“Suiting up” is a thing of the past for many Americans. A new YouGov survey finds that 44% of Americans never wear a suit, more have negative than positive feelings about wearing suits, and 45% say they wear suits less frequently now than they did 10 years ago. Only 10% wear them more often. Twice as many Americans would rather wear suits less often than they do, than more often.
17% of Americans hate wearing suits and 17% dislike wearing them. About one-third (34%) feel neutral about wearing suits, 17% like it, and 8% love it. Men are more likely than women to say they love or like wearing suits (29% vs. 20%).
Adults under 30 (31%) are more likely than older Americans (23%) to say they love or like wearing suits.
Among people who like or love wearing suits, majorities say they like wearing suits because they look professional (74%), they look good on you (68%), they are stylish (58%), and they boost your confidence (55%).
In 2024, few Americans are wearing suits frequently. 28% of men and 60% of women say they never wear suits. 46% of men wear a suit once a year (14%), every few years (12%) or less often (20%). Among women, 24% wear a suit once a year (6%), every few years (6%), or less often (13%). 12% of men and 6% of women wear a suit every few months, 6% of men and 3% of women wear one every few weeks, and 7% of men and 6% of women wear a suit more frequently than every few weeks.
13% of Americans say they would prefer to wear a suit more often than they currently do. 27% would like to wear a suit less often than they currently do.
The groups most likely to say they want to wear suits more often are the groups who already wear suits more frequently. Among those who wear a suit at least once every few weeks, 25% would prefer to wear one even more frequently. Among people who wear a suit every few months, 33% want to wear one more often. Among people who wear a suit once a year or less often, 15% would prefer to wear them more. Among people who never wear a suit, only 5% wish they wore one more often.
51% of Americans don’t own any suits, including 33% of men and 68% of women. Among men, 23% own one suit, 16% own two suits, and 10% own three suits. 15% of men own four or more suits.
45% of Americans say that they wear suits less often now than they did 10 years ago. Another 35% say they wear suits about as often in 2024 as they did in 2014 and just 10% wear suits more often now. Among men, 45% wear suits less often than they did a decade ago, 37% wear them about as often, and 14% wear them more frequently now.
One reason Americans are wearing suits less often may be that many of today's workplace dress codes don’t call for suits. The majority of Americans (66%) who are employed full-time or part-time never wear a suit to work, including 61% of men and 71% of women.
What are people wearing to work? Among Americans who work full-time or part-time, 47% at least sometimes wear business casual clothing and 47% wear casual street clothes. 26% wear leisure or athletic wear, 22% wear business professional clothing — a category that could include a suit — and 18% wear a uniform. (The numbers reflect that Americans might wear more than one kind of clothing while working.)
People who work mostly from home are less likely to wear business professional clothing than are people who work mostly from another location such as an office (14% vs. 22%).
Outside of work, American men appear to be keeping things fairly casual. Majorities say they wear jeans or casual clothing when doing grocery shopping (79%), hanging around the house (76%), or hosting friends for the evening (64%). 44% wear casual clothes when going out to eat at a good restaurant in the evening, 41% dress casually for work, and 39% typically wear jeans or casual clothing to a fairly large evening party at a club, lodge, or friend’s house, according to a question originally asked by the Roper Organization in 1977, when lodges merited a mention.
Women also are more likely to opt for jeans or casual clothing for many work or social situations, including hanging around the house (84%), grocery shopping (83%), and having close friends over (69%). 35% say they usually wear jeans or casual clothes at work. 33% dress casually for dinner out at a good restaurant; 31% would wear a skirt or slacks with a blouse or sweater for this. For a fairly large evening party at a club, lodge, or friend’s house, 25% would wear jeans or casual clothes and 22% would wear a skirt or slacks with a blouse or sweater.
Clothing choices have changed a lot since 1977, when 40% of women would typically wear a pant-suit to go out to eat at a good restaurant in the evening and 30% would when having close friends over. Among men at the time, 48% would wear a business or leisure seat for a good restaurant meal and 53% would for a fairly large evening party at a club, lodge or friend's house.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
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See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: The YouGov poll was conducted online on May 14 - 16, 2024 among 1,141 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3.5%.
Image: Getty (Dave & Les Jacobs)
