White Christian Decline, Unaffiliated Rise Trends Slow in 2024, New PRRI Census of American Religion Finds
Plus: Reflections on Pope Leo XIV; most believe Trump is a dangerous dictator
Earlier this month, we released our 2024 annual update to the PRRI Census of American Religion, based on a massive set of interviews among a random sample of over 40,000 Americans. Overall, we found that the decades long trends of white Christian decline and the rise of the religiously unaffiliated—the defining dynamics of the American religious landscape in the 21st century—have slowed but not abated. Below are five charts that summarize the findings.
For a deeper dive into the 2024 PRRI Census of American Religion, you can read the full report here.
To see county level estimates of religious affiliation, see the 2023 PRRI Census of American Religion here.
The American Religious Landscape in 2024
In 2024, nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) continue to identify as Christian, including 40% who identify as white Christian and 25% who identify as Christians of color. The remaining 7% of religious Americans belong to a non-Christian religion, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, or another world religion. Nearly three in ten Americans (28%) claim no religious affiliation today.
White Christian Decline, Unaffiliated Rise, 2006-2024
In 2024, these two trends, which have defined the American religious population for the past two decades, continue, albeit at a slower rate. The proportion of Americans who identify as white Christians continues to decline, from its peak of 57% in 2006 to a low of 40% in 2024. In contrast, religiously unaffiliated Americans have steadily increased during this period, moving from 16% in 2006 to a peak of 28% in 2024.
Over the past two decades, the rate of decline among white evangelical Protestants has been double the rate of decline among other white Christian groups. The percentage of white evangelical Protestants has decreased by 10 percentage points, from 23% to 13.2%. By contrast, white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants have decreased five percentage points (from 18% to 13.1%), while white Catholics have decreased four percentage points (from 16% to 12.1%). (Note: The category of white Christians also includes small percentages of Latter-day Saints (2%) or Orthodox Christians (less than 1%), which have remained relatively stable over this period).
White Christians and the Unaffiliated by Age
Sharp generational divides in religious affiliation have been a major force in reshaping the nation’s religious landscape. Younger Americans are less likely than older Americans to identify as Christian overall and have become increasingly less likely to do so over the past decade. We continue to see a significantly different religious profile between Americans who are under and over age 50.
A majority of young Americans ages 18-29 identify as Christian (54%), as do nearly six in ten (59%) Americans ages 30-49. Approximately three quarters (73%) of Americans ages 50-64 and ages 65 and older (76%) identify as Christian.
The racial and ethnic makeup of Christians across age groups is stark. While Americans ages 65 and older are three times as likely to identify as white Christians than Christians of color, there is parity between white and non-white Christians among the youngest American adults ages 18-29. Notably, the youngest American adults are more than twice as likely as the oldest American adults to identify a religiously unaffiliated (38% vs. 18%).
White Christians and the Unaffiliated by Party
While both major political parties and independents are majority Christian, Republicans (84%) are more likely than Democrats (58%) to identify as such. The racial makeup of Christians within each party, however, is vastly different—with Republicans roughly three time as likely as Democrats to identify as white and Christian.
More than two thirds (68%) of today’s Republican Party identifies as white and Christian, including 29% who are white evangelical Protestants, 19% who are white mainline Protestants, and 17% who are white Catholics. Just 16% identify as Christians of color. Republicans are also less than half as likely as the general population to identify as religiously unaffiliated (12%).
In contrast, Democrats are more likely to identify as Christians of color (35%) than white Christian (23%). The largest Christian groups among Democrats are Black Protestants (15%), Hispanic Catholics (11%), white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (10%), and white Catholics (9%). Only 3% of Democrats identify as white evangelical Protestant. Democrats are slightly more likely than the general public, and nearly three times more likely than Republicans, to identify as religiously unaffiliated (34%).
If we overlay the religious makeup of age cohorts and partisans into a single chart, we see the remarkable differences between our two major political parties. In short, the Democratic Party most resembles 18-year-old American, while the Republican Party most resembles something like 70-year-old America.
Overall, Christian identity has declined significantly among both Republicans and Democrats over the past decade. Democrats who are Christian dropped from 70% in 2013 to 58% in 2024, with white Christian Democrats primarily driving the decrease (from 34% to 23%), while the proportion of Democrats who identify as Christians of color remained largely unchanged (36% in 2013; 35% in 2024). In addition, Democrats have grown significantly more likely to identify as religiously unaffiliated, from 22% in 2013 to 34% in 2024.
In contrast, the percentage of Republicans who are Christian slightly declined by 2 percentage points since 2013, from 86% to 84%, with a 7-percentage-point decline in white Christian Republicans (75% to 68%). However, the percentage of Republicans who identify as Christians of color has risen from 11% to 16%, mostly due to increases among both Hispanic Protestants and Hispanic Catholics. Republicans who identify as religiously unaffiliated have remained largely unchanged (10% to 12%).
There’s more in the full 2024 PRRI Census of American Religion report here.
ICYMI on #WhiteTooLong
What do we make of Pope Leo XIV, the "Latin Yankee" and first from the United States?
Dear #WhiteTooLong readers:
New PRRI Poll: Most Americans Believe Trump is Dangerous Dictator--and Six Other Key Findings on Trump's 100 Days
The PRRI team is out today with a major new poll evaluating public opinion of Trump over the first 100 days of his term. Here’s the bottom line: This new survey provides clear evidence that most Americans want to rein in President Trump’s overreach, stop his undermining of democratic norms, and protect our system of checks and balances.
Well, there was a wee bit of good news in that latest data. Good to know most folks agree he's what he is. (trying real hard to be polite here)
Thank you, as always, for your incredibly detailed look at the complicated cross-section of Americans and their religious faith.
I can’t say I’m at all surprised by any of it. But I do appreciate your important notice of two things:
1. The unaffiliated are rising.
2. Team Blue is still majority Christian,albeit in a complicated and coalitional way.
As I’ve written before, that second point often gets lost in a lot of the cultural conversation, and lament over the rise of religious nationalism and the ascendancy of deeply conservative evangelicalism.
I find myself, as a pastor, deeply concerned about all those become “unaffiliated” from a former evangelical position. The loss of cultural community, core beliefs, and real-world relationships has to be significant…and has to be a factor in the growing mistrust among, frankly, everyone.
I’m not sure what the way out is all the time…but I always appreciate your careful approach to it all