Religious Congregations & Membership: 2000

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Key Findings
Presented by Dale Jones, chair of the ASARB operations committee, responsible for the Religious Congregations Membership Study (RCMS 2000) which has resulted in the data published as Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States: 2000.

Overall

RCMS finds 140 million “religious adherents” claimed by 149 religious bodies.
Half (50.2%) of all Americans are associated with one of the 149 religious groups who participated in this study.

The three largest religious bodies in the United States, according to RCMS, are Catholics (62 million), Southern Baptists (20 million), and United Methodists (10 million). (Rankings available.)

The 149 reporting bodies can be classified as
• Protestant, with 66 million adherents in 222,000 congregations;
• Catholic, with 62 million adherents in nearly 22,000 congregations;
• Jewish, with 6 million adherents in 3,727 congregations (this data is based on different estimating procedures; see appendix of the book);
• Mormon, with 4 million adherents in 12,000 congregations;
• Muslim, with 1.6 million adherents in over 1,000 congregations (this data is based on different estimating procedures; see appendix of the book);
• Eastern Christians (including Orthodox), with nearly 1 million adherents in 2,000 congregations;
• Eastern religions, reporting about 150,000 adherents in 4,000 congregations. (Many Eastern religions do not have a concept of formal membership in local congregations, so the adherent figure is not completely comparable to the other religious families.)
• Unitarian Universalist Assocation, with about 180,000 adherents in 1,000 congregations.

State Statistics

Utah (74%) and North Dakota (73%) have the largest percent of people claimed by participating groups. The District of Columbia is also at 73%. Oregon (31%) and Washington (33%) are at the bottom of the list. (Rankings available.)

North Dakota (426) and West Virginia (437) have the lowest ratio of population to congregations. That is, there is one congregation in North Dakota for every 426 people. Nevada is at the other extreme, with 2,130 people for each congregation. (Rankings available.) If participating congregations were responsible for ministry to the entire community, Nevada’s congregations would have five times as many people to serve as do the congregations of North Dakota and West Virginia.

Surprisingly, with so many congregations for the population, West Virginia is one of the least claimed states in this study. With only 36% of the population claimed by any of the participating groups, West Virginia is the fifth least claimed state in the country.

Massachusetts may no longer rank in the top 10 states based on population according to the US census figures, but it is number 10 in total adherents reported in this study. (Rankings available.) And Alaska may have passed Vermont and Wyoming in total number of people according to U.S. census data, but it has the fewest religious adherents claimed by participating groups in this study.

Catholics have the largest number of adherents in 37 states and the District of Columbia. The Southern Baptist Convention has the largest number of adherents in 10 states, all in the South. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has the most adherents in Idaho and Utah, and the United Methodists have the most adherents in West Virginia.

Catholics are one of the four largest groups in every state of the union as well as in the District of Columbia. United Methodists are one of the top four groups in 38 states, and Southern Baptists make the top four in 28 states and the District of Columbia. The Latter-Day Saints and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America are both among the top four in 13 states, and the Jewish adherents are in the top four in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Twelve other groups make the top four in anywhere from one to eight states.

County/Metropolitan Area Statistics

In addition to state statistics, RCMS allows further studies to be done by county. The counties with the largest number of people and congregations claimed by participating groups are:
• Los Angeles County, Calif. (5.5 million people in 4,044 congregations)
• Cook County, (Chicago), Ill. (3.1 million people in 2,346 congregations)
• Harris County (Houston), Texas (1.7 million people in 1,587 congregations). (Other rankings are available.)

Loving County, Texas, is the only county where none of the 149 groups in the study report congregations or adherents.

If the five boroughs of New York City are reported as a whole, the city claims 4.8 million adherents in 3,088 congregations.

Counties can be combined into metropolitan areas as defined at the time of the US census. The Boston metro area, for example, is seventh largest in population, but has the fourth largest number of adherents according to RCMS. With its 3.9 million adherents, it ranks right after New York (13.2 million), Los Angeles (8.5 million) and Chicago (5.1 million).

In number of congregations, New York (9,586) and Los Angeles (7,079) rank first and second, but Washington, DC at 4,806 edges out Chicago at 4,459 for third place. (Rankings available.)

Six metro areas have more than three-fourths of their population claimed by participating groups:
• Provo, Utah (90%)
• Lafayette, La. (80%)
• Bismarck, N.D. (79%)
• Dubuque, Iowa (78%)
• Las Cruces, N.M. (77%)
• Houma, La. (75%).

Four metros report less than one in four claimed by the participating groups: Medford, Oregon (22%), Corvallis, Oregon (23%), Redding, Calif. (24%), and Eugene, Ore. (24%). (Complete list available.)

The West tends to have the smallest percentage of persons claimed overall, and the four metro areas with the lowest percentage of claimed are all along I-5 from Corvallis, Ore. to Redding, Calif.

In most US counties, the largest single religious group is either Catholic (40%) or Southern Baptist (39%). United Methodists (8%), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (5%), and Latter-Day Saints (3%) are the only other groups that are the largest in more than 1% of the 3,141 counties or county equivalents.

United Methodists are actually the most widespread religious group in the study. They are present in 3,003 (96%) of the nation’s 3,141 counties or county equivalents. Catholics (95%), Southern Baptists (85%), Assemblies of God (83%), Churches of Christ (77%), Baha’i (77%), and Presbyterian Church (USA) (76%) are present in more than three-fourths of the nation’s counties. (List available.)

There is no significant difference between metro and non-metro areas when it comes to religious adherents. In metro areas, 50% of the population is claimed by RCMS participants and in non-metro areas 51%.

As a group, the 48 metro areas with 1 million or more population (as defined at the time of the U.S. census) reported that 50% of the population is claimed by participating groups, the same percentage claimed in the nation’s 228 smaller metros.

The population per congregation, however, is dramatically different. Within metropolitan areas, there is one congregation for every 1,427 people. The ratio is one congregation for 1,702 people in metros with at least 1 million people and one congregation for every 1,023 people in smaller metropolitan areas. With less population concentration, there are relatively more congregations in the non-metro areas, so that there is one congregation for every 504 people.

Of the 48 metro areas with 1 million or more people, Catholics are the largest single group in 37. Southern Baptists are the largest in 10 of these areas, all in the South, and the Latter-Day Saints are the largest in the Salt Lake City metro.

While the Southern Baptists dominate many Southern metro areas, the Catholics are larger in most Texas and Florida metros as well as in New Orleans. (Lists available.)

For all metropolitan areas, Catholics are the largest group in nearly two-thirds (63% or 173 areas) and the Southern Baptists are largest in nearly all the rest (32% or 89 areas). The Latter-Day Saints (6 metros), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (4 metros), United Methodists (3 metros), and American Baptists (1 metro) have a plurality of adherents in less than 5% of the metros.

Congregational Statistics

Catholics are easily the largest single religious group in the United States with over 60 million adherents. As a group, however, Protestants outnumber Catholics in this country. While the largest single Protestant group is the Southern Baptist Convention with 20 million adherents, the combined Protestant groups report 66 million adherents.

Catholics outnumber Protestants and Mormons in 20 states. Mormons are larger than Catholics or Protestants in two states, and Protestants are the largest group in 28 states and the District of Columbia.

Protestants are the largest of the reporting groups in 178 of 276 US metro areas. Catholics are the largest in 85, and Mormons in three.

Catholics are the largest group in the 3 largest metros, in 7 of the 10 largest, and in 15 of the 25 largest US metro areas.

The non-metropolitan areas of the nation are overwhelmingly Protestant, with nearly 20 million adherents, compared to 6 million Catholics and 1 million Mormons. The largest of the smaller groups in non-metro areas is Jewish, with 50,000 reported adherents.

Protestants are the largest group in most U.S. counties (2,493 of 3,141). Catholics are largest in 578 counties; and they are the largest group in 8 of the 10 most populous counties. Mormons are the largest group in 66 counties, and Orthodox are largest in 3 county equivalents, all in Alaska.

Additional Resources:
• Methodology and Cautions
• Media release dated Sept. 20, 2002
• Key findings for specific religious bodies
• Glossary of terms/abbreviations
• History and background of the study
• Resource people to contact
• Listings and rankings
• Maps
• To preview of the study online
• To order