U.S. Membership Report

Maps & Reports > U.S. Report

United States

Denominational Groups, 2000

39,994,852 26,091,321 989,106 62,035,042 12,254,099 140,057,419
Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Orthodox Catholic Other Unclaimed

Congregational "adherents" include all full members, their children, and others who regularly attend services. The historically African American denominations are not included in the 2000 congregation and membership totals. Many are also missing in 1990 and most historically African American denominations are missing in the 1980 reports.
[More information on the data sources]

Reports


Religious Bodies Theology Congregations Adherents % Change
Catholic Church Catholic -650 +8,649,044 16.2%
Southern Baptist Convention Evangelical Protestant +3,592 +940,785 5.0%
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Other Theology +2,307 +683,206 19.3%
Assemblies of God Evangelical Protestant +731 +400,388 18.5%
Salvation Army, The Evangelical Protestant +165 +287,483 225.3%
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) Evangelical Protestant +616 +279,124 40.2%
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant +233 +226,065 18.6%
Jewish Estimate Other Theology -248 +158,796 2.7%
Independent, Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant -208 +140,914 17.7%
Wesleyan Church, The Evangelical Protestant 0 +121,719 46.9%
Evangelical Free Church of America, The Evangelical Protestant +319 +104,007 57.2%
Presbyterian Church in America Evangelical Protestant +280 +93,901 42.4%
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Evangelical Protestant +399 +92,275 36.2%
International Pentecostal Holiness Church Evangelical Protestant +353 +84,100 53.3%
Baptist General Conference Evangelical Protestant +80 +71,046 42.3%
Christian and Missionary Alliance, The Evangelical Protestant +81 +59,241 21.8%
Evangelical Presbyterian Church Evangelical Protestant +41 +34,743 76.4%
Old Missionary Baptists Associations Evangelical Protestant +229 +33,581 206.2%
Christian Reformed Church in North America Evangelical Protestant +24 +22,775 10.1%
Seventh-day Adventist Church Evangelical Protestant +293 +19,984 2.2%
Church of the Nazarene Evangelical Protestant +42 +19,208 2.2%
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference Evangelical Protestant +73 +15,340 43.1%
Free Methodist Church of North America Evangelical Protestant -88 +13,471 16.3%
Pentecostal Church of God Evangelical Protestant +2 +10,849 11.9%
Missionary Church, The Evangelical Protestant -19 +9,580 24.0%
Mennonite Brethren Churches, U.S. Conference of Evangelical Protestant +37 +6,045 27.4%
Brethren In Christ Church Evangelical Protestant +28 +5,743 29.1%
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) Evangelical Protestant -50 +5,733 2.5%
North American Baptist Conference Evangelical Protestant +23 +5,535 10.2%
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church Orthodox +6 +5,390 36.9%
Baptist Missionary Association of America Evangelical Protestant -52 +5,270 1.8%
Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, The Evangelical Protestant +31 +4,782 17.5%
Apostolic Christian Church of America, Inc. Evangelical Protestant +5 +4,171 21.1%
Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Evangelical Protestant +25 +2,802 22.4%
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Protestant +55 +2,409 6.3%
Evangelical Mennonite Church Evangelical Protestant +8 +1,503 29.3%
International Pentecostal Church of Christ Evangelical Protestant -11 +1,351 32.9%
Hutterian Brethren Evangelical Protestant +12 +1,263 11.4%
Beachy Amish Mennonite Churches Evangelical Protestant +11 +1,179 14.3%
Apostolic Christian Churches (Nazarean) Evangelical Protestant +2 +877 24.9%
Churches of God, General Conference Evangelical Protestant -16 +705 1.7%
Reformed Church in the United States Evangelical Protestant +3 +514 13.8%
Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church Evangelical Protestant +2 +503 13.0%
Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, North American Dioceses Orthodox +1 +472 1.4%
Wayne Trail Missionary Baptist Association Evangelical Protestant +2 +289 11.7%
Old Order River Brethren Evangelical Protestant -2 +26 5.1%
Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists Evangelical Protestant +1 -22 -25.3%
Fundamental Methodist Conference, Inc. Evangelical Protestant 0 -28 -2.7%
Brethren Church, The (Ashland, Ohio) Evangelical Protestant -5 -65 -0.4%
General Six Principle Baptists Evangelical Protestant -1 -147 -85.5%
Midwest Congregational Christian Fellowship Evangelical Protestant -1 -175 -9.3%
Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches Evangelical Protestant +1 -278 -13.3%
New Hope Baptist Association Evangelical Protestant -2 -378 -12.0%
Church of God General Conference Evangelical Protestant +1 -445 -8.3%
Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection Evangelical Protestant -5 -662 -26.2%
Duck River and Kindred Baptists Associations Evangelical Protestant -3 -673 -5.1%
Enterprise Baptists Association Evangelical Protestant -5 -712 -11.9%
Netherlands Reformed Congregations Evangelical Protestant 0 -727 -14.1%
Church of God of Prophecy Evangelical Protestant -243 -755 -0.8%
Moravian Church in America--Southern Province Mainline Protestant +4 -1,505 -7.1%
Jasper Baptist and Pleasant Valley Baptist Associations Evangelical Protestant -9 -2,131 -23.1%
Interstate & Foreign Landmark Missionary Baptists Association Evangelical Protestant -8 -2,166 -11.8%
Moravian Church in America--Alaska Province Mainline Protestant +2 -2,776 -52.0%
Primitive Methodist Church in the USA Evangelical Protestant -2 -3,141 -39.6%
Moravian Church in America--Northern Province Mainline Protestant -5 -5,378 -17.2%
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Other Theology +34 -7,495 -3.9%
Cumberland Presbyterian Church Evangelical Protestant -31 -13,354 -14.7%
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches Mainline Protestant +27 -14,730 -14.9%
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Evangelical Protestant +49 -14,850 -3.5%
Church of the Brethren Evangelical Protestant -47 -15,307 -8.2%
Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch Orthodox -6 -16,155 -53.9%
Friends (Quakers) Mainline Protestant +6 -17,398 -13.3%
Congregational Christian Churches, Additional (not part of any national CCC body) Mainline Protestant -128 -18,858 -51.4%
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Mainline Protestant -696 -19,973 -1.9%
Old Order Amish Church Evangelical Protestant +460 -24,764 -20.3%
Armenian Apostolic Church / Catholicossate of Cilicia Orthodox +16 -26,946 -36.8%
Reformed Church in America Mainline Protestant -21 -27,255 -7.5%
Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant -70 -35,429 -2.1%
Mennonite Church USA Evangelical Protestant -433 -38,865 -19.9%
National Association of Free Will Baptists Evangelical Protestant +5 -39,278 -13.4%
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Evangelical Protestant +57 -82,663 -3.2%
Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant -279 -90,404 -7.5%
American Baptist Churches in the USA Mainline Protestant -246 -106,269 -5.7%
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Mainline Protestant -173 -113,380 -2.2%
Episcopal Church Mainline Protestant -19 -130,530 -5.3%
United Church of Christ Mainline Protestant -397 -294,541 -14.8%
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mainline Protestant -327 -411,769 -11.6%
United Methodist Church, The Mainline Protestant -1,517 -740,403 -6.7%
Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America Orthodox 0 n.a. n.a.
Conservative Baptist Association of America Evangelical Protestant +70 n.a. n.a.
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Orthodox +3 n.a. n.a.
Orthodox Church in America: Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese Orthodox -1 n.a. n.a.
Orthodox Church in America: Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America Orthodox +13 n.a. n.a.
Orthodox Church in America: Territorial Dioceses Orthodox -56 n.a. n.a.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Orthodox +81 n.a. n.a.
  Totals: +4,861 +10,305,407 +8.1%

The population of the United States in 1990 was 248,709,766; in 2000 it was 281,421,839. The total population changed 13.2%. The adherent totals for 1990 (137,064,509) represent 55.1% of the 1990 population. The adherent totals for 2000 (141,364,420) include 50.2% of the 2000 population.There is sufficient data for 88 groups to calculate 1990-2000 change. These 88 groups had 126,721,485 adherents in 1990 and 137,026,892 adherents in 2000, for a change of 8.1%

Sources

The 2000 data were collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and includes statistics for 149 religious groups, including number of churches and adherents. Dale E. Jones, Sherri Doty, Clifford Grammich, James E. Horsch, Richard Houseal, Mac Lynn, John P. Marcum, Kenneth M. Sanchagrin and Richard H. Taylor supervised the collection. These data originally appeared in Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States, 2000, published by the Glenmary Research Center.

The 1990 data were collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and include statistics for 132 religious groups, including number of churches and adherents. Martin B. Bradley, Norman M. Green, Jr., Dale E. Jones, Mac Lynn, and Lou McNeil supervised the collection. These data originally appeared in Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1990, published by the Glenmary Research Center.

[More information on these data sources]