A dramatic rise in unmarried men is cause for concern, warned Christian apologist Dr. Sean McDowell. “At its core, we have a spiritual battle that’s taking place,” he said on “Washington Watch.” “People have believed lies — in particular men — that their happiness and meaning and purpose that men are built to yearn for is going to be found somewhere else than in family.”
The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) recently reported that the U.S. contained 30.4 million single men aged 18 to 39 in 2025, nearly 50% more than in 2000, when there were 20.7 million. This increase corresponded with a 15% drop in married men among that age group, from 18.1 million in 2000 to 15.4 million in 2025 — despite 22% overall population growth.
“I don’t want to leave out that both Paul and Jesus say there is a role for single men,” McDowell allowed. “Jesus was single. Paul was single. We can honor the Lord through singleness and honor the Lord through marriage.”
When the disciples responded to Jesus’s teaching on marriage by exclaiming, “It is better not to marry,” Jesus answered, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given” (Matthew 19:10-11). Similarly, Paul said, “I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another” (1 Corinthians 7:7).
But both Paul and Jesus envisioned a life of sacrificial singleness lived “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:12). In general, that does not describe the increase in America’s “young single male” demographic.
“A lot of these men that we’re talking about are kind of like drifters,” said FRC Senior Fellow Jody Hice, guest host of “Washington Watch.” “Many of them are out of work. They’re out of college, some of them even out of community for all practical purposes.”
This profile parallels economic reasons for remaining single. “The number of men going to college is now being dwarfed by women,” said McDowell. “Economic instability is on the rise. Joblessness is on the rise when it comes to men. So they’re drifting here. That’s a piece of the story.” In July, employment among men aged 16-24 was 13% lower than in 2000.
However, “the larger piece is a lack of a larger vision, a lack of a deeper purpose, and the goodness and beauty of marriage,” McDowell suggested.
Consider the popular messages young men hear from entertainment, celebrities, and social media: wealth creation is bad; masculinity is toxic; men can do nothing that women cannot; if anything, men are oppressors who should feel bad about themselves. What young man would want to participate in a culture that show him so little respect? Men are playing down to society’s expectations.
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McDowell proposed a proverbial analogue to describe the current situation. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV) is “what’s happening in terms of marriage perishing in our society, so to speak,” he said. “People have lacked a biblical vision of what marriage is for.”
“Marriage is pretty central to the Bible and what it means to be human,” McDowell explained. “We have marriage … clearly laid out in Genesis chapter two, ‘A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife’ [Genesis 2:24 KJV]. So, marriage is God’s design.”
