Metro Area Membership Report

Maps & Reports > Select Metro Area > Metro Area Report

Columbia, SC MSA

Denominational Groups, 2000

121,011 92,027 858 19,242 7,806 295,747
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 Adherence Rate
Southern Baptist Convention Evangelical Protestant 132 91,039 169.6
United Methodist Church, The Mainline Protestant 64 38,669 72.1
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Mainline Protestant 58 25,960 48.4
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mainline Protestant 19 14,800 27.6
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) Evangelical Protestant 18 2,830 5.3
International Pentecostal Holiness Church Evangelical Protestant 17 2,915 5.4
Episcopal Church Mainline Protestant 16 9,396 17.5
Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 15 1,760 3.3
Assemblies of God Evangelical Protestant 12 3,587 6.7
Presbyterian Church in America Evangelical Protestant 11 6,024 11.2
Church of the Nazarene Evangelical Protestant 11 2,525 4.7
Catholic Church Catholic 11 19,242 35.9
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Protestant 10 4,348 8.1
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Other Theology 9 2,809 5.2
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) Evangelical Protestant 5 484 0.9
Bahá'í Other Theology 5 792 1.5
Seventh-day Adventist Church Evangelical Protestant 5 1,422 2.7
Wesleyan Church, The Evangelical Protestant 3 361 0.7
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Evangelical Protestant 3 580 1.1
American Baptist Churches in the USA Mainline Protestant 3 2,747 5.1
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 3 564 1.1
Church of God of Prophecy Evangelical Protestant 3 133 0.3
Independent, Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant 2 700 1.3
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Mainline Protestant 2 322 0.6
Christian and Missionary Alliance, The Evangelical Protestant 2 301 0.6
Jewish Estimate Other Theology 2 2,750 5.1
Muslim Estimate Other Theology 2 1,218 2.3
National Association of Free Will Baptists Evangelical Protestant 2 123 0.2
Southwide Baptist Fellowship Evangelical Protestant 2 n.a. n.a.
Calvary Chapel Fellowship Churches Evangelical Protestant 2 n.a. n.a.
Evangelical Presbyterian Church Evangelical Protestant 1 63 0.1
Buddhism Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Church of God General Conference Evangelical Protestant 1 8 0.0
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, The Orthodox 1 0 0.0
Friends (Quakers) Mainline Protestant 1 79 0.2
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Other Theology 1 237 0.4
International Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 1 606 1.1
Orthodox Church in America: Territorial Dioceses Orthodox 1 75 0.1
Primitive Baptist Churches--Old Line Evangelical Protestant 1 n.a. n.a.
Community of Christ Evangelical Protestant 1 39 0.1
Hindu Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Orthodox 1 783 1.5
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Evangelical Protestant 1 232 0.4
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Evangelical Protestant 1 111 0.2
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Mainline Protestant 1 54 0.1
Salvation Army, The Evangelical Protestant 1 225 0.4
Conservative Mennonite Conference Evangelical Protestant 1 31 0.1
Totals (Unadjusted)*: 466 240,944  
Total (Adjusted)**:   346,516  
The population of these 2 counties (or equivalents) in 1990 was 453,331; in 2000 it was 536,691. The total population changed 18.4%. The unadjusted adherent totals of the religious groups listed above (240,944) include 44.9% of the total population in 2000. The adjusted total adherents (346,516) include 64.6% of the population.

Source

*The “Unadjusted Totals” come from the 1990 and 2000 data collected by representatives of the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). While quite comprehensive, this data excludes most of the historically African-American denominations and some other major groups. As a result, these numbers will be an underestimate of the total adherence rate, particularly in areas with a large African-American population. The 2000 data included 149 religious groups and the final results are published in Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000. Copyright © 2002, All rights reserved. The 1990 data included 132 groups and the final results are published in Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990 Copyright © 1990, All rights reserved. Published by Glenmary Research Center, 1312 Fifth Ave., North, Nashville, TN 37208. www.glenmary.org/grc [More information on the data collection]

**The “Adjusted Totals” include all adherents in the denominations counted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and estimates adherent totals for the historically African-American denominations and other religious groups not listed in the ASARB totals. An article by Roger Finke and Christopher P. Scheitle (2005) reviews how these estimates were computed.

The adherence rate provides the number of adherents of a particular group per 1,000 population. For example, in 2000 the Episcopal Church had an adherence rate of approximately 8 (8.1) in Autauga County, Alabama. This means that 8 out of every 1,000 people in Autauga county are Episcopalian.

[More information on the data source]