- New Marquette Law School Poll finds large percentages of older adults nationwide are connected closely to grown children and grandchildren
Also:
- By age 40, three-quarters of adults have children
- Trust across generations in families is generally strong
- About half of adults say their standard of living is better than their parents’ was
- 7 in 10 say they are adherents to an organized religion
- 60% say religion is important in their lives
MILWAUKEE – American family life doesn’t end when the kids leave home. A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey provides in-depth insights into the way the lives of individuals and extended families evolve beyond many people’s child-raising years.
Most government statistics focus on fertility and child-rearing but pay little attention to family life after children reach age 18. This Marquette survey examined aspects of family life among parents of adult offspring, including the role of grandparents. This provides glimpses of family relationships across the second half of life.
The survey finds that large numbers of families have active multigenerational lives, including grandparents who frequently care for grandchildren and families in which all the grandparents, parents, and grandchildren live within 50 miles of each other. Relatively few of those in later life, including after 70, are isolated from their children.
The survey also examined important aspects of American religious life, including how frequently people attend religious services, how often they pray, and how their religious lives as adults compare to their religious involvement as teenagers.
The Marquette Law School Poll survey was conducted June 9-15, 2026, interviewing 1,514 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points. This is the fourth of four news releases announcing results of the survey, which looked at an array of aspects of the lives and attitudes of American adults as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
From school-age to post-school-age families
Among American adults, aged 18 and older, 38% don’t have children of any age. Making up the 62% of adults with children, 20% have only children younger than 18, 8% have children both younger than 18 and children 18 or older, and 34% have children only 18 or older.
There are transitions in family composition as parents age. The youngest age groups can only have younger children, and eventually the oldest groups are very unlikely to have children under 18.
Just 25% of adults under age 30 reported having children, with 100% of those parents having children under 18. That increased to 56% with children for adults in their 30s. This age cohort reported 48% having only young children, 5% of adults having both young children and adult offspring, and 3% with only adult children.
The 40s mark the transition from younger children to adult children, among the 75% of these adults having children. These families have almost as many young and old children (26% of these families) as only young (30%), with a sharp increase over those in their 30s in respect to having only adult children (19%). This also marks the point at which most childbearing ceases. Only 25% of those in their 40s have no children.
In the 50s and beyond, the percentage with only adult children grows with each decade of age, and very few have younger children. The percentage with no children also levels off in these years after the end of childbearing. There is only a small decrease in childlessness among those 70 or older. (All results in the tables are stated as percentages.)
These transitions are shown by age in Table 1.
Table 1: Young and adult children, by parental age
Among adults
Age Young and old children Young kids only Young and adult kids Adult kids only No children 18-29 25 0 0 75 30-39 48 5 3 44 40-49 30 26 19 25 50-59 4 16 51 29 60-69 1 2 69 29 70+ 1 2 78 18 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How many children do you have who are 18 years old or older? How many children do you have who are 17 years old or younger? Most government surveys report on number of children per household rather than the number of children an individual has, as is done in this survey. An exception is the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Center for Health Statistics. That study measures the number children ever born to women of childbearing age and children ever fathered by men, in both cases for those between 15 and 49 years old. The Marquette Law School Poll can construct a similar measure for those 18-49, and by gender. This comparison shows that the Marquette data closely match the estimates from NSFG, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Number of children of any age
Among those 18-49 (Marquette Law Poll) or 15-49 (NSFG)
Response Number of children Marquette Law Poll percent, among women 18-49 NSFG percent, among women 15-49 Marquette Law Poll percent among men 18-49 NSFG percent, among men 15-49 None 42 45 55 56 One 17 16 15 14 Two 20 21 17 18 Three 10 12 7 12 Four+ 11 6 6 NA Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 / National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), CDC/NCHS, 2017-2019 Question (Marquette Law Poll): How many children do you have who are 18 years old or older? How many children do you have who are 17 years old or younger? Question (NSFG): Number of children ever born, number of children ever fathered. For NSFG men, the entry for 3 children is for 3 or more Adults are likely to enter their 40s with children, and usually multiple children, though under 30% have no children. For such older adults, the percentage who have children is larger than it would appear from the previous table because the previous table includes those in the childbearing years who have not yet had children but will.
To get a clearer picture, which includes all children and a look at later adulthood, the total number of offspring by parental age is shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Total number of children, by parental age
Among adults
Age Number of children None One Two Three Four+ 18-29 75 14 6 2 3 30-39 44 19 21 8 8 40-49 25 16 29 15 16 50-59 29 13 26 17 15 60-69 29 17 27 17 11 70+ 18 13 36 19 14 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How many children do you have who are 18 years old or older? How many children do you have who are 17 years old or younger? For people in their 40s and beyond, more than half have two or more children. Barring untimely death, these adult children will define and extend family for their parents though the end of the parents’ lives.
Adult children extend their parents’ family by creating grandchildren. In this survey, 43% of parents have at least one grandchild, but that figure includes those too young to have grandchildren yet. The number of grandchildren by age is shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Number of grandchildren, by age
Among those with children
Age Number of grandchildren None One Two Three Four Five Six+ 18-29 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 30-39 97 2 1 0 0 0 0 40-49 75 12 6 4 1 1 1 50-59 57 9 10 6 5 4 8 60-69 30 14 11 12 11 4 19 70+ 10 8 22 8 12 10 30 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How many grandchildren do you have? While the number of children becomes stable in the 40s, the presence of grandchildren, and their number, grow throughout the later years among those who have children. Grandchildren are a prominent part of family life for older Americans, and many have four or more.
Grandparents engage with their grandchildren in many ways, but a prominent one is through providing childcare of one sort or another. Among grandparents, 50% say they take care of a grandchild at least once a month, with 31% doing so a few times a year and 20% who never take care of a grandchild.
Another window into this is parents who say they have one or more of their parents take care of a child. Among these middle-generation parents, 38% say a parent cares for a grandchild at least monthly, with 28% reporting this happens a few times a year and 34% saying that they don’t have a grandparent take care of a child.
Adulthood is generally marked by children leaving home and starting homes of their own, but for most parents this doesn’t mean an end to proximity to their children. For those with adult children, 45% have all of their adult children within 50 miles of the parents. Another 37% have some children near and others far, while 18% have all of their children living more than 50 miles away.
As parents age, their adult children’s lives also change, and this may include relocation for a variety of reasons. Despite this potential, a large majority of parents with adult children continue to live within 50 miles of at least one grown child. For most parents of adult children, at least some children live nearby, regardless of the age of parents. For those younger than 60, only about 15% have all their adult children more than 50 miles away, though this percentage rises to about 20% for those in their 60s or older. Thus, upwards of 80% of parents have at least some adult children living within an hour’s drive. This is shown in Table 5.
Table 5: Distance to adult children
Among those with adult children
Age Near or far Both near and far Near only Far only 40-49 35 50 15 50-59 37 48 15 60-69 34 46 20 70+ 42 36 22 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How many of your adult children 18 or over live within 50 miles of your home? Question: How many of your adult children 18 or over live more than 50 miles from your home? Proximity fosters interaction with grandchildren as well. For those with adult children within 50 miles of their home and at least one grandchild, 56% say they take care of the grandchild at least once a month, while among those whose adult children all live beyond 50 miles, this rate drops to 18% and care only a few times a year rises to 46%, representing in part the occasional family visit. For those with only distant grandchildren, more than a third say they never provide childcare (36%), though this does not rule out visits. This is shown in Table 6.
Table 6: Take care of grandchild, by distance of adult children
Among those with grandchildren
Distance of adult children Care for grandchild More than once a month A few times a year Never Has adult kids w/in 50 mi 56 27 17 No adult kids w/in 50mi 18 46 36 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: [Take care of a grandchild] How often do you do the following things? Question: How many of your adult children 18 or over live (within/more than) 50 miles from your home? Caring for grandchildren seems to peak for grandparents in their 50s, a time when both their children and grandchildren are relatively young, and then declines with age, though taking care of grandchildren remains common into the 70s, as shown in Table 7.
Table 7: Take care of grandchild, by age of grandparent
Among those with grandchildren
Age Care for grandchild More than once a month A few times a year Never 40-49 47 30 24 50-59 61 33 6 60-69 56 28 16 70+ 41 32 28 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: [Take care of a grandchild] How often do you do the following things? Note: There are too few grandparents in their 30s for analysis, so they are omitted from the table. This picture of families with adult children and grandchildren shows there is considerable interaction throughout life, with most families remaining, at least in part, in geographic proximity, and connections with grandchildren playing a prominent role in the lives of older Americans. Relatively few of those in later life, including after 70, are isolated from their children. It should be noted that this analysis has focused exclusively on those with children and has not considered the later lives of those who do not have children, an important topic to be explored another time.
Trust in your family
To shift focus, not all families are happy families. Looking at trust of immediate family, 62% say they can trust their immediate family a great deal, 30% trust their family a fair amount, 6% say they trust family not very much, and 2% trust them not at all. (In subsequent analysis, the last two categories are combined.)
Marital status is associated with trust in the family, with married people expressing the greatest level of trust, while those who have never married are the least trusting, as shown in Table 8.
Table 8: Trust in family, by marital status
Among adults
Marital status Trust in immediate family A great deal A fair amount Not much/not at all Married 71 25 3 Widowed 60 31 9 Single, living with a partner 56 33 10 Divorced/Separated 55 37 8 Single, that is, never married 50 36 15 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: [Your immediate family] How much can you trust the following people? Having children boosts family trust regardless of marital status, but by just four percentage points among married people and by six points among those not currently married.
While those who are currently divorced or separated are less trusting, among those currently married, a previous divorce has little effect on trust in the family. Among those married with a previous divorce, 68% say they trust family a great deal, while for those without a previous divorce, 72% trust family a great deal, as shown in Table 9.
Table 9: Trust in family, by prior divorce
Among currently married adults
Prior divorce Trust in immediate family A great deal A fair amount Not much/not at all Yes 68 27 4 No 72 25 3 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: [Your immediate family] How much can you trust the following people? Question: Have you ever been divorced? Trust in family members is lowest for the youngest age group and highest for the oldest, but varies little for those between 30 and 69, as seen in Table 10.
Table 10: Trust in family, by age
Among adults
Age Trust in immediate family A great deal A fair amount Not much/not at all 18-29 47 37 15 30-39 63 29 9 40-49 60 32 8 50-59 66 28 5 60-69 64 32 4 70+ 78 19 3 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: [Your immediate family] How much can you trust the following people? Financial stress plays a substantial role in reducing trust in family. Among those who say they are struggling financially, 42% say they trust their family a great deal, compared to 61% among those who are just getting by and 70% among those who say they are living comfortably. Similarly, trust in family is related to income levels, as seen in Table 11.
Table 11: Trust in family, by income
Among adults
Income Trust in immediate family A great deal A fair amount Not much/not at all Less than $50k 51 37 12 $50k-$100k 64 31 5 More than $100k 76 20 4 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: [Your immediate family] How much can you trust the following people? Intergenerational standard of living
Intergenerational economic mobility is an important aspect of family life. Compared to the standard of living they experienced growing up, about half say they are now better off. That includes 21% who say they are much better off and 31% who are somewhat better off, while 20% are somewhat worse off and 9% are much worse off. Twenty percent say their standard of living is about the same as when they were young.
An improved standard of living is somewhat related to education, especially for those with more than a bachelor’s degree. Substantially reduced standards of living are more common with those who finished high school or less, as seen in Table 12.
Table 12: Change in standard of living, by education
Among adults
Education Change in standard of living since childhood Much better Somewhat better About the same Somewhat worse Much worse Less than HS 14 34 16 19 16 HS graduate 19 29 23 17 12 Vocational/tech school/some college/ associates 20 30 17 24 8 Bachelor’s degree 20 33 21 22 5 Post grad study/professional degree 31 30 18 16 5 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Compared to your parents when you were growing up, do you think your own standard of living now is better or worse than theirs was? Current financial strain also affects how people see their standard of living compared to that during their childhood. Those who are most comfortable are much more likely to say they are better off, while those who are struggling remember things being better when they were young, as shown in Table 13.
Table 13: Change in standard of living, by current financial situation
Among adults
Current financial situation Change in standard of living since childhood Much better Somewhat better About the same Somewhat worse Much worse Living comfortably 35 37 18 9 1 Just getting by 11 29 23 28 10 Struggling 7 17 16 31 28 Marquette Law School Poll, national, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Compared to your parents when you were growing up, do you think your own standard of living now is better or worse than theirs was? Similarly, present income is substantially related to the sense of improving or worsening standard of living, as Table 14 shows.
Table 14: Change in standard of living, by income
Among adults
Income Change in standard of living since childhood Much better Somewhat better About the same Somewhat worse Much worse Less than $50k 13 24 24 25 14 $50k-$100k 20 33 20 20 7 More than $100k 31 38 14 14 4 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Compared to your parents when you were growing up, do you think your own standard of living now is better or worse than theirs was? Income is related to marital status, but within income levels, more of those who are married say their standard of living has improved since childhood than those who are not married. This is especially true of lower and higher income groups, with only a small difference for those in the middle range of income, shown in Table 15.
Table 15: Change in standard of living, by income and marital status
Among adults
Married or not Change in standard of living since childhood Better Same Worse Less than $50k Married 51 21 28 Not married 31 25 43 $50k-$100k Married 54 21 25 Not married 53 18 29 More than $100k Married 72 13 15 Not married 56 16 28 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Compared to your parents when you were growing up, do you think your own standard of living now is better or worse than theirs was? Faith and family
Most Americans say they identify as adherents to a religious group, though the percentage not affiliated has grown in recent years. In this survey, 28% say they are not adherents, while more than 70% identify themselves with a religious tradition. Table 16 shows the size of each group.
Table 16: Religious affiliation
Among adults
Religion Percent Born-again Protestant 23 Mainline Protestant 18 Roman Catholic 19 No religion 28 Other religion 11 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: What is your present religion, if any? While fewer than a third of Americans say they are not affiliated with a religion, more than half say they seldom or never attend worship services. The rate of attendance is shown in Table 17.
Table 17: Attendance at religious services
Among adults
Attendance Percent More than once a week 6 Once a week 15 Once or twice a month 9 A few times a year 14 Seldom 22 Never 34 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Each religious group has a substantial number of adherents who seldom or never attend services. The highest attendance is among born-again Protestants, followed at some distance by Roman Catholics, by those of other religions (which is a heterogeneous mixture of faiths), and by mainline Protestants with the least regular attendance. Those who say they have no religion are very unlikely to attend, though a few do, at least occasionally. This is shown in Table 18.
Table 18: Religious attendance, by affiliation
Among adults
Religion Attendance Regularly (monthly or more) A few times a year Seldom Never Born-again Protestant 57 14 19 11 Mainline Protestant 24 24 30 22 Roman Catholic 39 15 25 21 No religion 4 6 18 71 Other religion 32 19 22 27 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Question: What is your present religion, if any? Family plays an important role in attendance. Of married couples who say they affiliate with a religion, those whose spouse shares their faith are more than twice as likely to regularly attend worship services than if the spouse does not share their faith. Likewise, when faiths do not match, more seldom or never attend, as shown in Table 19. Among married couples, 79% say they are of the same faith.
Table 19: Religious attendance, by spouse shares faith
Among married adults affiliated with a religion
Does spouse share faith? Attendance Regularly (monthly or more) A few times a year Seldom Never Yes 49 17 21 13 No 21 16 34 30 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Question: Do you and your spouse share the same religious faith? Reported rates of church attendance for the respondents and for their spouse (among married couples) are closely aligned, as shown in Table 20.
Table 20: Attendance by self and by spouse
Among married adults
Self or spouse Attendance Regularly (monthly or more) A few times a year Seldom Never Self 34 14 22 30 Spouse 34 12 16 39 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How often does your spouse attend religious services? Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Attendance for self and spouse is very strongly correlated for those who share a faith, as seen in Table 21.
Table 21: Attendance for spouse, by self-attendance
Among married adults who share same faith
Self-attendance Spouse attendance Regularly (monthly or more) A few times a year Seldom Never Regularly (monthly or more) 92 4 3 1 A few times a year 12 64 15 10 Seldom 10 4 56 30 Never 2 2 4 92 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Question: How often does your spouse attend religious services? Beyond affiliation and attendance, religious practice includes prayer and reading sacred texts. Given relatively low attendance rates of respondents, a surprisingly large number of people (55%) say they pray at least a few times a week. This contrasts with just 21% who attend religious services weekly. Furthermore, prayer is frequent even among those who attend services only rarely, including those who never attend, as shown in Table 22.
Table 22: Prayer, by attendance
Among adults
Attendance Prayer frequency A few times a week or more A few times a month Seldom Never Regularly (monthly or more) 88 5 4 3 A few times a year 69 15 12 5 Seldom 48 10 34 8 Never 24 7 23 46 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Question: Outside of religious services, how often do you pray? A more demanding practice, reading religious texts or scripture, does not produce a similarly high reported rate, as 23% say they read scripture often, a number more in line with those who attend weekly services. There is also a sharp decline in reported scripture-reading as attendance declines, unlike the case for prayer.
Table 23: Scripture reading, by attendance
Among adults
Attendance Scripture reading frequency A few times a week or more A few times a month Seldom Never Regularly (monthly or more) 53 19 21 7 A few times a year 27 16 37 19 Seldom 9 6 50 36 Never 5 4 16 75 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Question: Outside of religious services, how often do you read scripture? Faith across generations
To measure how religious attachment flows through life, respondents were asked about their attendance and the importance of religion during their teenage years. This is, of course, a recollection of the past, and not a direct measure from adolescence. Nonetheless, it gives us a look at how religion persists and changes, at least from the respondent’s subjective report.
Religious attendance during adolescence is recalled as being much higher than reported attendance as an adult. While 30% of today’s adults say they attend monthly or more, more than double that, 62%, say they attended at least monthly when 12-17 years old. Likewise, about half as many say they never attended in youth as never attend today. The comparison is shown in Table 24.
Table 24: Attendance as an adolescent and as an adult
Among adults
As adolescent and adult Attendance Regularly (monthly or more) A few times a year Seldom Never As adolescent 62 13 9 16 As adult 30 14 22 34 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Question: When you were 12-17 years old, how often did you attend religious services? Early participation in religious services is correlated with adult attendance, if weakly; and more move from regular attendance in youth to seldom or never as adults, than move from seldom or never attending as adolescents to regular attendance as adults, as shown in Table 25.
Table 25: Attendance as an adult, by attendance as an adolescent
Among adults
Attendance as an adolescent Attendance as an adult Regularly (monthly or more) A few times a year Seldom Never Regularly (monthly or more) 37 15 23 24 A few times a year 22 21 25 33 Seldom 18 12 27 42 Never 14 5 14 66 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Aside from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? Question: When you were 12-17 years old, how often did you attend religious services? There is a small increase in the percentage of adults who say religion is important in their lives now, compared to whether they say that was the case when they were teenagers. But there are also a few more for whom religion is not at all important as an adult. See Table 26.
Table 26: Importance of religion as an adolescent and as an adult
Among adults
As adolescent and adult Importance of religion Very important Somewhat important Not too important Not at all important As adolescent 29 29 21 21 As adult 36 24 16 24 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How important is religion in your life now? Question: How important was religion in your life when you were 12-17 years old? Unlike with attendance, the subjective importance of religion as a youth and as an adult is rather strongly correlated. Those who recall religion as very important in the past are quite likely to say it is important now. Those who didn’t think religion was important as a young person are very likely to say it is not important in adulthood. This is shown in Table 27.
Table 27: Importance of religion as an adult, by importance in youth
Among adults
Importance as an adolescent Importance as an adult Very important Somewhat important Not too important Not at all important Very important 65 20 10 5 Somewhat important 35 36 18 12 Not too important 22 24 30 24 Not at all important 10 11 10 69 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How important is religion in your life now? Question: How important was religion in your life when you were 12-17 years old? Those who think religion is important to them now are also especially likely to think it is important for children to attend religious services, shown in Table 28.
Table 28: Important for children to attend worship, by importance of religion
Among adults
Importance of religion Important for youth to attend Very important Somewhat important Not too important Not at all important Very important 74 22 2 2 Somewhat important 19 61 15 5 Not too important 8 40 43 9 Not at all important 1 10 25 64 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How important is it for children to attend religious services when they are 12-17 years old? Question: How important is religion in your life now? People think it is important for children to learn moral values through religion, but substantially more think it is important that children learn moral values apart from religious instruction. The two are not in competition—those who stress moral instruction apart from religion also give more importance to learning values through religion. The comparison is in Table 29.
Table 29: Importance of moral values through and apart from religion
Among adults
Religion or apart from religion Importance learning moral values Very important Somewhat important Not too important Not at all important Through religion 44 28 12 16 Apart from religion 71 19 5 4 Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How important is it for children to learn moral values through religion? Question: How important is it for children to learn moral values apart from religion? About the Marquette Law School Poll
The survey was conducted June 9-15, 2026, interviewing 1,514 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points. For the analysis of married persons, the sample size is 761, with a margin of error of +/-3.8.
Interviews were conducted using the SSRS Opinion Panel, a national probability sample with interviews conducted online. Certain other data from this survey were previously released on June 24, June 25, and July 7. The detailed methodology statement, survey instrument, topline results, and crosstabs for this release are available on the Marquette Law Poll website.
- Marquette Law School Poll finds a steady decline, by age, in trust in other people
Adults born before 1960 are the most trustful of other people, while those born in 2000s are most distrustful
Also:
- Interpersonal trust is not correlated to social media use among any age group
- Younger cohorts are less trusting of people in general and of some types of people
- Trust is higher among those with ongoing relationships, lower where others’ motives are unclear
- Electronic communications top the list of how people interact
- Many turn to their phone rather than speak to people
- A substantial percentage report they say “hi” and start conversations with strangers
- Dating is not dead
MILWAUKEE — A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds that there is a dramatic decline in the level of trust of people by age groupings, with people born before 1960 the most trusting and each subsequent grouping by age less trustful than the one before. The trend culminates with those born in the 2000s, who are the least trusting.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Johnny Carson, paired with Ed McMahon, hosted the TV game show “Who Do You Trust?” Aside from uniting the legendary late-night duo, the title poses a question as relevant today as it was then. Society rests on connections between people, and trust is one vital element in social bonds of cooperation, business, friendship, and family. In 2026 America, 64 years after Carson and McMahon moved to “The Tonight Show,” whom do Americans trust and how much trust do we have in each other?
The Marquette Law School Poll national survey has dived into the question of trust in the age of cell phones, the internet, social media and dating apps—long past the age of black and white television.
In four polls conducted with 4,500 respondents in 2026, 77% of those born before 1960 say most people can be trusted, a markedly high level of interpersonal trust. Contrast that with those born in the 2000s, among whom only 35% say most people can be trusted. This dramatic difference is no fluke. Trust steadily declines according to age cohort, as shown in Figure 1, with the numerical data shown in Table 1. (All results in the tables are stated as percentages).
Table 1: Trust in people, by birth cohort
Among adults in polls conducted in 2026
Birth Cohort Trust Most people can be trusted Most people can’t be trusted Pre-1960 77 23 1960s 63 37 1970s 55 45 1980s 45 55 1990s 43 57 2000s 35 65 Marquette Law School Poll national surveys in 2026, latest: June 9-15, 2026 Question: Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or most people can’t be trusted? There has been relatively little change in overall trust in Marquette Law School polling since 2021, with trust ranging from 51% to 55%, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Trust in people, by year
Among adults
Year Trust Most people can be trusted Most people can’t be trusted 2021 55 45 2022 55 45 2023 54 46 2024 52 48 2025 51 49 2026 54 46 Marquette Law School Poll national surveys, latest: June 9-15, 2026 Question: Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or most people can’t be trusted? While there has been little change in overall trust, the youngest birth cohort has shown a notable increase in trust. Trust among those born in the 2000s increased from 23% in 2021 to 35% in 2026.
Each cohort shows at least some increase in trust from 2025 to 2026, and the 1990s cohort has increased in trust during each of the past three years. None of these shifts has changed the relative ordering of cohorts by level of trust, and only the two youngest cohorts have moved up consistently in the last several years. Despite the recent rise among the youngest cohort (those born in the 2000s), their level of trust has not risen to match that of their predecessor, the cohort born in the 1990s. No younger cohort, as of 2026, has trust as high as their predecessor, although those born in the 1980s and 1990s are close to each other. The trends for cohorts by year are shown in Figure 2, with numerical results shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Trust in people, by birth cohort by year
Among adults
Year Trust Most people can be trusted Most people can’t be trusted Pre-1960 2021 72 28 2022 76 24 2023 76 24 2024 74 26 2025 74 26 2026 77 23 1960s 2021 60 40 2022 65 35 2023 62 38 2024 61 39 2025 58 42 2026 63 37 1970s 2021 59 41 2022 53 47 2023 54 46 2024 49 51 2025 51 49 2026 55 45 Year Trust Most people can be trusted Most people can’t be trusted 1980s 2021 46 54 2022 43 57 2023 46 54 2024 44 56 2025 42 58 2026 45 55 1990s 2021 40 60 2022 39 60 2023 36 64 2024 38 62 2025 41 59 2026 43 57 2000s 2021 23 77 2022 24 76 2023 30 70 2024 32 68 2025 30 70 2026 35 65 Marquette Law School Poll national surveys, latest: June 9-15, 2026 Question: Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or most people can’t be trusted? It is tempting to reach for a handy explanation for the decline in trust, but the fact that trust has declined with each new cohort makes recent changes, such as the growth of social media, not generally persuasive. It is true that heavy users of social media are less trusting, and they are also younger and so a larger proportion of more recent birth cohorts. In 2026, among those who used one social media platform or none, 59% say most people can be trusted, while among those who use five or more social media platforms, 46% say most people can be trusted. This is a significant gap but far smaller than the gap between the oldest and youngest birth cohorts.
It is also true that the young are much heavier users of social media. Only 6% of the oldest cohort use five or more social media platforms, while 32% of the youngest cohort use that many. At the other end of the scale, 41% of the oldest cohort use one or no social media apps, while just 15% of the 2000s cohort use so little. Is it birth cohort or social media use that plays the dominant role in trust?
A closer look at trust by social media use within each birth cohort finds that there is little consistent effect of social media use within each cohort. Members of the oldest cohort are the most trusting on average no matter how much social media they consume. The youngest cohort is the least trusting, regardless of social media immersion. The modest variation within each cohort is inconsistent rather than showing clear trends across social media use; this is shown in Figure 3, with data in Table 4.
Table 4: Trust in people, by social media use and birth cohort
Among adults in polls conducted in 2026
Social media use Trust Most people can be trusted Most people can’t be trusted Pre-1960 0 or 1 76 24 2 78 22 3 81 19 4 80 20 5 or more 69 31 1960s 0 or 1 57 42 2 70 30 3 60 40 4 65 35 5 or more 65 35 1970s 0 or 1 62 38 2 53 47 3 51 49 4 46 54 5 or more 63 37 Social media use Trust Most people can be trusted Most people can’t be trusted 1980s 0 or 1 46 54 2 48 52 3 49 51 4 38 62 5 or more 43 57 1990s 0 or 1 40 60 2 45 55 3 41 59 4 52 48 5 or more 39 61 2000s 0 or 1 34 66 2 46 54 3 34 66 4 28 72 5 or more 34 66 Question: Which of the following sites or apps, if any, have you used in the past week? Question: Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or most people can’t be trusted? The interpersonal trust gap between the old and the young carries over to more specific questions about trust in people. Among all adults in June 2026, 59% say most people would “try to take advantage of you if they got a chance,” while 41% think most would “try to be fair.” A majority of each cohort except those born before 1960 think most people would try to take advantage, and that majority grows with each younger cohort, as shown in Table 5.
Table 5: Most people would take advantage, by birth cohort
Among adults
Birth Cohort Trust government Would try to take advantage of you if they got a chance Would try to be fair to you no matter what Pre-1960 40 60 1960s 55 45 1970s 58 42 1980s 61 39 1990s 70 30 2000s 72 28 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Do you think most people (would try to take advantage of you if they got a chance) or (would try to be fair to you no matter what)? The public is even more inclined to say people just look out for themselves, 64%, rather than saying people try to help others, 36%. Only a small majority of the pre-1960 cohort think people try to help others, and the majority saying people look out for themselves grows to 76% in the youngest cohort, as shown in Table 6.
Table 6: Most people just look out for themselves, by birth cohort
Among adults
Birth Cohort Help others or look out for themselves Try to help others Just look out for themselves Pre-1960 53 47 1960s 45 55 1970s 35 65 1980s 30 70 1990s 27 73 2000s 24 76 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Would you say that most of the time people (try to help others) or (just look out for themselves)? Despite these majorities who doubt others, a majority of adults say they begin with a presumption of trustworthiness until a person proves otherwise (59%), rather than beginning by not trusting people until they prove they can be trusted (41%). On this question, the majority for a presumption of trust shrinks from the pre-1960s cohort to that of the 1980s, then becomes a minority view among those born in the 1990s and 2000s, as shown in Table 7.
Table 7: Trust until proven untrustworthy, by birth cohort
Among adults
Birth Cohort Trust first or not trust first Trust people until they prove untrustworthy Not trust people until they prove they can be trusted Pre-1960 73 27 1960s 66 34 1970s 63 37 1980s 56 44 1990s 49 51 2000s 43 57 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Is it better to (trust people until they prove untrustworthy), or to (not trust people until they prove they can be trusted)? One area in which the old and the young see trust the same way is that all agree that Americans’ level of trust in one another has been shrinking. Among all adults, 82% say trust is declining, just 5% say it has been growing, and 13% say it is staying about the same. Although the older cohorts have longer experience to inform their answers, there is hardly any difference across cohorts in views of this aspect of trust, as shown in Table 8.
Table 8: Trust growing or shrinking, by birth cohort
Among adults
Birth Cohort Trust growing or shrinking Growing Shrinking Staying about the same Pre-1960 2 85 13 1960s 4 83 13 1970s 6 77 17 1980s 3 83 14 1990s 6 82 12 2000s 11 82 7 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Would you say Americans’ level of trust in one another has been (growing) or (shrinking) or staying about the same? The sharp difference in interpersonal trust across cohorts is not generic to all measures of trust. In contrast with the large differences in trust in other people, there are only modest differences in trust in the federal government across birth cohorts. The high measure of trust is 3 points higher among the oldest than the youngest cohort, while the percentage saying they never trust the government is some 13 points higher among the young. The majority of each age cohort say they can trust the government only some of the time, as shown in Table 9.
Table 9: Trust the federal government, by birth cohort
Among adults in polls conducted in 2026
Birth Cohort Trust government Always/most of the time Only some of the time Never Pre-1960 22 66 12 1960s 23 60 17 1970s 22 58 20 1980s 19 58 23 1990s 16 61 23 2000s 19 56 25 Marquette Law School Poll national surveys, latest: June 9-15, 2026 Question: How much of the time do you think you can trust the government in Washington to do what is right? Trust in specific types of people
While generalized trust was low on most questions above, there is large variation in trust in specific types of people. Trust is higher in people with whom we have an ongoing relationship, and highest in family and coworkers. Trust is lowest in strangers with unknown or ulterior motives, such as a stranger who knocks on the door or a telemarketer on the phone.
Most of the types of people who are trusted a great deal or a fair amount are involved in established relationships of varying degrees of closeness. Family stands apart at the top of the list, but 70% or more have a high level of trust in coworkers and neighbors, as well as in “teachers in your local schools” and financial advisers. Teachers represent a role rather than specifically the teacher of a parent’s child. The next tier of trust includes fellow worshipers, businesspeople you buy from, leaders of your religious institution, and casual acquaintances seen a few times a year. Each involves some level of voluntary association and repeated interactions.
Trust is lower for more distant people, especially those whose motives may not be known. Candidates for local offices are more trusted than state elected officials, who in turn are more trusted than federal elected officials. A stranger who strikes up a conversation is not very well trusted but is more trusted than a stranger who knocks on one’s door, or especially a stranger who phones to sell something. Trust in this range of types of people is shown in Table 10.
Table 10: Trust in types of people
Among adults
Type of person Trust Great deal/fair amount Not much/not at all Your immediate family 92 7 People you work with 79 21 Teachers in your local schools 77 23 Someone you recognize from your neighborhood 72 28 Financial advisors at your bank or other financial institution 70 30 People you attend religious services with 69 31 Businesspeople you buy goods or services from 67 33 The leaders of your religious institution 64 35 Casual acquaintances you see a few times a year 64 36 A candidate for local school board or city council 53 47 State elected officials such as state legislators 36 64 A stranger who strikes up a conversation with you 34 66 Federal elected officials such as members of Congress 26 74 Someone you don’t know who knocks on your door in the afternoon 11 89 Someone you don’t know who phones you to sell you something 6 94 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How much can you trust the following people? What about variation in trust in each of these types of people, by age cohort? Do the differences in generalized trust found above also carry over to these specific types of people? Yes: In most cases, the younger cohorts are less trusting than the older cohorts, with only modest exceptions.
The decline in trust from oldest to youngest cohort is clear and substantial among all types of people who are rated most trustworthy overall. This includes family, where the youngest cohort is 15 points lower in trust than the oldest. But these differences are even larger for coworkers, neighbors, financial advisers, co-worshipers, business relationships, religious leaders, and casual acquaintances.
Among the types of people generally rated less trustworthy, differences across cohorts persist, with a small exception for the three least trustworthy categories: federal elected officials, strangers knocking on doors, and telemarketers. In these groups with especially low overall trust, the youngest cohort has slightly higher trust than their elders, though trust is quite low for all cohorts.
The decline in trust also applies to each succeeding cohort, from the oldest to the youngest, with only a few minor exceptions. For an example of an exception, the 1990s cohort is more trusting in coworkers than the 1980s cohort, but the 2000s cohort is less trusting than either. The strong and consistent pattern is that across all these types of people, trust consistently declines as we move from older to younger cohorts. The full pattern is shown in Table 11.
Table 11: Trust in types of people, by cohort
Among adults
Type of person Trust a great deal/fair amount All adults Pre-1960 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Your immediate family 92 98 95 92 93 90 83 People you work with 79 88 85 79 73 81 65 Teachers in your local schools 77 82 79 81 76 74 69 Someone you recognize from your neighborhood 72 86 77 74 70 67 52 Financial advisors at your bank or other financial institution 70 87 77 74 63 59 57 People you attend religious services with 69 81 79 70 66 60 53 Businesspeople you buy goods or services from 67 83 81 71 59 55 51 The leaders of your religious institution 64 80 78 65 60 51 48 Casual acquaintances you see a few times a year 64 75 70 65 59 59 51 A candidate for local school board or city council 53 66 55 55 49 47 43 State elected officials such as state legislators 36 53 35 36 34 29 26 A stranger who strikes up a conversation with you 34 40 40 34 28 34 24 Federal elected officials such as members of Congress 26 30 30 32 20 20 24 Someone you don’t know who knocks on your door in the afternoon 11 9 13 9 9 11 14 Someone you don’t know who phones you to sell you something 6 2 4 3 7 8 12 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: How much can you trust the following people? Trust consistently declines as we move from older to younger people across these numerous measures of trust—in people in general, in presumptions about trustworthiness, and in 15 specific types of people. The Marquette Law School Poll also found that the handy explanation of social media use doesn’t stand up to empirical examination. Within each cohort, use of social media is at best inconsistently related to trust, and there is no systematic decline in trust as social media use increases. We are left without a ready answer to the question of what has changed since the 1950s that has produced succeeding generations who have substantially less trust in other people. But the consistency of the decline shows that the newest cohorts are not aberrations. Changes over the past 70 years appear to have systematically reduced trust in people in general and in our friends and neighbors, just as in those whose motives most people don’t trust.
Where and how often do we interact with other people?
Given this pervasive limited trust in others, how do Americans today interact with others?
Perhaps the best example of modern social isolation is the image of a group of people sitting together while each is mesmerized by their cell phone, not speaking to anyone around them. In this sample, 41% say they turn to their phone all or most of the time, rather than talk to people around them. Another 40% say they do this sometimes, while 20% say they seldom or never do so.
Nearly 60% of adults start a conversation with strangers at least once a month.
That image of isolation is tempered by people’s sense that they start conversations with strangers fairly often. Among all adults, 57% say they start such conversations at least once a month or more, while 29% do so a few times a year and 14% say they never do. Here, trust begets conversations. Of those who trust strangers who start conversations, 70% say they in turn start conversations with strangers at least monthly, while those who do not trust strangers start conversations less frequently, with 51% doing so at least monthly.
80% of adults say “hello” to strangers in passing at least monthly.
Trust in people generally boosts how often people speak or chat with strangers. Four in five adults report themselves as saying “hello” to strangers in passing at least monthly. Of those who say most people can be trusted, 86% say they say hello frequently. Even among those who don’t trust others, a still sizable 73% speak in passing. Initiating a conversation with a stranger is less common but also more frequent among those who trust others, 61%, than among those distrustful, 52%.
Over half of adults spend a social evening with friends at least monthly.
More substantial interactions with people outside the immediate family include spending a social evening with friends, which 54% say they do at least monthly, though 11% say they never do this. Thirty-three percent say they go to parties or meals organized by other people at least monthly, while 23% say they host parties or dinners at least monthly.
Text messages are most frequent electronic interaction.
The amount of interaction with others varies widely across locations and circumstances. It is not surprising that the most frequent means of interaction are electronic rather than face-to-face. Text messages are the most frequent interaction, followed by telephone calls and social media.
Work provides most common face-to-face interaction.
The most common face-to-face interaction comes at work, though this is naturally much less common for retired people and others not in the labor force. Among full-time employees, 86% say this is the source of a great many interactions. While it is obvious that work involves interaction with others, it is important as a source of contact with other people who may become friends and who provide different perspectives from those within the immediate family.
For parents of school-age children, schools offer a frequent point of contact with others. Likewise, coffee shops and restaurants are frequent locations for personal interactions.
Organized voluntary associations are important but less common sources of interaction, including religious services, parties either given by others or hosted, neighborhood events, and clubs. About one in five say they meet other people at bars or taverns regularly. Less common locations are special interest groups, such as knitting circles, and sporting events.
The full list is shown in Table 12.
Table 12: Where and how often people interact with others
Among adults
Where How often Monthly or more Few per year or never Through text messages 84 16 On a telephone call 72 28 On social media 63 37 At work 58 42 Visiting someone’s home 47 53 Through your child’s school (among parents) 41 59 At a coffee shop or restaurant 40 60 At religious services 33 67 At parties or meals organized by others 33 67 At neighborhood events or parks 28 72 In a social organization or club 26 74 At parties or meals organized by yourself 23 77 At a bar or tavern 22 78 In a class or group that meets for some purpose such as knitting or a book club 18 82 Attending sporting events 17 83 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: In each of the following settings, how often do you interact with other people outside of your immediate family? Over 70% of single adults don’t use dating apps, though more common for singles under 50.
For those seeking a more involved relationship, dating apps are a relatively common way to meet people, with 15% of single people saying they use such apps at least once a month, with an additional 13% using such apps a few times a year. Seventy-two percent say they don’t use dating apps at all. Use of dating apps is more common among singles under age 50, falling sharply after that, as shown in Table 13. (Single people make up 40% of all adults. Those not married but living with a partner are not counted as single.)
Table 13: Use of dating apps, by age
Among single adults (never married, separated, divorced or widowed)
Age Use of a dating app More than once a month A few times a year Never 18-29 22 18 61 30-39 21 17 62 40-49 22 10 68 50-59 9 17 74 60-69 4 7 89 70+ 4 3 93 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: Use a dating app to meet people] How often do you do the following things? Regardless of how singles meet people, they go on dates more often than they use dating apps. Among singles, 27% say they go on a date at least once a month, 24% go out a few times a year, and 49% are not dating at all.
Dating is most frequent for singles in their 30s, with those in their 20s dating the next most frequently. The 20-somethings, however, also have a relatively high level of never dating. Beyond the 30s, dating among singles is fairly stable in the 40s through the 60s, dropping for those 70 and over. It is worth noting, however, that about half or more of singles over 40 say they never go on dates. This is shown in Table 14.
Table 14: Going on dates, by age
Among single adults (never married, separated, divorced or widowed)
Age Going on dates More than once a month A few times a year Never 18-29 33 24 43 30-39 40 33 27 40-49 23 25 52 50-59 24 28 48 60-69 22 18 60 70+ 8 13 79 Marquette Law School Poll national survey, June 9-15, 2026 Question: [Go on a date with someone] How often do you do the following things? About the Marquette Law School Poll
The survey was conducted June 9-15, 2026, interviewing 1,514 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points. For the analysis of single persons, those who never married, are separated, divorced or widowed, the sample size is 606, with a margin of error of +/-4.2 percentage points. For the combined polls for each year in tables 1 through 3, the sample sizes and margins of error are shown in Table 15.
Table 15: Sample size and margin of error for each year
Among adults
Year Sample size Margin of error 2021 3,425 2.1 2022 6,463 1.6 2023 6,036 1.6 2024 6,109 1.7 2025 6,143 1.4 2026 4,482 1.6 Interviews were conducted using the SSRS Opinion Panel, a national probability sample with interviews conducted online. Certain other data from this survey are held for future release, or were previously released on June 24 and June 25. The detailed methodology statement, survey instrument, topline results, and crosstabs for this release are available on the Marquette Law School Poll website.
