What percentage of men in the US wear thongs regularly by age group?
Executive summary
Available polling and market reporting suggest only a small minority of U.S. men wear thongs regularly; Statista’s 2017 survey shows nearly all older men report never wearing thongs (96% of men 51+ never wore them) and “several times a week” use among men overall was about 1% [1]. More recent 2024–25 trend pieces and small brand surveys report rising interest but rely on limited samples and marketing frames, not nationally representative prevalence estimates [2] [3] [4].
1. Snapshot of best public data: tiny regular-use numbers
The clearest numeric estimate in the set comes from a Statista aggregation of a 2017 survey: roughly 1% of U.S. men reported wearing thongs several times per week, and in the 51+ age bracket 96% said they never wore thongs while 4% wore them at least occasionally [1]. That indicates “regular” thong use—if measured as multiple times per week—was extremely rare in that dataset [1].
2. Age breakdowns are sparse and dated
Statista’s chart provides one explicit age cue (51+), but the search results do not deliver a full, contemporary age-by-age breakdown in the materials supplied here; the only concrete age figure cited is the 51+ group [1]. Available sources do not mention a complete, current series of percentages by narrower age brackets such as 18–24, 25–34, etc. [1].
3. Recent sources claim rising interest but lack representative sampling
Several 2024–25“trend” stories, direct-to-consumer brand posts and small surveys argue that men’s thongs and other minimal styles are growing in popularity and acceptance [2] [5] [4] [3]. But those pieces either report a 505-respondent marketing survey [2], an 824–829 respondent consumer poll [3], or are brand/blog commentary [4] [6]. They do not establish nationally representative prevalence or age-stratified regular-use percentages comparable to Statista’s 2017 number [2] [3] [4].
4. How to interpret “regularly”: definitions matter
Different sources measure different behaviors: Statista distinguishes “never,” “occasionally,” and “several times a week” with the latter about 1% [1]. Brand surveys tend to report “preference” or “likes thongs” among their respondents rather than frequency of wear, so a claim that 10%–11% of men “prefer” or “choose” thongs in a small sample [2] [3] is not directly comparable to a population-level frequency measure [1] [2] [3].
5. Market signals versus prevalence: growing supply doesn’t prove mass adoption
Market analyses and retail commentary show an expanding product range, niche growth and industry forecasts for broader men’s underwear categories, including thongs, which suggests commercial interest and a growing segment [7] [5]. But market growth and boutique or brand enthusiasm do not equal a large share of men wearing thongs regularly; the only population-survey figure in these sources points to very low regular-use rates [1] [7].
6. Competing narratives and potential agendas in coverage
Trade and brand content (TBô, Princejock, Real Men Apparel) have incentives to amplify growth trends and normalize thong-wearing to sell product; their surveys are small or self-selected and may overstate prevalence or enthusiasm [2] [3] [4] [6]. Statista aggregates survey data and reports frequency statistics without an obvious commercial push, but the underlying methodology and recency limit how confidently one can apply it to 2025 behavior [1].
7. What the available evidence supports and what remains unknown
Evidence supports three modest claims: 1) Regular weekly thong use among U.S. men was very low in the 2017 survey (about 1%) [1]; 2) older men (51+) reported very low participation—96% never wore thongs—according to the same dataset [1]; and 3) niche industry and brand sources in 2024–25 report increased interest and market activity but rely on small samples or marketing frames rather than nationally representative surveys [2] [3] [4] [7]. A current, reliable age-by-age percentage breakdown for “regular” thong wear in 2024–25 is not found in the provided reporting (available sources do not mention a full recent age-stratified prevalence table).
8. Takeaway for readers
If you need a defensible, age-stratified statistic about how many U.S. men wear thongs “regularly,” the only population-style figure in these sources is from 2017 and points to very low regular usage [1]. Trend pieces and brand surveys suggest growth and cultural change but do not replace representative prevalence data [2] [3] [4]. For up-to-date, age-specific percentages you should seek a recent nationally representative poll that reports frequency-by-age; such a dataset is not present among the sources provided here (available sources do not mention a newer national poll with full age breakdowns).