In 2023, about 33 percent of Americans were Protestants, down from 69 percent in 1948. In that same year, about 22 percent of Americans were Catholic, while 22 percent said that they had no religion at all.

In 2023, **** percent of Americans were unaffiliated with any religion. A further **** percent of Americans were White evangelical Protestants, and an additional **** percent were White mainline Protestants. Religious trends in the United States Although the United States is still home to the largest number of Christians worldwide, the nation has started to reflect a more diverse religious landscape in recent years. Americans now report a wide range of religious beliefs and backgrounds, in addition to an increasing number of people who are choosing to identify with no religion at all. Studies suggest that many Americans have left their previous religion to instead identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, with many reasoning that they stopped believing in the religion's teachings, that they didn't approve of negative teachings or treatment of LGBTQ+ people, or that their family was never that religious growing up. Christian controversies Over the last few years, controversies linked to Christian denominations have plagued the nation, including reports of child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Christian churches have also been accused of supporting discriminatory actions against LGBTQ+ people and people belonging to other religious groups. In addition, there have been increasing concerns about Christian nationalism, the political ideology that asserts that America was founded to be a Christian nation. Although the majority of Americans still think that declaring the United States a Christian nation would go against the U.S. Constitution, studies found that most Republicans would be in favor of this change.

This statistic shows the sources of congregational income of churches in the United States in 2008, by church size. As of 2008, trust funds, investments, bequets were the source of about 41 percent of income of small churches with up to 100 members.

As 23 percent of the American population, white evangelicals are an important part of the American mainstream whose collective voice is growing louder both in politics and in culture. In many respects, white evangelicals look like other Americans. They live all over the country, they are found in cities and small towns alike, they have friends outside of their churches, and a majority have at least some college education. They share concerns with the rest of the country about the cost of healthcare and having a secure retirement. Yet white evangelicals share a set of strongly-held beliefs about the role of religion in daily life, and they incorporate a set of religious behaviors based on these beliefs into their daily lives. It is these beliefs and behaviors that set them apart religiously and politically from the rest of the country. This study places white evangelicals in comparative perspective with mainline Protestants, Catholics, African Americans, and Hispanics.

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Protestant Episcopal Church In The United States Of America

From 2021 to 2023, Republicans were found much more likely than Democrats to be Protestants in the United States, with 56 percent of surveyed Republicans identifying as Protestants compared to 38 percent of Democrats. However, Democrats were found more likely than Republicans to identify with no religion, with 26 percent of Democrats saying that they have no religious identity compared to 11 percent of Republicans.

The "http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/surveys/nsri-1990/" Target="_blank">National Survey of Religious Identification relates to a random digit-dialed telephone survey of 113,000 American households in the continental U.S. (48 states). The data was collected over a 13-month period by ICR Survey Research Group of Media, PA as part of their omnibus market research (EXCEL) survey. The prime question on the file is: What is your religion? If the initial answer was Protestant, there was a further question as to which denomination. The respondent is a randomly chosen (last birthday) adult over 18 years. Nineteen other socio-demographic questions are attached to this. The NSRI makes a significant contribution by presenting a large sample size reflecting the true richness of the country's religious tapestry and the national coverage necessary to provide high quality statistics on what is actually happening around us.

According to a 2022 survey, 31 percent of Americans never attend church or synagogue, compared to 20 percent of Americans who attend every week.

Religiosity in the United States

Despite only about a fifth of Americans attending church or synagogue on a weekly basis, almost 40 percent consider themselves to be very religious. Additionally, states in the Deep South such as Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana had the most residents identifying as very religious. In contrast, New England states like Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire had the most people identifying as nonreligious.

A Christian nation?

Despite the official separation of church and state embedded in the Constitution, many would still consider the United States to be a Christian nation. Catholicism has the largest number of adherents in the United States, due to there being many different Protestant denominations. The Southern Baptist Convention had the largest number of Evangelical adherents, while the United Methodist Church was the largest Mainline Protestant denomination.

According to a survey conducted in 2022, 47 percent of Americans who identified as Protestant strongly supported allowing coaches at public high schools to lead their players in public prayers in the United States. In comparison, only five percent of Americans who were agnostic shared this belief.

In the United States, the share of Americans affiliated with one of the three main white Christian religious denominations has been declining since 2006. While 23 percent of Americans identified as White evangelical Protestants in 2006, the number was 13.4 percent in 2023.

According to a study conducted between July 2023 and March 2024, Hindus and Jews are most likely to have the highest household incomes in the United States, with 57 percent of Hindus and 54 percent of Jews earning 100,000 U.S. dollars or more annually. In contrast, only 27 percent of Protestants, including Evangelical, Mainline, and Historically Black Protestants, reported an annual household income of 100,000 U.S. dollars or more during this time period.

According to a survey conducted in 2023, 74 percent of all U.S. adults said that they believed in God while 25 percent of Americans who identified with no religion shared this belief. In comparison, 94 percent of Americans who were Protestant or other Christian and 85 percent of Americans who were Catholic also said that they believed in God in that year.

The U.S. Congress has become increasingly diverse over the years, though remains predominantly Protestant and Catholic. In 2023, 56.7 percent of Congress identified as Protestant, and 0.6 percent of Congress identified as Muslim.

The 119th U.S. Congress, sworn in January 2025. There are 535 total members of Congress. This session of Congress consisted of 295 Protestant members, as well as 150 Catholic members. The number of Protestant members has declined since the 87th Congress, when 398 members were Protestant.

In 2023, Protestant members of Congress were dominant across both political parties. However, the share was higher int he Republican Party. 69 percent of Republican Congress members identified as Protestant, compared to 44.1 percent of Democrats. Democrats had a much higher proportion of Jewish members.

The statistic shows the religious affiliation of the population in the United States in 2007. In 2007, 51.3 percent of the U.S. population were estimated to be Protestants.

This statistic shows the educational attainment of religious groups in the United States as of January 2017, by faith tradition. In 2017, about 38 percent of Hindu believers in the United States had a post-graduate degree.

According to a study conducted between July 2023 and March 2024, more women were Christians, Protestants, Catholics, and Latter-day Saints (Mormons) than men in the United States. In contrast, only 36 percent of women identified as Orthodox Christian, compared to 61 percent of men and one percent who identified in some other way.

This statistic shows the religious affiliation of rural Americans in 2019, by religion. During the survey, 32 percent of rural Americans reported being Evangelical Protestants.

This statistic shows U.S. prison chaplains estimations of the percentage of inmates belonging to different organized faiths and religions as of 2011. Chaplains surveyed reported that on average 50.6 percent of inmates were of protestant faiths.

Additional information on religion in United States prisons

The religious affiliation of inmates in the United States, the country with most prisoners per head globally, is reasonably similar to the religious affiliations of the society overall. That said, the proportion of non-religious inmates and those declining to express their religious affiliation is smaller than the overall proportion. In contrast the number of Muslim inmates is disproportionately large in comparison with wider society. As a result a sizable share of prison chaplains identity as Muslim, catering to the preferences of the Muslim prison population.

Following the September 11, 2001 World Trade Centre attacks and the subsequent War on Terror launched by George W. Bush, religious extremism has been a target of public debate and policy. The debate has stretched into prisons particularly with the United States prison on Guantanamo Bay holding a number of suspected terrorists related to religious extremism. In turn, fears have been raised that prisons have become a hotbed for religious extremism.

Critics have argued that religious extremism has provided an unwarranted justification for the conviction of Muslims. Regardless of the supposed reason for their imprisonment, this disproportionate number presents a problem for United States policy makers.