The U.South. population is undergoing a diversity of demographic changes. For example, racial and indigenous diversity has been increasing as non-Hispanic whites have declined as a share of the population. And the share of adults who are married has been declining for decades. These broader changes are reflected within many of the major religious groups in the U.Due south. Since 2007, well-nigh religious groups take exhibited a decline in the non-Hispanic white share of their populations and a rise in the Hispanic share. And union rates are downwards among several religious groups.

Nonetheless, at that place is some variation among religious groups in the direction and magnitude of demographic changes. For instance, while the evangelical and mainline Protestant traditions have become somewhat more racially diverse, the share of Mormons who are non-Hispanic whites has inappreciably budged. Hispanics plant a greater share of the Cosmic population than of any other religious grouping; fully one-tertiary of U.Southward. Cosmic adults are Hispanics.

The data also show that religious groups that are growing tend to be younger than average and getting younger, while religious groups that are shrinking tend to exist relatively quondam and getting older.

This chapter provides a detailed account of the demographic composition of religious groups in the U.Southward., highlighting both how religious groups are changing demographically and how they are staying the same. The next chapter examines demographics and religion from the opposite management, describing the religious composition of various social and demographic groups.

Age Differences Among Religious Groups

The religious groups that are growing tend to exist relatively young and getting younger, whereas the religious groups that are shrinking tend to be relatively old and getting older. The median historic period of religiously unaffiliated adults, for example, now stands at 36, down from 38 in 2007. Among cocky-identified atheists and agnostics, the median age is 34, and roughly iv-in-ten adults in these categories are betwixt the ages of xviii and 29. Muslims and Hindus also stand out for their comparative youthfulness; the median age of adults in each group is 33.

Past contrast, the median age of Christian adults is 49, up from 46 in 2007. Ane-in-five Christians (21%) accept reached the traditional retirement age of 65, compared with just nine% of the religiously unaffiliated, 5% of Muslims and four% of Hindus.

Jews have a median age of 50, the aforementioned as in 2007 and on par with Catholics and Protestants as a whole.

Age Distribution and Median Age of Religious Groups

Race and Ethnicity of Religious Groups

As the United States has become more racially and ethnically various in recent years – with fewer whites (as a share of the population) and more Hispanics and other racial and ethnic minorities – and so, too, have the racial and ethnic profiles of many religious groups get more various. Whites now account for smaller shares of the evangelical, mainline Protestant, Cosmic and religiously unaffiliated populations than they did in 2007, while Hispanics have grown as a share of all of these groups.

Hispanics make upwards a larger share of the U.S. Cosmic population than they practice of most any other religious group. About ane-3rd of Catholics are Hispanic (34%), upwards from 29% in 2007. And the data advise that the Hispanic share of the Cosmic population is likely to continue to grow at a rapid pace, since Hispanic Catholics are far younger, on average, than non-Hispanic Catholics. The median age of Hispanic Catholic adults is 42, while the median age of non-Hispanic Catholics is 53. And amid Catholic Millennials, there are about as many Hispanics equally whites. Among older generations of Catholics, at that place are more whites than Hispanics.19

Several religious traditions, including the historically blackness Protestant tradition, Jehovah'south Witnesses, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, are composed mostly of racial and ethnic minorities.

Two-thirds of religiously unaffiliated adults are white. This includes more than than three-quarters of self-identified atheists (78%) and agnostics (79%), too every bit 72% of those who say their religion is "nothing in detail" and who farther state that faith is unimportant in their lives. By comparison, those who describe their religion equally "nothing in particular" but who say religion is at least somewhat of import in their lives are much more racially diverse.

Racial and Ethnic Composition of Religious Groups

Religion and Immigration

Fully 96% of Hindus in the U.S. are either immigrants (87%) or the children of immigrants (9%), as are nearly viii-in-10 Muslims (61% immigrants and 17% the children of immigrants). The vast majority of Hindus in the U.Southward. – 78% – were born in the Asia-Pacific region (Republic of india is abode to by far the world's largest Hindu population). Muslim immigrants come from many places around the earth, including 27% who were born in the Asia-Pacific region, 12% who were born in the Middle E and N Africa and 12% who were built-in in sub-Saharan Africa.20

Among Christian groups, the Orthodox tradition is near heavily fabricated upwards of immigrants and the children of immigrants. Iv-in-x Orthodox Christians were born outside the U.S. (including 20% who were born in Europe, 7% who were born in sub-Saharan Africa and vii% who are from the Asia-Pacific region); 23% of Orthodox Christians are the children of immigrants. More than four-in-10 Catholics are either kickoff-generation (27%) or second-generation (fifteen%) Americans. Most Cosmic immigrants were built-in in the Americas (including Latin America and the Caribbean area, equally well equally Canada).21 Most Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Hindus – and Four-in-Ten Catholics – Are Immigrants or the Children of Immigrants

Educational Attainment and Income of Religious Groups

Hindus and Jews continue to be among the most highly educated religious groups in the U.S., only as they were when the 2007 Religious Landscape Report was conducted. Nigh adults in each group have at least a available'southward degree (77% of Hindus and 59% of Jews). And nearly half of Hindus (48%) and one-tertiary of Jews (31%) have earned a post-graduate caste.

U.Due south. Muslims, Buddhists and Orthodox Christians besides accept relatively high levels of educational attainment, with roughly iv-in-10 or more in each group having completed college. Atheists and agnostics take loftier levels of education as well, with 43% of self-identified atheists and 42% of agnostics saying they have completed college. Others within the religiously unaffiliated category are not as highly educated; 30% of those who draw their religion equally "nothing in particular" and say religion is unimportant in their lives study having attained a bachelor'southward degree, along with sixteen% of those who say their religion is "goose egg in particular" and that religion is at to the lowest degree somewhat important to them.

A quarter of Catholics have completed college (26%), as have a similar share of Protestants (24%). Mainline Protestants are much more than likely than their counterparts in the evangelical and historically black Protestant traditions to take completed higher.

Hindus and Jews Continue to Be Among the Most Highly Educated Religious Groups

Differences in income across religious traditions largely mirror the differences in educational attainment. Jews and Hindus are amidst the groups well-nigh likely to study an annual household income of $100,000 or more than (44% of Jews and 36% of Hindus). By contrast, big shares of members of the historically black Protestant tradition (53%), Jehovah'due south Witnesses (48%) and people who say their religion is "goose egg in particular" but that religion is at least somewhat of import in their lives (47%) report household incomes of under $thirty,000 a year.

Catholics and Protestants overall largely mirror the U.S. full general public in their income levels, though Protestants in the mainline tradition are somewhat more well-off by this measure than are their counterparts in the evangelical and historically black Protestant traditions.

Atheists and agnostics tend to be relatively wealthy, with about half-dozen-in-10 in each group making $50,000 or more per twelvemonth. Past contrast, those who describe their faith every bit "nothing in particular" and who say religion is unimportant to them closely mirror the population equally a whole, while those who say their religion is "nothing in item" just that organized religion is at to the lowest degree somewhat important to them tend to accept below-average family incomes.

Income of Religious Groups

Gender Composition of Religious Groups

Every bit in 2007, women continue to make up more than one-half of nigh every Christian group. Roughly two-thirds of Jehovah'southward Witnesses are women, as are 59% of those who identify with the historically black Protestant tradition, 55% of those in both the evangelical and mainline Protestant traditions and 54% of Catholics and Mormons.

Almost religiously unaffiliated adults, by contrast, are men. Fully two-thirds of self-identified atheists are men, as are 62% of agnostics and 55% of those who identify religiously every bit "naught in detail" and farther say that religion is unimportant in their lives. Among those who draw their faith every bit "nothing in detail" but say that religion is at least somewhat of import in their lives, withal, there are well-nigh equally many women every bit men.

Most Christians Are Women, Most

Marital Status and Family Size of Religious Groups

Since the showtime Religious Landscape Written report was conducted in 2007, the share of Americans who are married has connected to decline, while the share of adults who have never been married has risen sharply. In fact, contempo analysis of demography data shows that the share of Americans who have never been married now stands at an all-time high.

These trends are evident across several religious groups. The share of evangelical Protestants, Catholics and religiously unaffiliated respondents who are married declined noticeably between 2007 and 2014.

Mormons continue to be among the groups almost likely to be married. Compared with most other religious groups, there are fewer married people in the historically blackness Protestant tradition and among the religiously unaffiliated.

Marriage Rates Down Among Evangelicals, Catholics and Religious

Only every bit they are more probable than people in most other faiths to be married, Mormons also tend to take larger families than do people in other religious groups. Mormons betwixt the ages of 40 and 59 have had an boilerplate of iii.iv children over the course of their lives, significantly above the national average of 2.1 children. Mormons likewise report that they are currently raising more than children than are members of most other religious groups. On average, Mormon adults of all ages report that they are now living with i.1 children to whom they are parent or guardian.22

By contrast, the unaffiliated tend to take smaller families than other groups. Religious "nones" between the ages of 40 and 59 accept had an average of one.7 children during their lives. Atheists have had an boilerplate of 1.6 children, and agnostics have had 1.3 children. Mainline Protestants also have below-average fertility rates.

Fertility and Child Rearing

Regional Distribution of Religious Groups

Some religious groups are disproportionately concentrated in certain areas of the country, while others tend to exist more evenly distributed across geographic regions. Large shares of Protestants in all three major traditions live in the Due south, including a majority of those in the historically black Protestant tradition (62%), about half of evangelicals (49%) and a plurality of mainline Protestants (37%). A plurality of Jews live in the Northeast (42%).

Mormons are heavily concentrated in the West, though the share of Mormons in the current survey who reside in the W is down somewhat since 2007 (from 76% to 67%). The alter, notwithstanding, does not seem to be the result of large-scale movement of Mormons from the W to other regions. In fact, Mormons are virtually unchanged since 2007 every bit a share of the population in the Northeast, Midwest and South. Rather, the modify is produced by a slight decline in the share of Westerners who identify every bit Mormons, from just nether 6% in 2007 to only under 5% in 2014. Even such a small-scale refuse can event in a large change in the geographic distribution of a relatively small religious group, especially one that is heavily concentrated in a unmarried geographic region. Future surveys will determine whether this minor decline in the Mormon share of the Western population is the beginning of a trend or merely an outlier.

Evangelical, Historically Black Protestant Traditions Concentrated in Southern U.S.

Hispanic Catholics Concentrated in South and WestCompared with some other religious groups, Catholics are more evenly dispersed throughout the country, with about one-in-five living in the Midwest (21%) and a quarter or more in the Northeast (26%), Southward (27%) and Due west (26%). The geographic centre of Catholicism is shifting gradually from the Northeast and Midwest toward the S and W. In 2007, a slim majority of Catholics (53%) resided in the Northeast or Midwest. Today, a slim bulk of Catholics live in the S or West (52%). This shift is existence driven by the continuing growth of Hispanics equally a share of the U.South. Catholic population; three-quarters of Hispanic Catholics reside in the South or Westward, while six-in-ten non-Hispanic Catholics live in the Northeast or Midwest.