Religion in America

According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:

  • Just more than half of the American population is Protestant
  • Just less than a quarter are Catholic
  • Another 3 percent are other Christian; e.g., Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness or Orthodox
  • Just less than 2 percent are Jewish
  • Buddhists, Hindu, Muslim and other world religions account collectively for nearly 2 percent
  • Other faiths such as Unitarian, New Age or Native American account for about 1 percent
  • About 12 percent of Americans claim to be unaffiliated — half of these say religion is important, half say it is not
  • And 4 percent are non-believers

Other slices.

  • Roughly 10% of all Americans are former Catholics
  • 28% of the population has left the faith of their childhood for another religion – or none at all (44% if you count intra-Protestant changes)
  • 25% of 18-29 year olds say they are unaffiliated