Ask a room of Californians whether they have a will and, if the national numbers hold, only about one in three hands will go up. The rest are leaving one of the most consequential documents of their lives to chance.
This page pulls together the most reliable US figures on will ownership, from federal-adjacent surveys and long-running polls, and anchors them to California's own population from the Census Bureau. Every figure below is linked to its source in the numbered list at the foot of the page. Updated July 2026.
The big picture: how many have a will
1. About a third of US adults have a will
The Pew Research Center's 2025 study on estate planning found that roughly three in ten US adults, about 32%, say they have created a will.1 The exact share depends heavily on how the question is asked. Caring.com's annual Wills and Estate Planning Study put the figure at just 24% in its most recent read,2 while Gallup's long-running poll has historically measured it higher, at 46%.3 The honest headline: somewhere between a quarter and just under half, and by every measure a minority.
2. Roughly 30 million California adults, and most have no will
California is home to 39,431,264 people as of the 2024 Census estimate.4 About 62% are aged 18 to 64 and another 15% are 65 or older, which puts the adult population near 30 million.5 Apply the national one-third rate and only around 10 million California adults have a will, leaving close to 20 million without one. There is no reliable California-only will-ownership survey, so these figures apply national rates to the state's Census population rather than measuring California directly.
3. Will ownership has barely moved in three decades
Despite headlines about estate-planning "crises," Gallup notes that the share of Americans with a will has hovered between 44% and 51% in its polling going back to 1990.6 The needle is remarkably stable. What changes is which groups are moving, not the overall total.
Who has one: age, income, education, race
4. The single biggest predictor is age
Will ownership climbs steeply with every decade of life. Gallup found that just 20% of adults aged 18 to 29 have a will, rising to 36% at 30 to 49, then 53% at 50 to 64, and 76% at 65 and older.7 Pew's 2025 data tells the same story from the top: 46% of people in their 60s have a will, about 66% of those in their 70s, and roughly 80% of adults aged 80 and above.8
| Age group | Share with a will |
|---|---|
| 18 to 29 | 20% |
| 30 to 49 | 36% |
| 50 to 64 | 53% |
| 65 and older | 76% |
5. Higher income means a much higher chance of a will
Money and estate planning track closely. Gallup measured will ownership at 30% among households earning under $40,000, 49% in the $40,000 to $99,999 band, and 61% among those making $100,000 or more.9 The gap persists even late in life: among adults aged 70 and over, Pew found 83% of upper-income individuals had a will versus 51% of lower-income ones.10
6. College graduates and White adults are far likelier to have one
Gallup's breakdown shows 57% of college graduates hold a will compared with 40% of non-graduates, and 55% of White adults compared with 28% of nonwhite adults.11 That racial gap matters a great deal in California, where no single group is a majority: Hispanic residents make up roughly 40% of the state and White residents a similar share, so a national pattern that leaves nonwhite adults underserved touches most of California's population.12
The pandemic bump and the decline after it
7. Young adults were the one group that gained during COVID
The pandemic pushed younger Americans to act. Caring.com found that will ownership among adults aged 18 to 34 rose from 16% in 2020 to 24% in 2024, a 50% increase and the only demographic group to grow over that stretch.13 Mortality salience, plus a wave of home purchases and new babies, turned "someday" into "now" for a slice of millennials.
8. But the overall rate slid once the crisis eased
The bump did not last across the board. Trust & Will's 2026 report shows 26% of adults now have a will, down from 31% a year earlier, with trusts ticking up to 14%.14 Caring.com traced a similar retreat, from 38% of Americans with a will in 2023 to 32% in 2024 and 24% in its latest study.15 The urgency of 2020 and 2021 faded, and so did the follow-through.
9. The racial gap is slowly shifting
Underneath the totals, the composition is changing. Caring.com reported that will ownership among Black Americans rose 19% since 2020, while it fell 3% among White Americans and dropped 21% among Hispanic Americans over the same period.16 The long-standing gap is narrowing at the top and widening elsewhere at the same time.
Why so many go without
10. Procrastination is the number-one reason
When people are asked why they have no will, the most common answer is not cost or complexity, it is simply not getting to it. Caring.com found 43% of those without a will say they just have not gotten around to it,17 and an AARP survey put the "hadn't gotten around to it" share even higher, at 47%.18
11. Millions believe they do not own enough to bother
The second big barrier is the belief that a will is only for the wealthy. Trust & Will found 27% of people without documents say they do not think they have enough assets to need one.19 Caring.com recorded the same excuse at 40%, up from 33% two years earlier, and it is far more common among lower earners: 49% of those making $40,000 or less cited it, versus 25% of those earning $80,000 or more.20
12. Cost and "not knowing where to start" hold others back
Beyond delay and the assets myth, Trust & Will found 17% of adults without a plan say they do not know where to start, 15% feel it is too expensive, and 12% think it is too complicated.21 These are process barriers, not principled objections, which is why a guided, step-by-step approach removes most of them.
13. Most people know it matters and still do nothing
The clearest sign that the problem is inertia rather than doubt: Trust & Will found 73% of adults say estate planning is personally important, yet 56% have no documents in place at all.22 Gen X is the least protected generation, with 62% holding no estate-planning documents.23
14. A large majority of Americans have no full estate plan
Widening the lens from wills to a complete estate plan, roughly two-thirds of US adults have nothing in place.24 AARP's polling similarly finds that only about 40% of American adults have a will or living trust, meaning 60% do not.25
The California context
15. California's wealth does not close the gap
California is a high-income, high-property-value state. Its median household income is about $100,149, well above the national figure,26 and its population continues to be the largest of any state.27 Yet high home values cut both ways: they make intestacy far more costly, because an estate that would be simple elsewhere can be substantial in California's housing market.
16. Without a will, California law writes one for you
When a Californian dies without a will, the estate passes by intestate succession under Probate Code sections 6400 to 6455, and the court, not the family, decides who inherits.28 A surviving spouse keeps community property but may split separate property with children or other relatives, and the estate typically goes through a probate process that can run 12 to 18 months. A will is what keeps those decisions in your hands.
17. Health directives lag behind wills too
The gap is not limited to wills. Pew found only about 31% of US adults have a living will or advance healthcare directive,29 and AARP reports that just over half of adults have a healthcare power of attorney.30 For most people the entire estate-planning to-do list sits untouched.
The pattern is consistent across every source: the barrier is starting, not principle or price. If you are among the roughly 20 million California adults without a will, you can create a legally valid one in an evening using our guided will builder, which walks you through each decision in plain language. For more on the state-specific rules, see our companion piece on will statistics for California.
Sources
- 1Pew Research Center, Experiences With Estate Planning (2025) (pewresearch.org)
- 2Caring.com, 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study (caring.com)
- 3Gallup, How Many Americans Have a Will? (news.gallup.com)
- 4US Census Bureau, QuickFacts California (census.gov)
- 5Neilsberg, California Population by Age (2025) (neilsberg.com)
- 6Gallup, How Many Americans Have a Will? (news.gallup.com)
- 7Gallup, will ownership by age group (news.gallup.com)
- 8Pew Research Center, will ownership by age (pewresearch.org)
- 9Gallup, will ownership by household income (news.gallup.com)
- 10Pew Research Center, income gap among adults 70+ (pewresearch.org)
- 11Gallup, will ownership by education and race (news.gallup.com)
- 12Census Reporter, California race and ethnicity profile (censusreporter.org)
- 13Caring.com, 2024 Wills and Estate Planning Study (caring.com)
- 14Trust & Will, 2026 Estate Planning Report (trustandwill.com)
- 15Caring.com, will ownership by year (caring.com)
- 16Caring.com, will ownership trends by race (caring.com)
- 17Caring.com, reasons for not having a will (caring.com)
- 18AARP, reasons Americans lack a will (aarp.org)
- 19Trust & Will, top reasons for no estate plan (trustandwill.com)
- 20Caring.com, 'not enough assets' by income (caring.com)
- 21Trust & Will, cost and process barriers (trustandwill.com)
- 22Trust & Will, importance vs action gap (trustandwill.com)
- 23Trust & Will, generational breakdown (trustandwill.com)
- 24RetirementLiving, Americans without an estate plan (retirementliving.com)
- 25AARP, 40% have a will or living trust (aarp.org)
- 26Census Reporter, California median household income (censusreporter.org)
- 27Public Policy Institute of California, California's Population (ppic.org)
- 28Nolo, Intestate Succession in California (nolo.com)
- 29Pew Research Center, living wills and advance directives (pewresearch.org)
- 30AARP, healthcare power of attorney ownership (aarp.org)
About the author
Max Kuch
Max Kuch writes about estate planning, wills and inheritance for California Will Template. He gathers the numbers from official California and US public data, then explains what they mean for anyone thinking about putting their wishes in writing.