Kern County, California

Religious Traditions, 2010

114,724	4,026	7,459	450	245,836	30,687	436,449
Evangelical Protestant	Black Protestant	Mainline Protestant	Orthodox	Catholic	Other	Unclaimed

Congregational adherents include all full members, their children, and others who regularly attend services. The 2010 reports contain incomplete counts of congregations and adherents belonging to the eight largest historically African-American denominations. These denominations are not included in the 2000 reports and are largely missing from the 1990 and 1980 reports.
[More information on the data sources]

Reports

Religious Bodies	Tradition	Family	Congregations	Adherents	Adherence Rate^†
Southern Baptist Convention	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	64	28,843	43.6
Assemblies of God	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	43	10,515	15.9
Churches of Christ	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	37	4,687	7.1
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The	Other	Latter-day Saints	35	13,821	20.9
Catholic Church	Catholic	Catholicism	30	168,455	254.6
Pentecostal Church of God	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	20	3,559	5.4
Foursquare Gospel, International Church of the	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	19	8,620	13.0
United Methodist Church, The	Mainline Protestant	Methodist/Pietist	18	4,251	6.4
Seventh-day Adventist Church	Evangelical Protestant	Adventist	17	3,840	5.8
Church of the Nazarene	Evangelical Protestant	Holiness	15	3,853	5.8
American Baptist Churches in the USA	Mainline Protestant	Baptist	14	4,477	6.8
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod	Evangelical Protestant	Lutheran	13	3,623	5.5
American Baptist Association, The	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	12	985	1.5
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	11	1,500	2.3
International Pentecostal Holiness Church	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	11	574	0.9
Episcopal Church	Mainline Protestant	Episcopalianism/Anglicanism	9	2,225	3.4
Church of God of Prophecy	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	8	457	0.7
U.S. Mennonite Brethren	Evangelical Protestant	European Free-Church	8	2,151	3.3
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	7	1,054	1.6
Calvary Chapel Fellowship Churches	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	6	---	---
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	Mainline Protestant	Lutheran	6	2,312	3.5
National Association of Free Will Baptists	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	6	385	0.6
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)	Mainline Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	6	2,288	3.5
United Church of Christ	Mainline Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	5	790	1.2
Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches	Evangelical Protestant	----	4	5,667	8.6
Wesleyan Church, The	Evangelical Protestant	Holiness	4	396	0.6
Buddhists	Other	Other Groups	3	---	---
Conservative Baptist Association of America	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	3	280	0.4
Evangelical Free Church of America, The	Evangelical Protestant	Methodist/Pietist	3	315	0.5
Muslim Estimate	Other	Other Groups	3	1,827	2.8
Salvation Army	Evangelical Protestant	Holiness	3	240	0.4
Christian and Missionary Alliance, The	Evangelical Protestant	Holiness	2	1,006	1.5
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)	Mainline Protestant	Baptist	2	608	0.9
Church of the Brethren	Evangelical Protestant	European Free-Church	2	223	0.3
Community of Christ	Other	Latter-day Saints	2	132	0.2
Converge Worldwide/Baptist General Conference	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	2	188	0.3
Independent, Charismatic Churches	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	2	680	1.0
Jewish	Other	Judaism	2	1,600	2.4
New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches and other Fundamental Bapti	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	2	326	0.5
Reformed Church in the United States	Evangelical Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	2	291	0.4
Vineyard USA	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	2	306	0.5
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, The	Orthodox	Eastern Liturgical (Orthodox)	1	4	0.0
Bahá'í	Other	Other Groups	1	144	0.2
Baptist Missionary Association of America	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	1	67	0.1
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)	Evangelical Protestant	Holiness	1	139	0.2
Churches of God, General Conference	Evangelical Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	1	112	0.2
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference	Evangelical Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	1	7	0.0
Coptic Orthodox Church	Orthodox	Eastern Liturgical (Orthodox)	1	---	---
Friends (Quakers)	Mainline Protestant	European Free-Church	1	353	0.5
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America	Orthodox	Eastern Liturgical (Orthodox)	1	282	0.4
Hindus	Other	Other Groups	1	---	---
Landmark Missionary Baptists, Independent Associations and Unaffiliated Churches	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	1	31	0.0
Mennonite; Other Groups	Evangelical Protestant	European Free-Church	1	20	0.0
Metropolitan Community Churches, Universal Fellowship of	Mainline Protestant	Other Groups	1	33	0.0
Missionary Church, The	Evangelical Protestant	Holiness	1	138	0.2
Presbyterian Church in America	Evangelical Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	1	41	0.1
Sikh	Other	Other Groups	1	---	---
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations	Other	Liberal	1	75	0.1
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod	Evangelical Protestant	Lutheran	1	15	0.0
African Methodist Episcopal Church	Black Protestant	Methodist/Pietist	---	---	---
American Association of Lutheran Churches	Evangelical Protestant	Lutheran	---	---	---
Anglican Church in North America	Evangelical Protestant	Episcopalianism/Anglicanism	---	---	---
Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland, OR	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	---	---	---
Association of Free Lutheran Congregations	Evangelical Protestant	Lutheran	---	---	---
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church	Black Protestant	Methodist/Pietist	---	---	---
Christian Reformed Church in North America	Evangelical Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	---	---	---
Church of Christ, Scientist	Other	Christian Science	---	---	---
Church of God (Seventh Day)	Evangelical Protestant	Adventist	---	---	---
Church of God in Christ	Black Protestant	Pentecostal	---	---	---
Evangelical Presbyterian Church	Evangelical Protestant	Presbyterian-Reformed	---	---	---
Free Methodist Church of North America	Evangelical Protestant	Holiness	---	---	---
Friends United Meeting *	Mainline Protestant	European Free-Church	---	---	---
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship	Black Protestant	Baptist	---	---	---
Holy Orthodox Church in North America	Orthodox	Eastern Liturgical (Orthodox)	---	---	---
Independent Fundamental Churches of America	Evangelical Protestant	Ind. Fundamentalist	---	---	---
International Churches of Christ	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	---	---	---
Jehovah's Witnesses	Other	Adventist	---	---	---
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ	Evangelical Protestant	Lutheran	---	---	---
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.	Black Protestant	Baptist	---	---	---
Non-denominational	Evangelical Protestant	----	---	---	---
Orthodox Judaism	Other	Judaism	---	---	---
Reform Judaism	Other	Judaism	---	---	---
Reformed Baptist Churches	Evangelical Protestant	Baptist	---	---	---
United Holy Church of America, Inc.	Black Protestant	Pentecostal	---	---	---
United Pentecostal Church International	Evangelical Protestant	Pentecostal	---	---	---
Unity Churches, Association of	Other	Other Groups	---	---	---
Zoroastrian	Other	Other Groups	---	---	---
		Totals:	481	288,811

The population of Kern County, California was 661,645 in 2000; in 1990 it was 543,477. The total population changed 21.7%. The adherent totals of the religious groups listed above (288,811) included 43.7% of the total population in 2000.

^* In an effort to better match the ASARB standards for adherents, a few religious bodies changed the way their adherents were reported in 2010, including the Catholic Church, Amish groups, Friends groups, Jewish groups, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Non-denominational Christian Churches, and the United Methodist Church. This change does not affect any of the data in the newly released 2010 U.S. Religion Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study. In fact, the data for these groups are now more comparable to that of other bodies than it was in previous decadal reports.

However, the change in methodology can distort assessments on growth or decline between 2000 and 2010 for each of these groups. County-level 2000 data using the new methodology are not readily available. ASARB staff has adjusted some 2000 county-level adherent statistics to allow for a more accurate picture on growth or decline. The revised maps and charts are now available on-line at www.usreligioncensus.org for those who are interested in these trends.

Source

2010 data were collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and include statistics for 236 religious groups, providing information on the number of their congregations and adherents within each state and county in the United States. Clifford Grammich, Kirk Hadaway, Richard Houseal, Dale E. Jones, Alexei Krindatch, Richie Stanley and Richard H. Taylor supervised the collection. These data originally appeared in 2010 U.S. Religion Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study, published by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). [More information on the data collection]

^†The adherence rate provides the number of adherents of a particular group per 1,000 population. For example, in 2010 the Episcopal Church had an adherence rate of 7.6 in Autauga County, Alabama. This means that about 8 out of every 1,000 people in Autauga County were Episcopalian.