritance tax: 0% to a surviving spouse, 4.5% to children and other lineal heirs, 12% to siblings, and 15% to more distant heirs.15 A clear will helps families plan around who pays what.
22. Estate settlement takes months and real money
National estimates put the typical probate process at several months to over a year, with costs that can reach several percent of the estate's value in fees.16 A valid will does not skip probate, but it removes the guesswork and speeds the process for the people left behind.
23. The single biggest risk is doing nothing
With three in five adults holding no estate documents3 and procrastination the number-one reason1, the most common outcome in Pennsylvania is an estate handled entirely by default rules. Writing even a simple will changes that. You can start your own in minutes with our guided will builder, and read more context in our companion piece on will statistics in Pennsylvania.
Sources
- 1Caring.com, 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Survey (caring.com)
- 2Gallup, How Many Americans Have a Will? (news.gallup.com)
- 3AARP, Survey: 60% of Americans lack a will or estate planning (aarp.org)
- 4Caring.com, 2024 Wills and Estate Planning Study (caring.com)
- 5Data USA / U.S. Census Bureau, Pennsylvania profile (datausa.io)
- 6CDC NCHS, FastStats: Deaths and Mortality (cdc.gov)
- 7USAFacts, Leading causes of death in Pennsylvania (usafacts.org)
- 8CDC NCHS, Stats of the States: Pennsylvania (cdc.gov)
- 9FRED, Homeownership Rate for Pennsylvania (fred.stlouisfed.org)
- 10Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances (net worth table) (federalreserve.gov)
- 11Federal Reserve, Changes in U.S. Family Finances 2019 to 2022 (federalreserve.gov)
- 12Cerulli Associates, $84 trillion in wealth transfers through 2045 (cerulli.com)
- 13Bankrate, The Great Wealth Transfer (bankrate.com)
- 14Nolo, How an Estate Is Settled If There's No Will: Intestate Succession (nolo.com)
- 15Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, Inheritance Tax (pa.gov)
- 16ProbateCourtBond, Estate Planning in America: 2026 Snapshot (probatecourtbond.com)
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.