Bible study remains a varied practice rather than a single weekly habit. In the January 2025 U.S. survey reported in State of the Bible 2025, 41% of adults qualified as Bible Users, while 25% used the Bible weekly and 9% used it every day. The same report also describes digital access, differences between generations and Christian groups, worldwide interest, and associations between Bible use and Human Flourishing.
Contents
- How often Americans use the Bible
- Engagement across generations and groups
- Print, digital, audio, and video access
- Study methods, motivations, and attitudes
- Global participation and interest
- Bible study, church participation, and well-being
How often Americans use the Bible
The State of the Bible 2025 report defines a Bible User as a U.S. adult who interacted with the Bible independently at least three times during 2025. The January 2025 U.S. survey estimated that 41% of adults met that definition, equivalent to 110 million adult Bible Users. The estimate was 10 million higher than in the 2024 survey comparison. These figures describe the report’s survey measure and should not be read as a count of every kind of religious or church-based Bible exposure.
Frequency varied substantially. One quarter of U.S. adults, or 25%, used the Bible weekly in 2025. Daily use was reported by 9%, while 3% used it four or more times per week and 7% used it several times per week. Another 6% used it once per week, and 7% used it once per month. At the other end of the scale, 38% said they never used the Bible.
The categories give a more useful picture than a single participation rate. A person reading every day and a person opening the Bible once a month are both part of the broader Bible User measure, but their routines are different. For readers comparing local ministry or study opportunities with national data, the distinction between any recurring use and weekly or daily use matters.
The main U.S. frequency measures reported for January 2025 were:
| Bible-use frequency | Share of U.S. adults |
|---|---|
| Every day | 9% |
| Four or more times per week | 3% |
| Several times per week | 7% |
| Once per week | 6% |
| Once per month | 7% |
| Never | 38% |
Source: State of the Bible 2025, January 2025 U.S. survey. The listed categories are reported measures and are not used here to create an unsupported total.
Engagement across generations and groups
The 2024–2025 U.S. survey comparison shows increases in several reported engagement measures. Millennial Bible Use rose from 30% in 2024 to 39% in 2025. Men’s Bible Use rose from 34% to 41% over the same comparison. Within Gen X in the January 2025 survey, men’s Bible Use was 44%, compared with 41% for women.
Scripture Engagement is a narrower classification than simply using the Bible. In January 2025, 20% of U.S. adults were classified as Scripture Engaged. The reported number of Scripture Engaged adults rose from 47 million in 2024 to more than 52 million in 2025. Only 12% of Scripture Engaged Americans were unchurched.
The report also separates Practicing Christians from Casual Christians. Among Practicing Christians, 68% were Scripture Engaged, 26% were in the Movable Middle, and 6% were Bible Disengaged. Among Casual Christians, 23% were Scripture Engaged, 53% were in the Movable Middle, and 24% were Bible Disengaged. These classifications show why an overall adult percentage cannot stand in for every church or Christian subgroup.
Younger generations also showed changes in Scripture Engagement. Gen Z Scripture Engagement increased from 11% in 2024 to 15% in 2025. Millennial Scripture Engagement increased from 12% to 17% in the same comparison. The figures are survey-period comparisons, not forecasts of future participation.
Print, digital, audio, and video access
Physical ownership remained common. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. adults said they owned a Bible in 2025, up from 74% in 2024. Ownership and use are different measures: the survey’s 38% never-use figure indicates that possessing a Bible does not mean an adult used it during the measured period.
Digital access was also widespread among active users. Sixty-six percent of U.S. Bible Users accessed the Bible digitally at least some of the time in the January 2025 survey. Bible apps were the most common digital platform among digital Bible Users, selected by 62%.
Other platforms reached smaller but still measurable shares. Thirty percent of digital Bible Users most often interacted with Bible content on Bible-based websites, 27% on YouTube, and 21% through podcasts or webcasts. Sixteen percent most often used Facebook, while 8% selected Instagram and 8% selected TikTok. Among Gen Z digital Bible Users, TikTok reached 24%.
Video access was especially notable for one younger group. Fifty-nine percent of Gen Z adults in the Movable Middle accessed Bible video content at least monthly in 2025. That measure concerns monthly video access for the specified group; it is not a claim that 59% of all Gen Z adults used Bible content at that frequency.
Platform preferences also differed by generation. Among digital Bible Users, Millennials had the highest Bible-app use at 67%, compared with 59% for Gen Z, the lowest listed generation. Gen Z podcast or webcast use was 33%, versus 14% among Boomers+, the lowest listed generation in that comparison. The pattern suggests that a study program offering more than one format may reach audiences with different digital habits.
Study methods, motivations, and attitudes
Group study was one identifiable form of engagement. About 22% of U.S. Bible Users said they participated in a Bible study group in the January 2025 survey. This percentage applies to Bible Users, not to all U.S. adults, so it should not be compared directly with the overall 25% weekly-use measure as though the populations were identical.
Many adults expressed interest in increasing their reading. Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults said they wished they read the Bible more. The desire was higher among Scripture Engaged Americans, at 88%, and among Americans in the Movable Middle, at 80%. Even among Bible Disengaged Americans, 26% wished they read the Bible more.
Reported direction of change was mixed. Fifteen percent of U.S. adults said their personal Bible use had increased compared with the prior year, while 10% said it had decreased. These responses come from the 2024–2025 U.S. survey comparison and describe perceived change rather than a measured number of additional reading sessions.
Curiosity extended beyond people who already read regularly. Fifty-six percent of U.S. adults said they were curious about the Bible, Jesus, or both in January 2025. Among people in the Movable Middle, the reported share was 82%. Curiosity and usage are separate concepts: the first indicates interest, while the second describes interaction with the Bible.
Global participation and interest
The global measures in State of the Bible 2025 provide scale and context, but they come from the Patmos World Bible Attitudes Survey as reported in 2025 rather than from the January 2025 U.S. survey. By the time of the 2025 report, more than 5 billion copies of the Bible had been distributed worldwide, and the Bible had been translated into 2,000 languages. Both are cumulative figures through the report, not annual distribution or translation totals.
In the Patmos survey reported in 2025, 35% of people worldwide said they were interested in learning more about the Bible. Seventy-one percent of global respondents agreed that it is good for children to know stories from the Bible. These measures concern interest and attitudes, not the frequency of personal study.
Among Christians worldwide, 42% used the Bible weekly or more. Thirty-seven percent used it less regularly, and 21% never used it in the Patmos survey. The categories identify different reported levels of use within the global Christian population; they should not be merged with the U.S. adult frequency figures because the populations and survey measures differ.
Geography also mattered. Seventy-six percent of people in Asia said they knew nothing about the Bible and had never heard of it. In the report’s Secular West country cluster, 37% of residents said the Bible was personally relevant to them. The two figures refer to different geographic groupings and different questions, so they are not a direct regional ranking.
Bible study, church participation, and well-being
The January 2025 U.S. survey included Human Flourishing scores on a 0–10 scale. U.S. adults who participated in a Bible study group had an average score of 7.9. Adults who never used the Bible had a score of 6.6, while those who used it every day had a score of 7.9. Americans using the Bible several times per week scored 7.5, compared with 7.2 for once-weekly users.
The report also gives scores by Scripture Engagement classification. Scripture Engaged Americans had a Human Flourishing score of 7.9, compared with 7.0 for the Movable Middle and 6.8 for Bible Disengaged adults. On the Meaning and Purpose domain, the corresponding scores were 8.3, 7.2, and 6.8.
The Financial and Material Stability domain followed a different pattern. Bible Disengaged adults scored 6.0, Scripture Engaged adults scored 5.7, and the Movable Middle scored 5.3. Because the domain ordering differs from the overall Human Flourishing and Meaning and Purpose scores, the results should not be summarized as a uniform advantage across every aspect of well-being. The survey reports associations; these figures do not establish that Bible study caused any score.
Church participation provides another relevant context. Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults identified as Christian in the January 2025 survey. Among U.S. Christians, 45% said they did not attend church, while 34% reported attending weekly. In addition, 84% of adults with high Church Engagement strongly agreed that the message of the Bible had transformed their lives, compared with 26% in the low-engagement group.
Together, these measures describe several connected but distinct layers: personal Bible use, group study, Scripture Engagement, church attendance, attitudes, and self-reported well-being. Keeping the definitions and January 2025 measurement period visible is essential when interpreting Bible study statistics for congregations, community groups, or readers exploring coastal communities and conservation-minded places of worship.