Ahead of New Year’s Day, a new YouGov poll asked Americans what, if anything, they're resolving to do differently in 2025. While the majority of Americans aren’t making New Year’s resolutions, many of those who are making them are looking to make changes to their financial habits and their physical health.
31% of Americans will be making New Year’s resolutions or setting goals for 2025. The majority (58%) of adults under 30 will be making resolutions; only 24% of older Americans will be doing so. Adults 65 and older are especially unlikely to make resolutions: Just 14% plan to do so.
The share of Americans between the ages of 30 and 44 who plan to make resolutions has fallen since December 2023, to 29% from 44%. The share of adults under 30 who plan to make resolutions has risen slightly in the same time period, to 58% from 52%.
Hispanic Americans (47%) are more likely than Black Americans (38%) and white Americans (27%) to be making New Year’s resolutions for 2025.
The most common New Year’s resolution for 2025 is saving more money. 26% of all Americans say they’re resolving to do this. Other popular resolutions include improving physical health (22%), exercising more (22%), being happy (22%), and eating healthier (20%).
Saving more money was also the most popular resolution for 2024 — a commitment of 23% of Americans. A March 2024 poll checking in on whether people had stuck to their resolutions found that 16% of people who resolved to save more money in 2024 had stuck to this entirely and 57% said they’d mostly stuck to it.
Among adults under 30, the most popular resolutions are saving more money (47%) and improving physical health (33%). For 30- to 44-year-olds, the most common resolutions are saving more money (31%) and improving mental health (23%). For 45- to 64-year-olds, the most common resolutions are improving physical health (23%) and eating healthier (21%). Although 79% of adults 65 and older aren’t planning to make New Year’s resolutions, the most common resolutions for the age groups as a whole are improving physical health (12%) and exercising more (12%).
Among Americans who plan to make a New Year’s resolution or set a goal for 2025, 40% say it’s very likely they’ll keep their resolution throughout the year. 50% say it is somewhat likely they will do so. Just 5% are pre-emptively saying it’s not very likely they’ll keep their resolution, and 2% say it’s not likely at all.
Related:
- What are Americans’ New Year’s resolutions for 2024?
- Two-thirds of Americans who made resolutions for 2024 say they have stuck to them so far
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted December 9 - 11, 2024 among 1,122 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
