Psychics, Mediums & Tarot: Statistics Reviewed 2026

By Sunaree Ko·April 22, 2025

Psychics, mediums and fortune tellers appear in surveys of belief, personal experience and consumer activity. These measures are related, but they answer different questions. This collection was reviewed in October 2026 and retains useful historical results with their dates clearly shown.

The figures below distinguish belief in psychic abilities, reported use of services and commercial estimates. They do not verify paranormal abilities or establish that every part of the industry is growing.

Key Statistics from the Psychic Industry Article

Dated psychic consultation and belief statistics: US, Great Britain and Poland

Psychic Consultations & Demographics

22% of US adults had ever consulted a psychic or medium in YouGov’s 2017 survey.
In 2025, 47% of women and 36% of men believed psychics exist.
6% of US adults reported at least annual fortune-teller use in October 2024.
Annual tarot use was about 24% at ages 18–29 and 3% at ages 65+ in October 2024.
10% of Polish adults reported a combined future-seeking practice in Pew’s 2024 survey.

Dated US surveys on psychic, mediumship and paranormal beliefs, 2017–2025

Belief in Psychic Phenomena

41% of US adult citizens believed psychics exist in October 2025.
62% of US adults held at least one of four New Age beliefs in Pew’s 2017 survey.
21% believed in mediums or channeling in YouGov’s August 2022 US survey.
24% believed some people could see the future in YouGov’s 2017 US survey.
10% of Canadian adults reported a combined future-seeking practice in Pew’s 2024 survey.
34% reported a psychic moment in YouGov’s 2017 US survey.
35% reported a presence or unknown energy in YouGov’s October 2025 US survey.
48% believed in psychic or spiritual healing in Gallup’s May 2025 US poll.

Gender & Age Differences

70% of women and 55% of men held one of four New Age beliefs in Pew’s 2017 survey.
In 2017, 40% of women and 29% of men reported a psychic moment.
In 2017, 46% of women and 30% of men reported a spiritual presence.
In October 2024, 43% of US women aged 18–49 believed in astrology.
28% of US adults reported annual astrology or horoscope use in October 2024.

Market size and historical growth

$12.8 billion: commercial estimate of the global astrology market in 2021.
$22.8 billion: the same model’s global forecast for 2031, not observed revenue.
$39.7 million: estimated US spending in the ten highest-earning astrology apps in 2019.
64.7%: growth in that selected US app spending series from 2018 to 2019.
About 19 million first-time US installs for the ten most-downloaded astrology apps in 2019.
Historical app growth is not a current growth rate for the whole psychic industry.

Service categories and their limits

General readings: no verified current revenue share established here.
Mediumship belief is not a mediumship market share.
Pet psychic services: no verified current revenue share established here.
Spiritual healing belief is not a revenue measure or evidence of a treatment effect.

Digital & International Trends

Telephone, app and in-person spending cover different channels.
Playing a tarot card game is different from using tarot for divination.
Top-ten US astrology app spending rose from $7.7 million in 2016 to $39.7 million in 2019.
$43.78 was a historical advertising cost per click, not a customer’s spend on a psychic.
Astrology & Palmistry Coach represented 35.3% of the selected 2019 US app-spending total.

Survey differences across groups

Gallup’s 2025 broader paranormal-openness group included 40% of women and 28% of men.
Gallup’s 2025 openness group included 37% of moderates, 35% of liberals and 28% of conservatives.

Industry measures and their limits

Market concentration requires company revenue data; belief surveys cannot measure it.
Practitioner earnings require income and cost data, not just advertised reading prices.

Spiritual Beliefs Across the Globe

National surveys use different definitions of psychic and spiritual practices. A lifetime consultation, an annual habit and a belief about the future should not be compared as if they were the same measure.

How Many People Consult Psychics? And Who Are They?

In YouGov’s October 2017 US survey, 22% of adults reported ever consulting a psychic or medium. This is a dated lifetime-use figure, not the share who currently pay for psychic services.

In YouGov’s October 2025 survey, 47% of women and 36% of men believed psychics exist. This establishes a difference in reported belief, not a current gender breakdown of paying customers.

Pew’s October 2024 survey found 6% of US adults consulted a fortune teller at least once a year. It did not separately count professional psychics who consult other practitioners.

Survey results vary by age and the activity asked about. For example, annual tarot use in Pew’s October 2024 survey was about 24% at ages 18–29, compared with 3% at ages 65 and over. These figures cannot establish an average age for all psychic clients.

In France, IFOP’s November 2020 survey found 26% had consulted a specialist in one of the listed paranormal disciplines at least once. Astrology, clairvoyance, cartomancy and numerology were separate options, and respondents could select more than one.

Pew’s 2024 international survey found 10% of Polish adults consulted a fortune teller, horoscope or another way to see the future. This combined question is different from lifetime use of a fortune teller alone; it does not support the older claim that half of Poland had used one.

How Often Do People Use Psychic Services?

In YouGov’s April 2024 Great Britain poll, 14% said they had had their fortune told. This is lifetime use, whereas Pew’s 6% US figure concerns at least annual fortune-teller use in October 2024. The different populations and periods prevent a direct comparison.

The combined frequency results were:

30% reported at least annual use of astrology or horoscopes, tarot or fortune tellers.
14% reported at least monthly use of one or more of those practices.
6% reported at least weekly use of one or more of those practices.
Only 1% relied a lot on these practices for major life decisions; all four figures are Pew, October 2024.

Occasional use was more common than frequent use. These responses do not identify which consultations were paid, online or in person, and should not be converted into customer or revenue totals.

Belief in Psychics

YouGov’s October 2025 poll found 41% of US adult citizens believed psychics exist. Pew also recorded 41% belief in psychics in its 2017 survey, but the wording and dates differ. Neither should be divided by an unrelated lifetime-use percentage to describe customer conversion.

Psychic terminology describes claimed forms of perception or communication. The terms below are used within spiritual traditions; listing them does not establish that the claimed abilities have been demonstrated:

Clairvoyance — a claimed ability to obtain information beyond ordinary sight.
Clairaudience — claimed perception of messages or voices beyond ordinary hearing.
Clairempathy — a claimed spiritual form of perceiving others’ emotions.
Clairsentience — a claimed form of perception through feelings or sensations.
Clairalience — claimed perception of spiritual information through smells.
Clairgustance — claimed perception of spiritual information through taste.
Clairtangency or psychometry — claimed information obtained by touching an object.

New Age Beliefs Across Demographics

Pew’s historical 2017 study tested four beliefs that it grouped as New Age beliefs. It was reported in 2018.

The four survey concepts were:

Belief in psychics.
Belief in reincarnation.
Belief in astrology.
Belief in spiritual energy in physical objects, including mountains, trees or crystals.

In that survey, 62% of US adults held at least one of the four beliefs. Because respondents could hold several, the separate percentages cannot be added together.

The four results were 41% for psychics, 42% for spiritual energy in physical objects, 33% for reincarnation and 29% for astrology. The objects question included examples such as mountains and trees; it was not a crystal-healing question.

These beliefs crossed religious-affiliation categories. Being Christian, unaffiliated or atheist does not by itself determine every answer to a paranormal-belief question.

Different surveys reveal different subgroup patterns. The following comparisons retain the exact measure and year:

Pew 2017: 70% of women and 55% of men held at least one of four New Age beliefs.
Pew October 2024: 43% of women 18–49 and 27% of women 50+ believed in astrology.
Gallup 2025: 40% of women and 28% of men were in its broader paranormal-openness group.
Gallup 2025: 37% of moderates, 35% of liberals and 28% of conservatives were in that group.

Religious identity, spiritual identity and individual beliefs overlap. A combined New Age score is not a measure of how spiritual a person is, and it should not be used to rank the sincerity of religious groups.

Belief in Mediums

Mediumship refers to claimed communication with the dead. In YouGov’s August 2022 US survey, 21% said they believed in mediums or channeling. A separate 2017 question found 21% believed some individuals could contact the dead.

Some people may approach a medium after bereavement or for personal reflection. The belief and usage polls cited here do not establish why every client attends.

A claimed or perceived contact is not evidence that communication occurred. These surveys also do not establish mediumship as an effective treatment for grief or a substitute for professional support when someone needs it.

Belief in Fortune-tellers

Fortune-telling covers practices that claim to predict future events, including readings based on cards, palms or astrology. The categories used by survey researchers may differ from practitioners’ own descriptions.

In YouGov’s October 2017 US survey, 24% believed some individuals could see the future. The same survey recorded 7% for palm reading and 9% for tarot readings accurately predicting the future.

Pew’s 2024 international survey recorded 10% of Canadian adults consulting a fortune teller, horoscope or another way to see the future. This is a practice question, not the share who believe a psychic can predict events.

Personal satisfaction with a reading and accuracy of a prediction are different outcomes. The cited surveys do not establish that fortune-telling improves decisions or produces the benefits sometimes advertised for it.

How Many People Have Had a Psychic Episode?

A reported psychic experience means that a respondent interpreted something they experienced in that way. The label does not establish a paranormal cause.

YouGov’s October 2017 survey asked about psychic moments, such as premonitions, and about feeling a spiritual presence without a medium present.

34% reported a psychic moment. The result was 40% among women and 29% among men. These are historical self-reports.

In the same 2017 survey, 38% reported feeling a spiritual presence, including 46% of women and 30% of men. In a different October 2025 question, 35% reported a presence or unknown energy. The wording differs, so these figures should not be treated as a direct trend.

People can report an unusual experience while remaining uncertain about its explanation. In the 2025 survey, some respondents favoured an unfamiliar scientific explanation and others a supernatural one.

Belief in Spiritual or Supernatural Events

Paranormal-belief questionnaires usually list specific phenomena. Their results depend on which items are included and how belief is described.

For example, Gallup’s May 2025 survey tested eight phenomena. A statement about the most common belief applies to those eight items, not every spiritual tradition.

Gallup recorded 48% belief in psychic or spiritual healing and 39% in ghosts in May 2025. Healing was the most widely held of the eight beliefs tested; reported belief does not establish a treatment effect.

Pew’s 2024 international consultation question provides a separate cross-country comparison: 13% in France, 7% in Germany, 9% in Italy and 10% in Poland. These are combined fortune-teller, horoscope or other future-seeking practices, not identical to Gallup’s belief questions.

Popularity of Divination

Divination can be approached as a spiritual practice, entertainment or a prompt for reflection. Surveyed motivations do not establish universal psychological or therapeutic benefits.

In Pew’s October 2024 US survey, 20% of all adults said their main reason for consulting astrology or horoscopes, tarot or fortune tellers was fun, and 10% said helpful insights. These percentages refer to all adults, not just users.

Tarot can also refer to a card game. Playing a game with tarot cards should not be counted as using cards for divination, and game popularity does not establish belief in psychic predictions.

Pew’s 2024 international survey found 19% of Japanese adults consulted a fortune teller, horoscope or another way to see the future. The question combines methods and does not rank tarot against palm reading.

Where Else is Tarot Popular?

International comparisons work best when the same question is asked in the same survey programme.

In Pew’s 2024 data, the combined consultation measure was 14% in Argentina and 14% in Chile. These figures concern adults’ reported practices, not Google search frequency.

The corresponding figure was 11% in Australia. Search volumes, survey participation and national market revenue measure different things and should not be substituted for one another.

Patterns in Horoscope Use

Horoscope reading is another distinct form of engagement. Knowing a star sign does not necessarily mean trusting its predictions.

In Pew’s October 2024 US survey, 28% consulted astrology or a horoscope at least annually. This is broader than reading a daily horoscope every day.

Astrology belief in that survey was 35% among women and 18% among men. The gender difference in belief does not by itself quantify how frequently each group reads horoscopes.

Among women aged 18–49, 43% believed in astrology, compared with 27% among women aged 50 and over. These are belief results, not the percentages who check a chart daily.

Only 6% of all US adults reported at least weekly use of any of astrology or horoscopes, tarot or fortune tellers in October 2024. A combined practice measure cannot identify the frequency of horoscope reading alone.

The Psychic Industry

Industry figures need their own definitions. A global astrology estimate, US psychic-services revenue and spending on a selected set of apps cover different markets.

Commercial categories may group astrology, tarot, palm reading and mediumship together. The activities included in a report affect its headline total.

Surveyed belief or use cannot establish the number of professional practitioners, their working hours or their earnings.

Psychics, Mediums, and Fortune-Tellers

The public sources below provide useful market context, but do not establish a current national salary distribution for psychics or mediums.

Similarly, the figures cited here do not establish how revenue is divided between independent practitioners and large platforms. Market concentration requires company-level revenue data with a clear year and scope.

A quoted price per reading is not the same as annual income. Practitioner earnings would also depend on bookings, hours, expenses and the period covered; the surveys here do not measure them.

Understanding service categories

Practice prevalence and market share should be kept separate. A person may use more than one service, and different services can have different prices.

The cited sources do not provide a verified current revenue split for general psychic readings. A survey percentage cannot fill that gap.

Mediumship belief also cannot be converted into a mediumship revenue share. The 21% figure from YouGov’s 2022 poll measures belief in mediums or channeling.

No current revenue shares for pet psychics or spiritual healers are established by the sources below. Treat a complete percentage breakdown without a defined dataset cautiously.

Market estimates and forecasts

Allied Market Research estimated the worldwide astrology market at $12.8 billion in 2021. This is a commercial model of a global category, not observed US psychic-services revenue.

The same report forecast $22.8 billion by 2031. A forecast is not a result, and older projections for 2021 or 2024 should not be presented as future growth from 2026.

Historical app data provides a narrower observed period: Sensor Tower estimated $39.7 million in US consumer spending across the ten highest-earning astrology apps in 2019, up 64.7% from 2018.

That comparison does not establish the current growth rate of the entire psychic-services industry. Its year, geography and selected-app coverage are essential.

Interpreting market drivers

Digital services can be delivered without an in-person appointment, but the cited data does not isolate the causal effect of the pandemic on the whole sector.

Market forecasts depend on assumptions about customers, prices and access. They should be read as scenarios or estimates rather than guaranteed future demand.

Claims that stress or bereavement increased spending require evidence linking those factors to purchases. A survey of beliefs alone cannot establish that explanation.

Apps and online platforms are delivery channels. Their availability does not tell us how many people pay, how often they return or whether their belief has changed.

Sensor Tower’s 2019 spending estimate predates the pandemic. It cannot be used as evidence of post-pandemic performance.

Age and gender differences in a belief survey can inform context, but they do not identify the demographic share of an industry’s revenue.

When comparing market reports, separate four demand-side measures from four commercial measures:

Demand-side measures:

Reported belief
Lifetime service use
Frequency of consultation
Reasons for consultation

Commercial measures:

Revenue in a defined year and market
Consumer spending on selected apps
Downloads and active users
Advertising cost per click

These distinctions prevent a rise in downloads or public interest from being mistaken for a measured rise in business revenue.

Telephone services and historical revenue

Premium-rate telephone services bill charges through a telephone account. Spending on this channel is different from spending on apps or face-to-face appointments.

A telephone-services revenue figure covers only that channel and its stated year. It should not be treated as the current total for UK psychic services across all delivery channels.

Channel revenue also does not establish profitability, which depends on costs. A claim that telephone readings remain highly profitable needs more than an old revenue estimate.

Online services

Digital distribution creates another way to access readings. Its scale is best described with dated platform metrics rather than inferred from broad cultural visibility.

Historical astrology-app data

For a clearly defined historical example, Sensor Tower analysed the top ten US astrology apps in each year from 2016 to 2019.

In that analysis, the 2019 top ten generated an estimated $39.7 million in US user spending. This was not worldwide revenue or the total of every astrology app.

Astrology & Palmistry Coach accounted for about $14 million, or 35.3% of that selected 2019 US total.

The ten most-downloaded astrology apps recorded about 19 million first-time US installs in 2019, a separate ranking and measure from the revenue top ten.

Downloads measure installations, not paying customers or belief. A user may install more than one app or use an app only briefly.

The historical figures show that spending and downloads can change at different rates. They do not establish the present-day market potential of every psychic app.

Historical app spending growth

Sensor Tower’s March 2020 analysis estimated US spending for the leading astrology apps over 2016–2019.

The top ten generated $7.7 million in 2016 and $39.7 million in 2019. These are historical estimates for a selected group of apps, not the entire industry.

The figures show growth in the selected historical app series. They should not be extrapolated into current spending without a newer comparable measurement.

Advertising costs and consumer spending

Advertising costs are another distinct metric. WordStream’s 2017 analysis ranked expensive Google Ads keyword categories by cost per click.

Its psychic category had an average cost per click of $43.78. This was an advertiser’s historical click cost—not money a consumer spent on a reading, and not a measure of keyword profitability.

Advertising performance requires conversion and revenue data in addition to click costs. The historical keyword figure alone does not establish a return on advertising spend.

Conclusion

The evidence distinguishes people’s beliefs, their reported experiences, use of readings and commercial activity.

Recent and historical surveys do not support a single claim that every psychic practice or business segment is growing. Keep each result tied to its actual question and period.

Dated market estimates and forecasts can still be useful when their limits are clear. They should not be presented as current audited revenue or guaranteed future performance.

The sources below allow readers to check those distinctions. This page was reviewed in October 2026; the underlying data years are stated alongside the findings.

About us: TarotCards.io provide free online tarot reading using AI and interactive cards.

Sources & references

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