Author: Jcoleman

The religious composition of the United States has been fairly stable in half a dozen Pew Research Center surveys conducted since 2020. The Christian share of the adult population has been between 60% and 64% in these surveys, while the religiously unaffiliated share has ranged from 28% to 31%. Adherents of religions other than Christianity have consistently accounted for 6% or 7% of U.S. adults throughout this period. Over the longer term, however, Christians have been declining as a percentage of the U.S. adult population, while the share that is religiously unaffiliated has been rising. (For an extended discussion of…

Millions of Americans have changed their religion over the course of their lifetimes, switching from one religion to another, leaving religion altogether, or choosing to identify with a religion after having grown up without one. If Protestants are counted as a single category – rather than separated into subgroups such as Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, etc. – then the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) finds that 35% of U.S. adults were raised with a different religious identity than the one they have now. This is roughly on par with what we found in the 2014 RLS, using the same definition of…

For many years, Pew Research Center’s standard question about religious identity has asked, “What is your present religion, if any?” We asked that question again in the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS). This new survey, coming after a long period of decline in U.S. religious affiliation, also sought to measure whether Americans feel connected to religions that they do not identify with religiously. So we asked respondents if they think of themselves as Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim or Hindu for reasons “aside from religion” – for example, ethnically, culturally, or because of their family background. Respondents had the option to…

In the new Religious Landscape Study (RLS), nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults who are currently married (74%) say they have the same religion as their spouse, a similar share as in the 2014 RLS (75%). And 26% of married U.S. adults in the new study say their spouse has a religious identity that is different from their own. They include: 13% of married U.S. adults who are Christians paired with a religiously unaffiliated spouse, or vice versa; 7% of married U.S. adults who are Christians and whose spouse is part of a different Christian tradition, such as a Catholic married…

The vast majority of Americans were raised in a religion. Fully 86% say that as children, they identified with Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam or another religion. Just 13% of U.S. adults say that as children, they did not identify with any religion. The Religious Landscape Study (RLS) shows, furthermore, that 68% of U.S. adults say they grew up attending religious services at least once or twice a month, including 56% who say they went at least once a week. Seven-in-ten U.S. adults say they received at least some formal religious education as children, attending either a private religious school or…

The new Religious Landscape Study (RLS) shows that average family size varies by religious affiliation. To compare how many children are born to parents in various groups, we asked all respondents how many biological children they have ever had during their lives. Since most Americans have completed childbearing by the time they reach ages 40 to 59, we focus on answers from respondents in this age group to estimate “completed fertility.” In the new RLS, Christians have a higher completed fertility rate (2.2 children per respondent) than religiously unaffiliated Americans (1.8) and Americans who belong to non-Christian religions (1.8). Another…

The percentage of Americans who say religion is very important in their lives has been relatively stable in recent years, though it appears to be lower than it was in the 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies. Today, about four-in-ten Americans say religion is very important to them. That’s what we’ve found both in the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and in other surveys we have conducted since 2021. In contrast, more than half of U.S. adults said religion was very important in their lives in 2007 (56%) and 2014 (53%).  Some of this decline reflects the growth of religiously…

One-third of U.S. adults say they attend religious services in person at least once a month, including 25% who report going at least once a week. Far more Americans (67%) say they attend religious services in person a few times a year or less often. This includes about half of U.S. adults who seldom or never attend services. In response to a separate question, the new survey finds that 23% of Americans watch religious services online or on TV at least once a month, while the majority (76%) do so a few times a year or less often. Looking at…

Americans who go to religious services tend to worship where most other congregants and senior leaders share their race or ethnicity. Two-thirds of U.S. adults who attend religious services in person at least a few times a year (called “attenders” in this chapter) say they go to a church, synagogue, mosque, temple or other house of worship in which all or most other congregants share their race or ethnicity. Two-thirds also go to congregations where the senior religious leaders share their race or ethnicity. The new Religious Landscape Study (RLS) also asked about the religious composition of the congregation that…

Many questions in the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) previously were asked in the 2007 and 2014 landscape studies. Measuring change over time on these questions is one key goal of the new RLS. But the 2023-24 survey was conducted using different methods from the 2007 and 2014 surveys, and this “mode switch” complicates comparisons between the results of the new survey and the findings of the previous surveys. In the new survey, we mailed invitations to a random sample of U.S. households using address-based sampling (ABS). Participants were given the option of completing the survey online, on paper, or…