This research asset compiles verified United States data on estate planning and wills: how many adults hold a will or trust, how ownership varies by age, income, race, and education, why most people lack one, what probate and intestacy cost, and the size of the estate-planning legal market. It is built for journalists, researchers, and practitioners who need attributable numbers with dates, geography, and primary sources.

Two facts frame everything below. First, survey estimates of will ownership diverge sharply by methodology: Gallup’s random-digit-dial telephone poll has consistently found roughly half of U.S. adults hold a will, while Caring.com’s online YouGov panel reports figures in the 24% to 33% range. Second, both methodologies agree on the direction of the gaps: ownership rises steeply with age, income, and education, and is markedly lower among nonwhite and lower-income adults.

Executive Summary

• 46% of U.S. adults reported having a will in May 2021, consistent with Gallup readings between 44% and 51% since 1990 (Gallup, telephone poll, n=1,016).
• 24% of surveyed U.S. adults reported having a will in 2025, down from 33% in 2022, in Caring.com’s online panel study (Caring.com/YouGov, 2025).
• 76% of U.S. adults aged 65+ have a will versus 20% of adults aged 18-29 (Gallup, 2021).
• 61% of U.S. adults earning $100,000+ have a will versus 30% of those earning under $40,000 (Gallup, 2021).
• 55% of White U.S. adults have a will versus 28% of nonwhite adults (Gallup, 2021).
• 36.7% of U.S. adults had completed any advance directive, including 29.3% with a living will and 33.4% with a healthcare power of attorney, across 795,909 people in 150 studies (Health Affairs, Yadav et al., 2017).
• 43% of U.S. adults without a will say they “just haven’t gotten around to it” (Caring.com/YouGov, 2025).
• The U.S. Estate Lawyers and Attorneys industry is projected at $18.2 billion in 2026, having grown at roughly 0.1% CAGR from 2020 to 2025 (IBISWorld, 2025-2026).

Key Findings

• 46% of U.S. adults reported holding a will in May 2021 (Gallup, telephone poll, n=1,016, +/-4 points).
• U.S. will ownership has stayed in a narrow 44% to 51% band across Gallup readings since 1990 (Gallup, 2021).
• Will ownership rose with age in 2021: 20% (18-29), 36% (30-49), 53% (50-64), and 76% (65+) of U.S. adults (Gallup, 2021).
• 61% of U.S. adults earning $100,000+ held a will in 2021 versus 30% earning under $40,000 (Gallup, 2021).
• 57% of U.S. college graduates held a will in 2021 versus 40% of non-graduates (Gallup, 2021).
• 55% of White U.S. adults held a will in 2021 versus 28% of nonwhite adults (Gallup, 2021).
• 45% of U.S. adults reported having a living will in 2020, up slightly from 40% in 2005 (Gallup, 2020).
• 24% of surveyed U.S. adults reported a will in 2025, plus 13% a living trust and 4% other estate documents (Caring.com/YouGov, 2025).
• Caring.com’s measured will ownership fell from 33% in 2022 to 32% in 2024 to 24% in 2025 (Caring.com/YouGov, 2022-2025).
• Estate planning among Black Americans in the Caring.com panel rose from 26% in 2020 to 31% in 2024 (Caring.com/YouGov, 2024).
• 40% of U.S. adults without a will in the 2024 Caring.com study cited not having enough assets, up from 35% in 2023 (Caring.com/YouGov, 2024).
• 36.7% of U.S. adults had completed any advance directive in a review of 150 studies covering 795,909 people (Health Affairs, 2017).
• Probate typically costs 3% to 7% of total estate value and commonly takes 6 to 24 months (SmartAsset; Trust & Will, 2025-2026).
• The U.S. Estate Lawyers and Attorneys industry was estimated near $17.8 billion in 2023 and projected at $18.2 billion in 2026 across about 204,000 businesses (IBISWorld, 2023-2026).

Will and Trust Ownership: How Many Americans Have One

The headline number depends entirely on who is asked and how. The two most-cited recurring sources, Gallup and Caring.com, use different instruments and reach different levels, though both confirm the same demographic gradients.

46% of U.S. adults said they had a will in May 2021 (Gallup, telephone poll, n=1,016, margin +/-4 points). Source: Gallup, “How Many Americans Have a Will?”.

That figure has been stable for decades: Gallup readings since 1990 have ranged between 44% and 51% (Gallup, 2021). Source: Gallup, 2021.

24% of surveyed U.S. adults reported having a will in 2025, with an additional 13% reporting a living trust and 4% other estate documents (Caring.com/YouGov, 2,500+ adults). Source: Caring.com 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study.

The gap between these sources is large and matters. Gallup uses random-digit-dial telephone sampling of all adults; Caring.com uses an online YouGov panel and asks specifically about a current will. The lower Caring.com figure should be read as a panel-based estimate of active will ownership, not as evidence that ownership halved. Where the two agree is on the gradient: ownership climbs with age, income, and education and is lower among nonwhite and lower-income adults.

Ownership by Age, Income, Race, and Education

Demographic gaps are the most robust finding in the literature because they appear in both telephone and panel surveys. The Gallup 2021 cross-tabs provide the cleanest single-source breakdown.

By age in 2021: 20% of adults 18-29, 36% of those 30-49, 53% of those 50-64, and 76% of those 65+ held a will (Gallup, 2021). Source: Gallup, 2021.

By income in 2021: 30% of adults earning under $40,000, 49% earning $40,000-$99,999, and 61% earning $100,000+ held a will (Gallup, 2021). Source: Gallup, 2021.

By race in 2021: 55% of White adults versus 28% of nonwhite adults held a will (Gallup, 2021). Source: Gallup, 2021.

By education in 2021: 57% of college graduates versus 40% of non-graduates held a will (Gallup, 2021). Source: Gallup, 2021.

The racial gap is closing slowly in panel data. Estate planning among Black Americans rose from 26% in 2020 to 31% in 2024 in the Caring.com series (Caring.com/YouGov, 2024). Source: Caring.com 2024 release. These gaps mean intestacy risk concentrates among younger, lower-income, and nonwhite households, the groups least equipped to absorb probate costs and delay.

Why Most People Lack a Will

The dominant reasons are not cost or complexity; they are procrastination and the belief that one’s assets are too small to warrant a plan.

43% of U.S. adults without a will in 2025 said they “just haven’t gotten around to it” (Caring.com/YouGov, 2025). Source: Caring.com, 2025.

40% of U.S. adults without a will in 2024 said they did not have enough assets to justify one, up from 35% in 2023 (Caring.com/YouGov, 2024). Source: Caring.com, 2024.

1 in 4 U.S. adults earning over $80,000 a year also said they did not have enough assets to leave heirs (Caring.com/YouGov, 2024). Source: Caring.com, 2024.

Only 8% of respondents said national current events such as natural disasters or political shifts would prompt them to create a will (Caring.com/YouGov, 2025). Source: Caring.com, 2025. The “not enough assets” belief is the most actionable misconception, because intestacy rules apply regardless of estate size and the absence of any document, not the size of the estate, is what triggers court-supervised distribution.

Advance Directives and Power of Attorney

Health-related directives are distinct from wills and have their own, lower completion rates. The most comprehensive estimate comes from a systematic review rather than a single poll.

36.7% of U.S. adults had completed any advance directive, pooling 795,909 people across 150 studies published 2011-2016 (Health Affairs, Yadav et al., 2017). Source: PAIR Center, University of Pennsylvania (Health Affairs, 2017).

29.3% had completed a living will and 33.4% had designated a healthcare power of attorney (Health Affairs, 2017). Source: PAIR Center (Health Affairs, 2017).

Completion was similar for patients with chronic illness (38.2%) and healthy adults (32.7%), suggesting illness status is a weak driver (Health Affairs, 2017). Source: PAIR Center (Health Affairs, 2017).

Gallup’s separate measure found 45% of U.S. adults reported a living will in 2020, up from 40% in 2005 (Gallup, n=1,028). Source: Gallup, “Prevalence of Living Wills in U.S. Up Slightly”. The Gallup self-report and the Health Affairs chart-and-survey review differ because self-reported “living will” status tends to overstate documented completion.

Probate, Intestacy, and the Cost of No Plan

The downstream cost of lacking a will falls on heirs through probate. Public estimates of that cost are consistently far below reality.

Probate typically costs 3% to 7% of total estate value, and can run higher with attorney involvement, contested wills, or large estates (SmartAsset, 2025). Source: SmartAsset, “How Much Does Probate Cost?”.

The probate process commonly takes 6 to 24 months from filing to closure (Trust & Will; SmartAsset, 2025-2026). Source: Trust & Will, probate statistics.

56% of surveyed adults believed probate costs $1,000 or less, and only 4% expected it to exceed $10,000, against typical costs of 3% to 7% of estate value (Trust & Will). Source: Trust & Will. On a $750,000 estate, a 3% to 7% range implies roughly $22,500 to $52,500 in costs, an order of magnitude above what most respondents expect. This perception gap is central: the people least likely to plan are also least likely to understand the cost their heirs will bear.

Market Size of Estate-Planning Legal Services

Two different industry definitions are routinely conflated. The fee-for-service legal market is small relative to the asset-management market that administers trusts and estates.

The U.S. Estate Lawyers and Attorneys industry is projected at $18.2 billion in 2026, having grown at roughly 0.1% CAGR from 2020 to 2025 across about 204,000 businesses (IBISWorld, 2025-2026). Source: IBISWorld, Estate Lawyers & Attorneys in the US.

That same industry was estimated near $17.8 billion in 2023 (IBISWorld, 2023). Source: IBISWorld, 2023.

The broader U.S. Trusts and Estates industry, which manages assets under trust and excludes will-drafting and planning fees, is a far larger pool reported around $290.1 billion in 2025 and projected near $284.5 billion for 2026 (IBISWorld, 2025-2026). Source: IBISWorld, Trusts & Estates in the US. The two should never be summed: the $18 billion figure is service revenue for drafting and counsel, while the roughly $285 billion figure is largely investment income on managed trust assets.

Source: Gallup, 2021, n=1,016, +/-4 points.

Source: Caring.com/YouGov, 2025 and 2024 release. Note: 2025 figure is will-only; 2025 also reported 13% with a living trust.

Source: Yadav et al., Health Affairs, 2017, 795,909 people across 150 studies.

Original Synthesis

The three insights below combine the public datasets above. Each states its formula, inputs, and limitations and does not overstate.

1. The age-driven ownership multiplier. Dividing the 65+ ownership rate by the 18-29 rate in Gallup 2021 (76% / 20%) yields a 3.8x ratio. Inputs: Gallup 2021 age cross-tabs. Logic: a simple ratio of the highest to lowest age band. Limitation: this is cross-sectional, so it reflects both life-stage effects (older people accumulate assets and confront mortality) and cohort effects; it does not prove that today’s young adults will reach 76% by age 65.

2. The wealth-and-race compounding gap. Gallup 2021 shows a 31-point income gap (61% at $100,000+ minus 30% under $40,000) and a 27-point racial gap (55% White minus 28% nonwhite). Because income and race are correlated in the U.S., households that are both lower-income and nonwhite face roughly additive disadvantage, plausibly placing their ownership well below the 28% nonwhite floor. Inputs: Gallup 2021 income and race cross-tabs. Limitation: Gallup does not publish the income-by-race interaction cell, so the combined figure is an inference from two marginal distributions, not a measured value; it should be presented as directional.

3. The cost-perception shortfall. Combining the Trust & Will finding that 56% of adults expect probate to cost $1,000 or less with the SmartAsset 3% to 7% cost range implies that on a median-sized estate the majority of Americans underestimate probate cost by a wide margin. On a $750,000 estate (3% to 7% = $22,500 to $52,500), the expected cost is at least 22x the $1,000 most respondents anticipate. Inputs: Trust & Will perception data; SmartAsset cost range. Limitation: the $750,000 estate is illustrative, not a national median; probate cost shares vary by state and whether an attorney is retained, so the multiplier is an example, not a population average.

Charts to build

• Will ownership by age, 2021. Data: Gallup age cross-tabs (20%, 36%, 53%, 76%). Source: Gallup 2021. Insight: ownership nearly quadruples from youngest to oldest. Citation-worthy because it is a clean primary-source gradient any reporter can quote.
• Income vs race ownership gap, 2021. Data: Gallup income bands and race split. Source: Gallup 2021. Insight: a 31-point income gap and 27-point racial gap appear simultaneously. Citation-worthy as a single-chart equity story.
• Caring.com ownership trend, 2022-2025. Data: 33%, 32%, 24%. Source: Caring.com/YouGov. Insight: panel-measured ownership declined post-2022. Citation-worthy but must be labeled as panel data, distinct from Gallup.
• Advance directive completion by document type. Data: 36.7% any, 29.3% living will, 33.4% healthcare POA. Source: Health Affairs 2017. Insight: even the most-completed document covers only a third of adults. Citation-worthy as a peer-reviewed benchmark.
• Probate cost: perception vs reality. Data: 56% expect under $1,000 vs 3% to 7% of estate value actual. Source: Trust & Will; SmartAsset. Insight: a large literacy gap. Citation-worthy as a consumer-finance hook.

Methodology

Source selection prioritized primary and peer-reviewed data: Gallup national polls, the Yadav et al. systematic review in Health Affairs, and IBISWorld industry research. Recurring survey series (Caring.com/YouGov) were included for trend signal but are labeled as online-panel estimates rather than probability samples. Inclusion required a named source, a year, and U.S. geography. Statistics were excluded when they lacked an attributable origin, when the figure was internally implausible, or when the dollar units were inconsistent. One commonly cited market-research figure reporting the U.S. estate-planning services market at “USD 3.7 million in 2024” was excluded as not credible, because it is orders of magnitude below the IBISWorld estate-lawyers revenue of about $18 billion and appears to be a units error. Conflicting will-ownership numbers (Gallup near 46% vs Caring.com near 24%) were retained and presented side by side with their methodologies, because the divergence is itself a finding rather than an error to resolve. Derived estimates in the Synthesis section use only arithmetic on cited public figures and are flagged where they rely on inference across marginal distributions. Probate cost and timeline ranges come from practitioner and consumer-finance sources that cite typical ranges; they vary by state and are presented as ranges, not point estimates. Last updated June 2026.

Source Quality

Tier 1 (primary, government, academic, official bodies): Gallup national polls (2020, 2021); Yadav et al., Health Affairs systematic review (2017), via the University of Pennsylvania PAIR Center.

Tier 2 (credible market research and trade data): IBISWorld industry reports for Estate Lawyers & Attorneys and Trusts & Estates; Caring.com/YouGov Wills and Estate Planning Study (online panel; methodology disclosed).

Tier 3 (reputable practitioner and consumer-finance commentary citing ranges): SmartAsset and Trust & Will probate cost and perception data.

Most Quotable Statistics

• “76% of Americans aged 65 and older have a will, versus just 20% of adults under 30.” (Gallup, 2021)
• “55% of White adults hold a will, compared with 28% of nonwhite adults.” (Gallup, 2021)
• “Only about one in three U.S. adults has completed any advance directive.” (Health Affairs, 2017)
• “56% of Americans think probate costs $1,000 or less; it typically runs 3% to 7% of the estate.” (Trust & Will; SmartAsset)
• “43% of Americans without a will say they simply haven’t gotten around to it.” (Caring.com/YouGov, 2025)

Data Limitations

Will-ownership estimates are sensitive to survey mode; telephone probability samples (Gallup) and online panels (Caring.com) produce materially different levels and should not be merged into a single time series. The Health Affairs review reflects studies through 2016, so the 36.7% advance-directive figure may understate current completion as digital tools have spread. IBISWorld market sizes are modeled estimates, and the published trusts-and-estates figure largely reflects investment income on managed assets, not consumer spending on planning. Probate cost and duration vary widely by state and estate complexity. Some Caring.com subgroup percentages are reported through secondary releases rather than a single downloadable dataset. Where a number could not be traced to a credible source, it was omitted.

Recommended Dataset Fields

• year
• source_name
• source_url
• metric (e.g., has_will, has_living_trust, advance_directive_any, living_will, healthcare_poa)
• value_percent
• geography (US national / state)
• subgroup_type (age / income / race / education / overall)
• subgroup_value
• survey_mode (telephone RDD / online panel / systematic review / industry model)
• sample_size
• margin_of_error
• notes_flags

Press Summary

Estimates of how many Americans have a will range from about 24% in Caring.com’s 2025 online panel to 46% in Gallup’s 2021 telephone poll, a gap driven by survey method rather than a real collapse in ownership. Both sources agree on the gaps that matter: 76% of adults 65 and older have a will versus 20% of those under 30, 61% of those earning $100,000 or more versus 30% earning under $40,000, and 55% of White adults versus 28% of nonwhite adults (Gallup, 2021). Health directives are rarer still: a Health Affairs review of 795,909 people found only 36.7% had any advance directive (2017). The cost of inaction is widely underestimated; 56% of adults think probate costs $1,000 or less, while it typically runs 3% to 7% of an estate (Trust & Will; SmartAsset). The U.S. estate-lawyer market is modest at a projected $18.2 billion in 2026 (IBISWorld), small next to the roughly $285 billion trusts-and-estates asset pool it should not be confused with.

Suggested Headlines

• The Will Gap: Why Only Half of Americans Have Their Affairs in Order
• 76% vs 20%: The Age Divide in American Estate Planning
• Most Americans Think Probate Costs $1,000. It Often Costs 50 Times That.
• One in Three: The Stubborn Ceiling on U.S. Advance Directives
• The $18 Billion Question: Sizing America’s Estate-Planning Market

FAQ

What share of Americans have a will? 46% of U.S. adults reported having a will in May 2021 (Gallup); Caring.com’s 2025 online panel reported 24% (Caring.com).

Has will ownership changed over time? Gallup readings have stayed between 44% and 51% since 1990 (Gallup, 2021).

How does age affect will ownership? 76% of adults 65+ have a will versus 20% of those 18-29 (Gallup, 2021).

How does income affect it? 61% of adults earning $100,000+ have a will versus 30% of those under $40,000 (Gallup, 2021).

Is there a racial gap? Yes; 55% of White adults versus 28% of nonwhite adults held a will in 2021 (Gallup, 2021).

Why do people not make a will? 43% of those without one say they haven’t gotten around to it, and 40% say they lack enough assets (Caring.com, 2025; Caring.com, 2024).

How many Americans have an advance directive? 36.7% had completed any advance directive in a review of 795,909 people (Health Affairs, 2017).

How many have a healthcare power of attorney? 33.4% had designated one (Health Affairs, 2017).

How much does probate cost? Typically 3% to 7% of total estate value (SmartAsset).

How big is the U.S. estate-planning legal market? The Estate Lawyers & Attorneys industry is projected at $18.2 billion in 2026 (IBISWorld).

For analysis of how these demand gaps shape client acquisition for legal and financial-services firms, see CO Consulting. If you would like help turning this data into a research-backed growth strategy, you can book a consultation.