Most Arizonans agree that having a will matters, yet in survey after survey the majority of American adults still do not have one. This page gathers the hard numbers: how many people have a will, how many Arizonans die each year, what the average estate looks like, and what the state does with your property when you leave no instructions.
Every figure below is linked to its source at the foot of the page. Where no Arizona-specific number exists, we use the national figure, say so, and anchor it to Arizona with Census data. Updated July 2026.
How many people have a will
1. Fewer than half of US adults have a will
Gallup's long-running poll finds that 46% of American adults have a will that describes how they want their money and estate handled after death. That share has barely moved across four readings since 1990.1
2. One will-planning study puts the rate at just 24%
Caring.com's 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study found only 24% of respondents had a will, down from 33% in 2022. The gap with Gallup reflects different question wording and samples, but both point the same way: a minority are prepared.2
3. Pew: 68% of adults have never made a will
A 2025 Pew Research Center survey reports that 32% of US adults have created a will, meaning roughly 68% have not. About 31% have a living will or advance health care directive.3
4. AARP: 40% have a will or living trust
An AARP survey placed the figure at 40% of adults with a will or living trust in place, with a little over half of adults holding a health care power of attorney.4
5. An estimated 76% of Americans die without a will
Caring.com estimates that roughly three in four Americans reach the end of life with no will at all, leaving the distribution of their property to state law rather than their own wishes.5
Who has a will, by age and income
6. Only 20% of adults under 30 have a will
Gallup finds will ownership rises steeply with age: about 20% of adults under 30 have one, compared with more than three-quarters of those aged 65 and older.6
7. Younger generations lag far behind
AARP's generational breakdown shows how wide the gap runs.7
| Group | Have a will or estate documents |
|---|---|
| Millennials | 22% |
| Generation X | 36% |
| Boomers | 58% |
| Age 72 and over | 81% |
8. Income splits will ownership almost in half
Among adults aged 70 and older, Pew found 83% of upper-income people had a will versus 51% of lower-income people, a 32-point gap that mirrors Arizona's own income spread.8
9. Procrastination is the number-one reason
When AARP asked people without a will why, 47% simply said they "hadn't gotten around to it," and 29% believed they did not have enough to leave behind.9
Deaths and estates in Arizona
10. About 69,000 Arizonans died in 2023
The Arizona Department of Health Services recorded 69,005 resident deaths in 2023, every one of which either followed a valid will or fell to intestate succession.10
11. Deaths fell 6.6% from the prior year
That total was down 6.6% from 73,861 deaths in 2022, and the age-adjusted death rate dropped from 784.3 to 720.5 per 100,000 as pandemic-era mortality receded.11
12. Arizona life expectancy is 76.7 years
CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reports Arizona life expectancy at 76.7 years, a reminder that most estates are settled after a long life rather than a sudden one.12
13. Arizona has about 7.7 million residents
Arizona's population reached roughly 7,740,000 in 2024, one of the fastest-growing states in the country, which steadily enlarges the pool of estates moving through probate.13
14. Nearly 1.5 million Arizonans are 65 or older
Census data put about 1.49 million residents, close to 19.7% of the state, at age 65 or older, the group most likely to hold significant assets and most likely to have a will.14
What Arizona households own
15. Arizona has about 2.86 million households
There were roughly 2.86 million households in Arizona, each of which represents an estate that will eventually pass to heirs.15
16. Two-thirds of Arizona homes are owner-occupied
Arizona's homeownership rate sits around 68%, above the US average of roughly 65%. A home is usually the single largest asset in an estate.16
17. The median Arizona home is worth about $394,500
The median value of an owner-occupied Arizona home was about $394,500, well above the national median and a strong reason to name who inherits it in writing.17
18. Median US family net worth is $192,900
Nationally, the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances put median family net worth at $192,900. Applied to Arizona's 2.86 million households, that is a very large amount of property in play.18
19. Household wealth jumped 37% in three years
That median net worth rose 37% between 2019 and 2022, the largest increase on record for the survey, driven heavily by rising home values of the kind Arizona has seen.19
The great wealth transfer
20. $84 trillion will change hands by 2045
Cerulli Associates projects that about $84 trillion in US wealth will transfer to heirs and charities through 2045, the largest generational handoff in history.20
21. Boomers alone will pass on more than $53 trillion
Of that total, more than $53 trillion is expected to come from Baby Boomer households, about 63% of all transfers, with a further $11.9 trillion going to charity.21
22. Most heirs are not prepared for it
Analysts tracking the transfer warn that families who inherit without clear estate documents face delay, cost, and conflict, the very problems a will exists to prevent.22
23. Arizona's slice runs into the hundreds of billions
With Arizona home to roughly 2.3% of the US population, even a proportional share of the national transfer implies well over a trillion dollars moving between generations of Arizonans in the coming decades.23
Dying without a will in Arizona
24. State law decides when there is no will
When an Arizona resident dies without a valid will, the estate passes by "intestate succession" under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 14, which fixes exactly who inherits and in what order regardless of what the deceased might have wanted.24
25. A surviving spouse does not always inherit everything
Under Arizona's rules, a surviving spouse inherits the entire estate only when all of the deceased's children are also the spouse's children. If there are children from another relationship, the spouse keeps the community-property half and the separate property is split with those children, an outcome many people would never choose on purpose.25
The single fact that ties this page together is simple: most Arizonans die without a will, so state law, not the family, ends up deciding. Writing your own will takes an evening. You can start with our guided will builder, or read more in how many Arizonans have a will.
Sources
- 1Gallup: How Many Americans Have a Will? (news.gallup.com)
- 2Caring.com 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study (caring.com)
- 3Pew Research Center: Experiences with estate planning (2025) (pewresearch.org)
- 4AARP: Survey on wills and estate planning (aarp.org)
- 5Caring.com 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study (caring.com)
- 6Gallup: How Many Americans Have a Will? (news.gallup.com)
- 7AARP: Wills by generation (aarp.org)
- 8Pew Research Center: Estate planning by income (pewresearch.org)
- 9AARP: Reasons for not having a will (aarp.org)
- 10Arizona Dept. of Health Services: 2023 Vital Statistics, mortality (pub.azdhs.gov)
- 11Arizona Dept. of Health Services: 2023 mortality trends (pub.azdhs.gov)
- 12CDC NCHS: Stats of the States, Arizona (cdc.gov)
- 13USAFacts: Arizona population (usafacts.org)
- 14US Census Bureau ACS S0103: Arizona population 65 and over (data.census.gov)
- 15Data USA (Census ACS): Arizona households (datausa.io)
- 16US Census Bureau QuickFacts: Arizona housing (census.gov)
- 17Data USA (Census ACS): Arizona median home value (datausa.io)
- 18Federal Reserve: 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (federalreserve.gov)
- 19CNBC: Net worth surged 37%, Fed finds (cnbc.com)
- 20Cerulli Associates: $84 trillion in wealth transfers through 2045 (cerulli.com)
- 21Cerulli Associates: Boomer share of transfers (cerulli.com)
- 22Bankrate: The Great Wealth Transfer (bankrate.com)
- 23USAFacts: Arizona share of US population (usafacts.org)
- 24Arizona Revised Statutes 14-2103: Intestate succession (azleg.gov)
- 25Nolo: Intestate Succession in Arizona (nolo.com)
About the author
Max Kuch
Max Kuch writes about estate planning, wills and inheritance for Arizona Last Will. He gathers the numbers from official Arizona and US public data, then explains what they mean for anyone thinking about putting their wishes in writing.