Most kids still believe Santa will spread Christmas joy this year
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Most kids are still counting on Santa Claus to make an appearance this Christmas, despite concerns that kids these days are too cool to believe, a new YouGov poll finds.
The big picture: Belief in the jolly old Saint Nick has remained fairly steady over time, though 2025 data shows a slight dip from recent years.
- 56% of parents with children under 18 say their kids still believe in Santa, while 12% are unsure — down just 2% from the 2024 survey, when 58% said their children still believed.
Flashback: A whopping 87% of children in a 1987 New York Times poll believed in Santa, though the survey sample was much smaller and focused on kids ages 3 to 10.
- A 2015 YouGov/Huffington Post poll reported similar patterns to this year's findings: 54% of parents said they had at least one child who still believed, while 29% said a child used to believe but no longer did.
By the numbers: More than three in five parents plan to stage a Santa visit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
- 80% of respondents said they believed in Santa as a child, and 14% said they never did.
- 41% said they figured out Santa wasn't real on their own, while 15% heard from a classmate or friend.
Most surveyed have mixed opinions on when kids should outgrow Santa, with 14% saying children should know the truth by age 10 and 13% unsure there is a right age.
Zoom in: Among popular Santa-related traditions, 56% say their children will hang a stocking for Kris Kringle's goodies.
- Meanwhile, only 32% — the lowest share among listed activities — will break out the infamous Elf on the Shelf for visits this year.
The bottom line: If Santa still brings you joy, you're not alone. 28% of Americans say you're never too old to stop believing in the man behind the holiday magic.
Go deeper: Why I changed my mind about parenting and Santa
Methodology: The nationwide survey was conducted Dec. 3-5, 2025. Web-based interviews were conducted with a random sample of 1,104 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.9 percentage points.
