The headline number
Roughly 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christian — about 205 million people. That's down from about 78% in 2007 but Christianity remains the largest religious group in America by a wide margin.
Breakdown by tradition
- Protestants: ~40% of U.S. adults
- Roman Catholics: ~21% of U.S. adults
- Mormon (LDS): ~2%
- Eastern Orthodox: ~0.5%
- Jehovah's Witnesses: ~1%
Largest Christian denominations
- Roman Catholic Church — ~70 million
- Southern Baptist Convention — ~13 million
- United Methodist Church — ~6 million (post-2024 disaffiliation)
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — ~6.7 million
- Church of God in Christ — ~5 million
- National Baptist Convention USA — ~5 million
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) — ~3 million
- Assemblies of God — ~3 million
- Presbyterian Church (USA) — ~1.1 million
- Episcopal Church — ~1.5 million
Trends
- Decline of mainline Protestantism. ELCA, PC(USA), UMC, TEC, and UCC have lost members for decades.
- Growth of non-denominational. Independent congregations are the fastest-growing segment. See non-denominational churches.
- Catholic stability — partly through immigration. Hispanic and Asian Catholics offset losses among non-Hispanic whites.
- Rise of the “nones.” Religiously unaffiliated Americans (atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular”) are now ~28% of adults.
- Strong Black church. The historic Black church remains a vital institution. See the Black church guide.
Where Christians live
Christianity is most concentrated in the South (the “Bible Belt”) and parts of the Midwest. The Northeast and Pacific Northwest have the highest proportion of religiously unaffiliated.
- Most Christian states: Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas
- Least Christian states: Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii
Sources
Statistics drawn from the Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), Gallup, and denominational reports. Religious self-identification surveys vary by methodology; numbers above represent best-available consensus.