Most Coloradans will die without ever writing down who gets what. That is not a guess: it is what every major national survey has found for more than three decades, and the numbers have been drifting the wrong way since the pandemic.
This page pulls together the best available data on will ownership in the United States and applies it to Colorado's adult population. State-specific will-rate figures are thin, so most facts below are national survey results, clearly labeled as such, anchored to Colorado using US Census figures for the state. Every figure is linked to its source at the foot of the page. Updated July 2026.
The national baseline
1. About 46% of US adults have a will
Gallup's long-running polling finds that slightly less than half of American adults, 46%, have a will that spells out how they want their money and estate handled after death.1 That share has been remarkably stable, sitting between 44% and 51% in every reading since 1990. There is no reason to think Colorado is a dramatic outlier, so a reasonable starting assumption is that roughly half of Colorado adults have a will and roughly half do not.
2. Some surveys put the figure closer to a quarter, and it is falling
Caring.com's annual Wills and Estate Planning Study, conducted with YouGov, found that just 24% of respondents had a will in its most recent release, down from 33% in 2022.2 The gap with Gallup's 46% comes down to question wording and sampling, but both trends agree on direction: fewer people report having a will now than a few years ago.
3. When you count every estate document, 56% of adults have nothing
Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report found that 56% of US adults have no estate planning documents at all, not a will, trust, power of attorney, or health-care directive. In that survey 26% had a will, down from 31% a year earlier, while trusts ticked up to 14%.3
4. Two-thirds of Americans had no estate plan in 2022
The picture was already stark a few years ago. In 2022, reporting on the Caring.com data, CNBC noted that 67% of Americans had no estate plan of any kind.4 The share of people who are genuinely prepared has not improved meaningfully since.
How will ownership breaks down
5. Older adults are nearly four times as likely to have a will as young adults
Age is the single strongest predictor. Gallup found 76% of adults 65 and older have a will, versus just 20% of those under 30. The middle groups fall in between: 53% of those aged 50 to 64 and 36% of those aged 30 to 49.5
| Age group | Have a will (US) |
|---|---|
| 65 and older | 76% |
| 50 to 64 | 53% |
| 30 to 49 | 36% |
| 18 to 29 | 20% |
6. Higher income and more education both track with having a will
The same Gallup data show 61% of adults in households earning $100,000 or more have a will, compared with 49% in the middle-income band and just 30% of those earning under $40,000. Education follows the same pattern: 57% of college graduates have a will versus 40% of non-graduates.6
7. There is a wide gap by race and ethnicity
Gallup found 55% of White adults have a will, more than double the 28% among non-White adults.7 Trust & Will's demographic breakdown reinforces the divide from the other direction: 64% of Black respondents and 62% of Hispanic respondents reported having no estate documents at all, both above the national average.8
The pandemic bump, then the decline
8. Young adults briefly got more prepared during COVID-19
The pandemic produced a genuine, if temporary, shift. Caring.com found the share of 18 to 34 year-olds with a will jumped from 16% in 2020 to 25% in 2021, a 63% increase in a single year, and 45% of young adults said COVID-19 made them start thinking seriously about estate planning.9 For the first time, young adults were briefly more likely to have a will than the 35 to 54 group.
9. That momentum has since reversed
The bump did not hold. Will ownership in the Trust & Will survey slipped from 31% to 26% in the most recent year, and Gen X now stands out as the least protected generation, with 62% holding no estate documents.10 As the acute fear of the pandemic faded, so did the sense of urgency.
Why people skip it
10. "Not enough assets" and "haven't gotten around to it" top the list
When asked why they have no plan, 27% of Trust & Will respondents said they do not think they have enough assets to need one, 23% said they simply had not gotten around to it, and 15% said it feels too expensive.11 Caring.com puts procrastination even higher: 43% of adults without a will say the only reason is that they have not gotten around to it.12
11. Most people know it matters and still do nothing
The barrier is rarely conviction. Trust & Will found 73% of adults say estate planning is personally important, yet have not acted on it, and 42% admit they would not know what to do if a family member died today.13 The gap between intention and action, not disagreement about the value, is what keeps the numbers low.
Colorado in numbers
12. Colorado has roughly 4.6 million adults
The US Census Bureau put Colorado's population at about 5.86 million in 2024, with people under 18 making up around 21% of residents.14 That leaves an adult population of roughly 4.6 million, the base against which the national will-ownership rates above should be read.
13. Colorado is wealthier and better educated than the US average
Median household income in Colorado was about $95,470, roughly 18% above the national figure,15 and 47.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, well above the national rate, with a homeownership rate of about 66%.16 Because income, education, and owning property all correlate with having a will, Colorado's will-ownership rate may run a touch above the US average rather than below it. It also means more Coloradans have real assets, a house, retirement accounts, that would pass under state intestacy rules if there is no will.
14. Colorado's older population is set to double by 2050
Adults 65 and older, the group most likely to have a will, already make up more than 16% of Coloradans, and the state demography office projects the number of older residents will roughly double to about 1.7 million by 2050.17 Colorado has been one of the fastest-aging states in the country, which over time should push the share of residents with a will upward, if habits hold.
What it means for Colorado
15. Between one and two million Coloradans likely have no will
Apply the national numbers to Colorado's roughly 4.6 million adults and the range is wide but sobering. At Gallup's 46% rate, about 2.1 million Coloradans would have a will and roughly 2.5 million would not; at Caring.com's lower 24% figure, closer to 3.5 million would have nothing in place.18 Either way, well over a million adults in the state have no valid will. When someone dies without one, Colorado's intestacy statutes, not the person's own wishes, decide who inherits, which is exactly the outcome most people say they want to avoid.19
The encouraging part of the data is that the main barrier is inertia, not cost or conviction. If you are in the majority of Coloradans without a will, our guided will builder walks you through a valid Colorado will step by step. You can also read our companion breakdown of will and estate statistics for Colorado for more context on how the state compares.
Sources
- 1Gallup: How Many Americans Have a Will? (news.gallup.com)
- 2Caring.com: Wills and Estate Planning Study (caring.com)
- 3Trust & Will: 2026 Estate Planning Report (trustandwill.com)
- 4CNBC: 67% of Americans have no estate plan (cnbc.com)
- 5Gallup: Will ownership by age (news.gallup.com)
- 6Gallup: Will ownership by income and education (news.gallup.com)
- 7Gallup: Will ownership by race and ethnicity (news.gallup.com)
- 8Trust & Will: 2025 Estate Planning Report demographic breakdown (trustandwill.com)
- 9Caring.com 2021 study: young adults and COVID-19 (prweb.com)
- 10Trust & Will: 2026 report, will ownership decline and Gen X (trustandwill.com)
- 11Trust & Will: 2026 report, reasons for no plan (trustandwill.com)
- 12Caring.com: procrastination as reason for no will (caring.com)
- 13Trust & Will: 2026 report, importance vs action gap (trustandwill.com)
- 14US Census Bureau QuickFacts: Colorado (census.gov)
- 15FRED: Median Household Income in Colorado (fred.stlouisfed.org)
- 16Data USA: Colorado education and homeownership (datausa.io)
- 17The Colorado Sun: Colorado's aging population (coloradosun.com)
- 18Caring.com: share of adults with a will (caring.com)
- 19LegalZoom: Estate planning statistics and intestacy (legalzoom.com)
About the author
Max Kuch
Max Kuch writes about estate planning, wills and inheritance for Online Will Colorado. He gathers the numbers from official Colorado and US public data, then explains what they mean for anyone thinking about putting their wishes in writing.