An object of the present invention is to improve a problem of the decrease in the internal tearing strength and water repellency in accordance with the decrease in the basis weight of a filter medium for air filters, and to provide a filter medium for air filters that can also address a demand for flame retardancy. The low-basis-weight filter medium for air filters according to the present invention is characterized by glass short fibers (A) and short fibers of hydrophobic chemical synthetic fibers each having a fiber diameter of 5 µm or less (B), as raw material fibers of the filter medium, by a mass ratio (A/B) in the range of from 70/30 to 95/5; a hydrophobic synthetic resin-based binder is added to the filter medium by 3 to 10 parts by mass of with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material fibers; and the filter medium has a basis weight of from 25 g/m 2 or more to 50 g/m 2 or less.