Key US Gun Ownership Statistics at a Glance
- 32% of U.S. adults personally own a gun (Pew Research Center, June 2023)
- 42% of U.S. adults live in a household with at least one gun (Pew Research Center, June 2023)
- ~83 million American adults personally own a gun (based on 32% of ~260 million adults, 2025 Census estimate)
- ~56 million U.S. households contain at least one gun (based on 43% of ~131 million households)
- 44% of adults live in a gun household per Gallup (October 2023)
- 47% of rural adults personally own a gun vs. 20% of urban adults (Pew, June 2023)
- 45% of Republicans/Republican-leaners personally own a gun vs. 20% of Democrats/Democratic leaners (Pew, June 2023)
- 40% of men personally own a gun vs. 25% of women (Pew, June 2023)
- 41% of White adults personally own a gun — the highest rate by race/ethnicity (Pew, June 2023)
- Average of 4.9 guns per gun-owning household (Gallup, October 2023)
- Montana leads all states with ~64% of adults in gun households (RAND, 2012–2016 estimates)
How Many Americans Own a Gun?
Approximately 32% of U.S. adults personally own a gun, according to the most detailed recent national survey — Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel Wave 129, conducted June 5–11, 2023 (n=5,115 U.S. adults). That translates to roughly 83 million adult gun owners based on a U.S. adult population of approximately 260 million (2025 Census Bureau estimate).
A separate measure — household gun ownership — captures more households: 42% of U.S. adults say they or someone else in their household owns a gun, representing approximately 56 million gun-owning households out of roughly 131 million U.S. households.
Gallup's October 2023 telephone poll (n=1,009 adults) produced nearly identical figures: 30% of adults said a gun personally belongs to them, and 44% live in a gun household.
Why do different surveys show different numbers?
Three factors account for most of the variation:
Survey wording.
Pew asks a two-step question — first whether anyone in the household owns a gun, then whether the respondent personally owns one. Gallup uses a similar two-step telephone approach but reaches respondents differently.
The General Social Survey (GSS) uses slightly different item wording and historically shows somewhat lower household rates. PRRI's American Values Survey (2024, n=5,352) found 34% keep guns in their homes and 25% personally own one — lower than Pew, partly because PRRI's question emphasizes guns "kept in the home," potentially undercounting guns stored off-premises.
Mode of data collection.
Online probability panels (Pew), telephone random-digit-dial (Gallup), and face-to-face/web mixed mode (GSS) each produce slightly different response patterns for sensitive questions.
Underreporting.
Gun ownership surveys are subject to social desirability bias in both directions — some owners decline to report ownership, and the degree varies by survey design and context.
For the purposes of this article, Pew's June 2023 figures (32% personal, 42% household) serve as the primary benchmark because that wave used the largest sample and the most detailed gun-specific questionnaire.
Gun Ownership by Demographic Group
The table below uses data from Pew Research Center's June 5–11, 2023 American Trends Panel Wave 129 (n=5,115 U.S. adults). "Personally own" means the respondent said the gun belongs to them. "Gun in household" includes respondents who said someone else in their household owns a gun.
| Category | Subgroup | Personally Own (%) | Gun in Household (%) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Men | 40% | 48% | Pew, June 2023 |
| Women | 25% | 36% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Race/Ethnicity | White (non-Hispanic) | 41% | 49% | Pew, June 2023 |
| Black | 20% | 34% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Hispanic | 18% | 31% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Asian* | 10% | 20% | Pew, June 2023 (*small sample) | |
| Age | 18–29 | 20% | 28% | Pew, June 2023 |
| 30–49 | 28% | 42% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| 50–64 | 36% | 47% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| 65+ | 33% | 43% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Region | Northeast | 22% | 33% | Pew, June 2023 |
| Midwest | 33% | 45% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| South | 40% | 51% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| West | 29% | 40% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Community Type | Rural | 47% | 60% | Pew, June 2023 |
| Suburban | 30% | 42% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Urban | 20% | 29% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Education | High school or less | 34% | 44% | Pew, June 2023 |
| Some college | 34% | 46% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| College grad (4-year) | 27% | 38% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Postgraduate | 20% | 31% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Household Income | Under $30k | 18% | 31% | Pew, June 2023 |
| $30k–$69k | 31% | 41% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| $70k–$119k | 38% | 48% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| $120k+ | 44% | 55% | Pew, June 2023 | |
| Party Identification | Republican/Lean Rep. | 45% | 60% | Pew, June 2023 |
| Democrat/Lean Dem. | 20% | 32% | Pew, June 2023 |
Asian sample size is small; interpret with caution. All figures rounded to whole percentages per Pew's published topline.
Which Demographic Has the Highest Gun Ownership Rate?
Rural Republican men represent the intersection with the highest personal gun ownership rates in the United States, based on the June 2023 Pew data. Looking at each variable independently: rural adults reach 47% personal ownership, Republicans/Republican-leaners reach 45%, men reach 40%, and White adults reach 41% — all measured as personal ownership rates.
By income, adults earning $120,000 or more annually report the highest personal ownership at 44% (Pew, June 2023). By region, the South has the highest regional personal ownership rate at 40%.
These are all measures of personal ownership (the gun belongs to the respondent), not household ownership. Household rates run 10–15 percentage points higher across most subgroups.
How Many Guns Does the Average Gun Owner Own?
Among U.S. households with at least one gun, the distribution breaks down as follows per Gallup's October 2023 national poll (n=1,009 adults):
- 29% of gun households report owning 1 gun
- 33% report owning 2–4 guns
- 22% report owning 5 or more guns
- 16% declined to answer or said they didn't know
Gallup calculated the mean number of guns per gun-owning household at 4.9 in 2023. For context, earlier Gallup waves since 1993 typically showed means between 4.0 and 4.5 — the 2023 figure is somewhat higher, though Gallup noted it is not statistically distinct from prior years given sample variance.
The distribution shows meaningful concentration. With 22% of gun households reporting five or more firearms and a mean of 4.9, a subset of owners accounts for a disproportionate share of total guns in circulation.
This pattern is consistent with prior survey literature and RAND research, though the exact share of total guns held by the highest-ownership households is not published in the 2023 Gallup release.
Note that these are household-level counts, not individual-owner counts. Gallup asked respondents in gun households how many guns the household owns, so one high-ownership individual in a multi-adult household drives that household's total.
Urban vs. Rural Gun Ownership Rates
The community type gap in gun ownership is one of the largest and most consistent patterns in U.S. firearms surveys. Per Pew Research Center's June 2023 data:
Personal ownership: 47% rural, 30% suburban, 20% urban.
Household gun presence: 60% rural, 42% suburban, 29% urban.
That puts the rural-urban gap at 27 percentage points for personal ownership and 31 points for household ownership. Pew's multivariate analysis indicates this gap persists even after controlling for party affiliation, region, and other demographic factors — suggesting community type itself is an independent predictor of gun ownership, not simply a proxy for other variables.
Pew's data also shows that rural gun owners are more likely than urban owners to cite hunting as a reason for ownership, while protection is the top reason across all community types (72% of all gun owners cite it as a major reason).
State-Level Gun Ownership
The most rigorous available state-level data comes from RAND's Gun Policy in America project, which produced modeled estimates of household firearm ownership for all 50 states from 1980 to 2016.
RAND used small-area estimation combining more than 50 surveys with administrative data including firearm suicides, hunting licenses, magazine subscriptions, and NICS background checks.
Top 10 states by estimated proportion of adults in gun households (RAND, 2012–2016 average):
- Montana — ~64%
- Wyoming — ~60%
- Alaska — ~59%
- West Virginia — ~55–60% (approximate range)
- Idaho — ~55–60%
- Arkansas — ~55–60%
- Alabama — high 50s (approximate)
- Mississippi — high 50s (approximate)
- North Dakota — high 50s (approximate)
- South Dakota — high 50s (approximate)
Bottom 10 states by estimated proportion of adults in gun households (RAND, 2012–2016 average):
- New Jersey — ~8%
- Hawaii — ~8%
- Massachusetts — ~9%
- Rhode Island — low teens (approximate)
- New York — low teens (approximate)
- Connecticut — low teens (approximate)
- California — mid-teens (approximate)
- Maryland — mid-teens (approximate)
- Illinois — mid-teens (approximate)
- New Mexico — mid-to-upper teens (approximate)
Because RAND's estimates end in 2016, some state rankings may have shifted. The overall pattern — high ownership in Mountain West and rural Southern states, low ownership in Northeastern and Pacific coastal states — is consistent with more recent survey data and licensing/NICS trends.
No updated small-area modeling of equivalent methodological rigor has been published to replace RAND's series as of early 2026.
US Gun Ownership Trends Since the 1990s
Long-term ownership trends depend heavily on which survey and which measure you use.
Household ownership (GSS):
The General Social Survey, which has tracked "Is there a gun in your home?" since the 1970s, showed household ownership declining from around 50% in the late 1970s to roughly 32–34% through the 2010s and early 2020s. This decline is one of the most cited trends in gun ownership research, but it measures households, not individuals.
Personal ownership (Pew):
Pew's detailed gun module shows personal ownership at 30–32% of adults in recent years, a figure that has remained relatively stable across the 2017, 2021, and 2023 waves.
Household ownership (Gallup):
Gallup's long-running series shows household ownership in the 40–46% range, fluctuating without a clear long-term directional trend since the mid-1990s. Gallup reported 44% in October 2023, essentially matching readings from 2011 (47%) and 1999 (42%).
The apparent contradiction between GSS's declining trend and Gallup's stable trend is real and documented. Researchers attribute it to differences in question wording, survey mode, sample design, and how "don't know/refused" responses are handled.
The GSS decline may reflect genuine change, increased non-response among owners, or both. Neither survey is definitively right; they measure slightly different things in different ways.
What's consistent across sources: no survey shows a major spike or collapse in ownership since 2000. The share of American adults in gun households has remained within a relatively narrow band — roughly 32–44% depending on the survey — throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
The "38% Personal Gun Ownership" Statistic From June 2023: A Clarification
Several secondary sources have circulated a claim that a June 2023 survey found a 38% personal gun ownership rate for the United States. This figure does not appear in any major primary national survey as the headline national personal ownership rate for June 2023.
What the primary source actually shows: Pew Research Center's June 5–11, 2023 American Trends Panel (n=5,115) found 32% of U.S. adults personally own a gun nationally. This is the most widely cited and methodologically detailed June 2023 gun ownership survey on record.
Where 38% may originate: The Pew June 2023 crosstabs show several demographic subgroups with personal ownership in the high 30s. Adults earning $70,000–$119,999 annually show 38% personal ownership.
Some secondary sources may have cited this income-bracket figure without specifying it was a subgroup rate, or may have aggregated response categories differently (e.g., excluding "refused/don't know" from the denominator) to arrive at a slightly higher national estimate.
Pew's exact survey question wording (Wave 129, Q2): "Do you, personally, own a gun of any kind?" (asked after an initial household-level question). Household question: "Do you or does anyone else in your household own a gun?"
If you've seen "38% personal gun ownership, June 2023" in another publication, that figure likely derives from a secondary analysis or an error in source citation.
The documented primary-source national figure for June 2023 is 32% personal ownership and 42% gun-household prevalence.
Methodology and Sources
Why surveys produce different numbers for gun ownership:
The three most commonly cited surveys — Pew, Gallup, and GSS — each produce somewhat different estimates. Pew uses a large-sample online probability panel with a dedicated gun questionnaire, producing the most granular demographic breakdowns.
Gallup uses telephone random-digit-dial with a shorter gun battery, giving a long historical trend series. GSS uses face-to-face and web mixed-mode interviewing as part of a broad social survey, producing the longest continuous time series (since 1972) but a smaller gun-specific sample.
Personal vs. household ownership:
"Personal ownership" means the respondent says a gun belongs specifically to them. "Household ownership" means at least one person in the household owns a gun. Household rates are always higher because they include respondents who live with an owner but don't personally own.
A respondent who lives with a spouse who owns guns contributes to the household rate but not the personal rate.
Underreporting:
Some gun owners choose not to disclose ownership in surveys. The degree of underreporting is unknown and may vary by survey mode (telephone vs. online vs. in-person) and question framing.
Primary sources used in this article:
- Pew Research Center, American Trends Panel Wave 129, June 5–11, 2023 (n=5,115). pewresearch.org
- Gallup, "Guns," October 2–23, 2023 (n=1,009). news.gallup.com
- NORC General Social Survey (GSS), 2022 wave. gss.norc.org
- RAND Corporation, Gun Policy in America, state-level firearm household ownership estimates 1980–2016. rand.org
- PRRI American Values Survey, 2024 (n=5,352). prri.org
- U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey/American Community Survey, 2025 adult population and household estimates.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people in America own a gun?
Approximately 83 million U.S. adults personally own a gun, based on Pew Research Center's June 2023 finding that 32% of adults own a gun personally applied to the approximately 260 million U.S. adults estimated by the Census Bureau in 2025.
What percentage of US adults own guns in 2023?
32% of U.S. adults personally owned a gun as of June 2023, per Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel Wave 129 (n=5,115). An additional 10% lived in a household where someone else owned a gun, putting total gun-household prevalence at 42%.
What is the number of gun owners in the US in 2024 or 2025?
No major 2024 or 2025 survey has been published with a full demographic breakdown. Based on the most recent Pew (June 2023) and Gallup (October 2023) data showing 30–32% personal ownership, and applying those rates to the 2025 U.S. adult population of approximately 260 million, a reasonable estimate is 80–85 million adult gun owners.
What percentage of US households own guns in 2023?
42–44% of U.S. households contained at least one gun in 2023, per Pew (42%) and Gallup (44%). That translates to approximately 55–58 million gun-owning households.
Which demographic group has the highest gun ownership rate in the US?
By community type, rural adults have the highest personal ownership rate at 47% (Pew, June 2023). By party, Republicans/Republican-leaners are at 45%. By race, White adults are at 41%. By gender, men are at 40%. By income, adults earning $120,000+ annually are at 44%. No single "highest" demographic exists — it depends on which variable you're examining.
What is the gun ownership rate for White men in the US?
Pew's June 2023 survey does not publish a single figure specifically for White men as a combined category. Separately: White adults overall show 41% personal ownership and men show 40% personal ownership. The intersection would logically be higher than either individual rate, but an exact figure for White men specifically would require the full Pew crosstab.
How many guns does the average gun owner own?
Among U.S. households with guns, Gallup's October 2023 poll found a mean of 4.9 firearms per gun household. The distribution: 29% own 1 gun, 33% own 2–4 guns, and 22% own 5 or more.
What are gun ownership rates in rural vs. urban areas?
Rural adults personally own guns at a rate of 47%; urban adults at 20% — a 27-point gap. For gun household prevalence, rural is 60% vs. urban at 29% (Pew, June 2023).
What is the gun ownership trend since the 1990s?
Household ownership per the GSS has declined from around 50% in the late 1970s to roughly 32–34% in recent years. Gallup's household series shows a relatively stable 40–46% range since the mid-1990s with no sustained directional trend. Personal ownership per Pew has been in the 30–32% range across its 2017, 2021, and 2023 surveys.
What was the June 2023 survey showing 38% personal gun ownership?
No major primary national survey reports 38% as the national personal gun ownership rate for June 2023. The Pew Research Center's June 5–11, 2023 survey — the most comprehensive June 2023 gun ownership study — found 32% of U.S. adults personally own a gun. The 38% figure appears in some secondary sources and likely refers to the income subgroup of adults earning $70,000–$119,999 annually, which Pew's crosstabs show at 38% personal ownership.