America’s transition away from religion

The proportion of Christians in the US population is projected to fall to between 35% and 52% by 2070, per a recent report from the Pew Research Center. Where it actually falls within that range depends on whether current trends in Americans’ religious affiliation continue, accelerate, or stop entirely.

📅 Let’s start at the beginning… From 1972 (the earliest year data is available) until 1992, about 90% of Americans identified as Christian, a term covering Protestants, Evangelicals, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and more. Religiously unaffiliated people and adherents of all other religions – including Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists – both hovered around 5% during that time.

But ever since the early ‘90s, the number of Americans identifying as Christian has fallen steadily, with the amount of religiously unaffiliated people increasing accordingly. The number of adherents of all other religions has remained steady.

• By 2021, 64% of Americans were Christian. People who were religiously unaffiliated accounted for 30% of the US population, while adherents of all other religions totaled 6%.

✌️ Two clear trends stick out: Younger generations are increasingly less religious than their parents. A March 2022 report from the Survey Center on American Life found 34% of Gen Z considers themselves religiously unaffiliated, versus 29% of Millennials, 25% of Gen X, 18% of Baby Boomers, and 9% of the Silent Generation.

• Additionally, a growing number of Americans identify as “spiritual but not religious.” That population was at 27% in 2017, up from 19% in 2012, per the most recent Pew data.

📊 Flash poll (long-form): Why do you think the American public has drifted away from organized religion since the 1990s?

Click here to submit a response.