Self-Described Religious Identification Among American Adults

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

Religious group	2008		2001		1990
Religious group	Total (in thousands)	Percent of population	Total (in thousands)	Percent of population	Total (in thousands)	Percent of population
Total Christian	173,402	76.0	159,506	76.7%	151,496	86.4%
Catholic	57,199	25.1	50,873	24.5	46,004	26.2
Baptist	36,148	15.8	33,830	16.3	33,964	19.4
Protestant¹	5,187	2.3	4,647	2.2	17,214	9.8
Methodist/Wesleyan	11,366	5.0	14,150	6.8	14,174	8.1
Lutheran	8,674	3.8	9,580	4.6	9,110	5.2
Christian¹	16,834	7.4	14,150	6.8	8,073	4.6
Presbyterian	4,723	2.1	5,596	2.7	4,985	2.8
Pentecostal/Charismatic	5,416	2.4	4,407	2.1	3,191	1.8
Episcopalian/Anglican	2,405	1.1	3,451	1.7	3,042	1.7
Mormon/Latter-day Saints	3,158	1.4	2,787	1.3	2,487	1.4
Churches of Christ	1,921	0.8	2,593	1.2	1,769	1.0
Jehovah’s Witness	1,914	0.8	1,331	0.6	1,381	0.8
Seventh-Day Adventist	938	0.4	724	0.3	668	0.4
Assemblies of God	810	0.4	1,106	0.5	660	0.4
Holiness/Holy	n.a.	n.a.	569	0.3	610	0.3
Congregational/United Church of Christ	736	0.3	1,378	0.7	599	0.3
Church of the Nazarene	n.a.	n.a.	544	0.3	549	0.3
Church of God	663	0.3	944	0.5	531	0.3
Orthodox (Eastern)	n.a.	n.a.	645	0.3	502	0.3
Evangelical²	2,154	0.9	1,032	0.5	242	0.1
Mennonite	n.a.	n.a.	346	0.2	235	0.1
Christian Science	n.a.	n.a.	194	0.1	214	0.1
Church of the Brethren	n.a.	n.a.	358	0.2	206	0.1
Born Again²	2,154	0.9	56	0.0	204	0.1
Nondenominational²	8,032	3.5	2,489	1.2	195	0.1
Disciples of Christ	n.a.	n.a.	492	0.2	144	0.1
Reformed/Dutch Reform	n.a.	n.a.	289	0.1	161	0.1
Apostolic/New Apostolic	n.a.	n.a.	254	0.1	117	0.1
Quaker	n.a.	n.a.	217	0.1	67	*
Full Gospel	n.a.	n.a.	168	0.1	51	*
Christian Reform	n.a.	n.a.	79	*	40	*
Foursquare Gospel	n.a.	n.a.	70	*	28	*
Fundamentalist	n.a.	n.a.	61	*	27	*
Salvation Army	n.a.	n.a.	25	*	27	*
Independent Christian Church	n.a.	n.a.	71	*	25	*
Total other religions	8,796	3.9	7,740	3.7%	5,853	3.3
Jewish³	2,680	1.2	2,831	1.4	3,137	1.8
Muslim/Islamic	1,349	0.6	1,104	0.5	527	0.3
Buddhist	1,189	0.5	1,082	0.5	401	0.2
Unitarian/Universalist	n.a.	n.a.	629	0.3	502	0.3
Hindu	n.a.	n.a.	766	0.4	227	0.1
Native American	n.a.	n.a.	103	*	47	*
Scientologist	n.a.	n.a.	55	*	45	*
Baha’i	n.a.	n.a.	84	*	28	*
Taoist	n.a.	n.a.	40	*	23	*
New Age	n.a.	n.a.	68	*	20	*
Eckankar	n.a.	n.a.	26	*	18	*
Rastafarian	n.a.	n.a.	11	*	14	*
Sikh	n.a.	n.a.	57	*	13	*
Wiccan	n.a.	n.a.	134	0.1	8	*
Deity	n.a.	n.a.	49	*	6	*
Druid	n.a.	n.a.	33	*	(NA)	—
Santeria	n.a.	n.a.	22	*	(NA)	—
Pagan	n.a.	n.a.	140	0.1	(NA)	—
Spiritualist	n.a.	n.a.	116	0.1	(NA)	—
Ethical Culture	n.a.	n.a.	4	*	(NA)	—
Other unclassified	n.a.	n.a.	386	0.2	837	0.5
No religion specified, total	34,169	15.0	29,481	14.2	14,331	8.2
Atheist	n.a.	n.a.	902	0.4	(NA)	—
Agnostic	n.a.	n.a.	991	0.5	1,186	0.7
Humanist	n.a.	n.a.	49	*	29	*
Secular	n.a.	n.a.	53	*	(NA)	—
No religion	34,169	15.0	27,486	13.2	13,116	7.5
Refused to reply to question	11,815	5.2	11,246	5.4	4,031	2.3

NOTES: n.a. indicates not available. * Less than 0.05%.

1. No denomination supplied.

2. These categories are the most unstable as they do not refer to clearly identifiable denominations as much as underlying feelings about religion. Thus they may be the most subject to fluctuation over time. In 2008, Evangelical and Born Again categories were combined; numbers reflect the total combination of the two groups.

3. Refers to Jews by religion only.

The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2001 was based on a random telephone survey of 50,281 (in 2008 there were 54,461 respondents) American residential households in the continental U.S.A. (48 states). Respondents were asked to describe themselves in terms of religion with an open-ended question. The self-description of respondents was not based on whether established religious bodies considered them to be members; rather, the survey sought to determine whether the respondents themselves regarded themselves as adherents of a religious community. These figures thus represent subjective, rather than objective, standards of religious identification. For the 2008 survey, many of previously designated religions were collated into 13 religious groupings. For example, Protestant Denomination: Churches of Christ, Seventh Day Adventist, Mennonite, Brethren, Apostle, Covenant, Christian Reform, Jehovah's Witness, Christian Science, Messianic Jews.

Source: 1990, Barry A. Kosmin and Seymour P. Lachman, '“One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society,”' 1993; 2001 data, Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, American Religious Identification Survey, 2001 (copyright). From Religion in a Free Market (Paramount Market Publishing, 2005); 2008 data, American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS 2008), on the web at ARIS 2008.

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