Since Pew Research Center began conducting its religious landscape study in 2007, Christianity in the U.S. has faced a steady and precipitous decline, with those identifying as Christian decreasing from 78% in 2007 to 62% in 2024. However, this hemorrhaging appears to have halted, as indicated by Pew polls over the past few years, culminating in a seven-month study of 36,908 U.S. adults from 2023 to 2024.
Pew surveys since 2020 have found that the percentage of U.S. adults identifying as Christian hovers around 60%-64%. The most recent Religious Landscape Study, the third since 2007, placed the share of U.S. Christians at 62%.
The regular annual religious surveys, which are smaller in sample size, found a slight increase in Christians over the past two years, from a low of 60% in 2022 to 63% in 2024.
Of the 62%, 40% are Protestant, 19% are Catholic, and the remaining 3% are “other.” Orthodox Christians’ share of the population breached 1%.
Those belonging to religions that aren’t Christianity now lie at 7.1%. Notably, Muslims and Buddhists earned a share of the population greater than 1% for the first time, at 1.2% and 1.1%, respectively. Hindus are close behind at 0.9%, while Jews make up the largest non-Christian religion at 1.7%.
The rise of “nones,” the religiously unaffiliated, appears to have ended at 29%. Those firmly identifying as atheists are vanishing low at 5%, while agnostics are at 6%. The largest share is those identifying as “nothing in particular,” at 19%.
told the New York Times that the switch could be part of the increasing polarization of religion along political lines, as young men are much more conservative than young women.
While the lower levels of religiosity among younger generations could drag the share of Christians down over time, some speculate the current results show the natural ceiling of “nones.”
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“The ‘nones’ have run through the easy parts of the market, and now they’re hitting the bedrock of committed evangelicals” and theological traditionalists in other faiths, Eastern Illinois University political scientist Ryan Burge said. Going forward, “if you’re going to make advances, you have to make advances with conservatives.”
Though the overall percentage of those identifying with a religion has declined, the survey showed Americans are still highly spiritual, especially compared to Europe. Of those surveyed, 86% believe in having a soul or spirit, 83% believe in God or a universal spirit, 79% believe in something spiritual beyond the physical world, and 70% believe in heaven, hell, or both.