US religious groups' age, education, income, race & gender profiles with other demographics

Like the country’s overall population, many U.S. religious groups have experienced a decline in the share of adults who identify as White, according to the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS).

Today, 61% of U.S. Christians are non-Hispanic White, compared with 66% in 2014 and 70% in 2007. There has been a similar decline in the share of White adults in the religiously unaffiliated category.⁸⁷

Table showing trends in the racial composition of U.S. Christians and religiously unaffiliated adults

Meanwhile, there has been growth or stability in the shares of Christians who identify as Black, Hispanic or Asian.⁸⁸

For example, Hispanic Americans now make up 18% of Christians, compared with 13% in 2007. And Asian Americans now make up 7% of the religiously unaffiliated, compared with 4% in 2007.

There have been other demographic changes as well. The median age of Christians has risen to 54, from 49 in 2014 and 46 in 2007. The median age of adults who identify with other religions is lower (41) and has not changed much since 2014 and 2007. The median age of religiously unaffiliated adults in the new survey is 38, which also is in line with both 2014 and 2007.

Line chart showing the median age of U.S. Christian adults is higher now than in 2007

Women continue to make up a majority of Christians. But, today, women also account for nearly half of all religiously unaffiliated Americans (47%). In the 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies, the religiously unaffiliated population was composed much more heavily of men than of women.

Read on for more details about the demographic traits of U.S. religious groups:

Race and ethnicity
Immigration and region of birth
Citizenship and civic engagement
U.S. geographic distribution
Age
Gender and sexual orientation
Education
Income and employment status

Race and ethnicity

Many of the country’s large religious groups – including evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics – continue to have White, non-Hispanic majorities. So does the country’s religiously unaffiliated population. Among “nones” – i.e., people who answer a question about their current religion by saying they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – 63% identify as non-Hispanic White.

Among evangelical Protestants, 70% are White, 12% are Hispanic and 7% are Black. Among mainline Protestants, 79% are White and 6% each are Black or Hispanic. Members of the historically Black Protestant tradition continue to be predominantly Black, though about 3% of U.S. adults who affiliate with that tradition identify as White and 4% are Hispanic.

Table showing racial and ethnic composition of U.S. religious groups

Among U.S. Catholics, the share of Hispanic adults has increased from 29% in 2007 to 36% in the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS).⁸⁹ U.S. Jews remain predominantly White and non-Hispanic (90%).⁹⁰

Meanwhile, 84% of Hindus are Asian, as are 56% of Buddhists. Among U.S. Muslims, 30% are Asian, 30% are White, 20% are Black, 11% are Hispanic and 7% are multiracial or identify with another race. White Americans make up roughly three-quarters of adults who identify as atheist (75%) or agnostic (74%), but just 57% of adults who identify religiously as “nothing in particular.”

Immigration and region of birth

Immigrants make up much higher percentages of some non-Christian religions than they do of U.S. Christians.⁹¹

Table showing most U.S. Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim adults were born in another country or have at least one parent who was born outside the U.S.

People born outside the United States account for notably large shares of Hindus (77%), Muslims (59%) and Buddhists (55%). Foreign-born Hindus and Buddhists most often were born in the Asia-Pacific region, while Muslim immigrants’ regions of origin are more varied.

Orthodox Christians also include a relatively high percentage of immigrants (42%), including 21% who were born in Europe. An additional 27% of Orthodox Christians have at least one parent who was born outside the U.S.

Much smaller shares of Christians as a whole (17%), the religiously unaffiliated (16%) and Jews (13%) were born outside the U.S. Most Christians, Jews and religiously unaffiliated Americans say their families have been in the U.S. for at least three generations.

(Read more about the religion of immigrants to the U.S. in our recent report “The Religious Composition of the World’s Migrants.”)

Table showing two-thirds of U.S. Hindus and 45% of Buddhists were born in the Asia-Pacific region

Citizenship and civic engagement

Citizenship

Most U.S. religious groups are comprised largely of U.S. citizens. This includes majorities of Jews (98%), Christians (93%), Buddhists (89%) and Muslims (78%). Hindus (57%) living in the United States are less likely to be U.S. citizens.

Table showing 93% of U.S. Christians and religiously unaffiliated adults are American citizens

Voter registration

About three-quarters of Christians and Jews are registered to vote, as are roughly two-thirds of religiously unaffiliated adults.

Table showing roughly three-quarters of U.S. Christians and Jews are registered voters, as are two-thirds of religiously unaffiliated adults

The survey finds that 56% of Buddhists, 55% of Muslims and 42% of Hindus are registered to vote. The share of Buddhists who say they are not sure if they are registered to vote stands at 21% – higher than among other groups.

Relatively large shares of Muslims and Hindus indicate that they are not citizens and so are not eligible to vote.

Volunteering

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (widely known as Mormons) are the only group in this analysis with more than half of adults who say they have volunteered for any organization in the past 12 months (72% say this).

Table showing 72% of Latter-day Saints say they volunteered in the past year

U.S. geographic distribution

Overall, 42% of U.S. Christians live in the South. That includes 64% of adults in the historically Black Protestant tradition and 52% of evangelical Christians.

Table showing 64% of members of historically Black Protestant churches, 52% of evangelicals live in the South

Roughly seven-in-ten Latter-day Saints live in the West, as do around half of Buddhists.

About four-in-ten Jews (42%) live in the Northeast.

Religiously unaffiliated adults are less likely than Christians to live in the South.

Age

Mainline Protestants, Catholics and evangelical Protestants are among the country’s oldest religiously affiliated populations. People ages 50 and older make up a majority of mainline Protestants (64%), Catholics (57%) and evangelical Protestants (54%).

Muslims and Hindus are much younger, on average, than other U.S. religious groups: About three-quarters of adults in each group are under 50. And a third of U.S. Muslim adults are younger than 30.

The country’s religiously unaffiliated population is relatively young as well. Roughly seven-in-ten U.S. adults with no religion are under 50, compared with 44% of religiously affiliated adults.

Table showing most evangelicals, mainline Protestants and Catholics are ages 50 and older; roughly three-quarters of Muslims, Hindus, atheists and agnostics are under 50

The median age of Christians overall has risen from 46 in 2007 to 55 in 2024. This is a trend that can be seen within most of the Christian subgroups large enough to analyze in this survey.

Among the religiously unaffiliated and adherents of non-Christian religions, the median age has remained relatively stable since 2007.

Table showing the median age of U.S. Christians is up from 2007

Gender and sexual orientation

Most Christian groups in this analysis have more women than men. The gap is widest among members of historically Black Protestant churches (64% women, 35% men).

Table showing women make up a majority of U.S. Christians but fewer than half of atheists and agnostics

On the other hand, atheists and agnostics have greater shares of men than women.

Surveys consistently show that in the U.S., women, on average, are more religious than men on a variety of measures. (Read more about the connections between gender and religiousness in the report Overview.)

At the same time, the gender ratio of the religiously unaffiliated has become more balanced over time. In 2007, about 41% of religiously unaffiliated adults were women, while 59% were men. Today, 47% of unaffiliated Americans are women, 50% are men and 3% identify in some other way (an option that was not available in the 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies).⁹²

Table showing U.S. ‘nones’ are more likely than Christians to identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual

There are more men than women among Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist respondents in the survey. However, given the relatively small samples sizes of these groups, the shares of these groups who are men are not statistically significantly larger than the shares who are women.⁹³

In terms of sexual orientation, atheists and agnostics are notably more likely than other U.S. adults to describe their sexual orientation as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Education

Hindus and Jews are, on average, the most highly educated religious groups in the U.S. Roughly seven-in-ten Hindus and two-thirds of Jews have a bachelor’s degree or more education.

Roughly half of agnostics (53%) and atheists (48%) have a bachelor’s degree or more education, as do 32% of Christians.

Table showing that on average, Hindus and Jews have the highest levels of educational attainment among U.S. religious groups

Income and employment status

Of the religious groups in this analysis, Hindus and Jews tend to have the highest family incomes. Roughly half or more of adults in each of these two groups report an annual household income of $100,000 or more.

Table showing that among U.S. religious groups, Hindus and Jews have the highest household incomes

Additionally, roughly three-in-ten Catholics and mainline Protestants report annual household incomes of $100,000 or more.

Relatively few members of historically Black Protestant churches (14%) are in this highest income bracket.

Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, 48% of atheists and 43% of agnostics have a household income of $100,000 or more.

Among religiously unaffiliated adults, 55% are currently working full time for pay, as are 58% of Hindu adults. Half of Muslim adults are working full time, as are 48% of Buddhists, 46% of Jews and 44% of Christians.

About a quarter of Christians (27%) and Jews (24%) are retired. Christians and Jews also are among the religious groups most likely to be ages 65 or older.

Table showing that in the U.S., Christians and Jews are more likely than others to be retired

In the 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies, demographic results were re-percentaged to exclude people who did not answer the question, whereas in the current analysis, the percentages shown account for those who did not answer. As a result, numbers shown in this chapter for 2007 and 2014 may differ slightly from the numbers published in the original reports.↩

The survey asked respondents two questions about their race and ethnicity. First, respondents were asked, “Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, such as Mexican, Puerto Rican or Cuban?” Then, respondents were asked, “What is your race or origin? [Please mark all that apply.] White; Black or African American; Asian or Asian American; American Indian or Alaska Native; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; Some other race or origin (please specify).”↩

While the share of Catholics who are Latino is growing, the share of Latinos who are Catholic is declining. For additional details, refer to Chapter 1 of this report, and to our report “Among U.S. Latinos, Catholicism Continues to Decline but is Still the Largest Faith.”↩

For more on the racial and ethnic composition of U.S. Jews, refer to Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey of Jewish Americans.↩

For the purposes of this analysis, the “First generation” category of people born outside the U.S. includes those born in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. Although individuals born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens by birth, they are included with the “First generation” category here because they are born into a Spanish-dominant culture and because, on many points, their attitudes, views and beliefs are much closer to those of Hispanics born outside the U.S. than to Hispanics born in the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia, even those who identify themselves as being of Puerto Rican origin.↩

For more details about comparing results across the three Religious Landscape Studies, refer to Appendix A. For a discussion of the religious composition of men and women, refer to Chapter 1.↩

The share of Hindus in the new survey who are men is much higher than in other Pew Research Center studies. In our 2023 survey of Asian Americans, 52% of Hindus say they are men (84% of Hindus in the 2023-24 RLS are Asian). And in the 2014 RLS, 62% of Hindu respondents are men. In the new survey, there is some evidence to suggest that in Hindu households containing multiple adults, the responding adult was more likely to be a man than would be expected if the selection were fully random.↩