America’s most religious: Southerners still lead the nation

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The South is the most religious region in the United States, but the percentage of people who consider themselves religious continues to decline, according to Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Studies.

Southerners are the most religious of Americans, but their numbers are declining, according to national research.

Between 2020-25, religiousness in all regions has been stable, Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Studies show, but over a longer span has fallen off across the country. Levels of religiousness in the South now mirror 2007 levels in the Northeast and West.

The survey found 51% of southerners pray every day, matching 2007 levels in the West (53%) and Northeast (50%). Seventy-four percent of Southerners identified with a religion as of 2023-24, which is less than 2007 shares in the West (77%) and Northeast (83%).

The Midwest is generally the second-most religious region, followed by the Northeast and the West.

Pew has conducted the survey three times (2007, 2014, and 2023-24), with more than 35,000 randomly sampled respondents on each occasion. 

In each region, the surveys show long-term declines in religiousness on questions about affiliation, daily prayer and belief in God.

In the South, the share of adults who identify with a religion fell to 74% from 86%, while the share of Midwest adults dropped from 83% in 2007 to 69% in 2023-24. Also, 47% of adults in the West say they believe in God with absolute certainty as of 2023-24, down from 65% in 2007. In the South, the share who say this is 63%, 16 percentage points lower than in 2007.

Black Americans are among the most religious groups in the U.S., but religion differs substantially among the demographic, with older adults more religious than their younger counterparts, and women more religious than men.

Pew found nearly three-fourths of Black adults (73%) are Christian, including 65% who are Protestant, 4% Catholic, and 4% who identify with other Christian groups such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Black adults affiliated with the Christian faith is down from 79% in 2014 and 85% in 2007, which is similar to the overall U.S. population but still more likely than American adults overall (62%).
Four percent of Black adults identify with non-Christian religions, including Islam while 22% are religious “nones,” or adults who are not affiliated with a religion, including 3% who identify as atheist or agnostic and 19% who say their religion is “nothing in particular.” 

Majorities of adults in each region identify as Christian, but they have gotten smaller since 2007. For example, 68% of southerners are Christian as of 2023-24, a 15% slide compared to 2007.

The shares identifying with each region’s largest Christian subgroup have also declined. In the South, for instance, 31% of all adults are evangelical Protestants, down from 37% in 2007. Similarly, the share of evangelicals in the Midwest has fallen from 26% to 23%.

Catholics are 28% of the population in the Northeast, down from 37% in 2007. In the West, 20% of adults are Catholic, down from 25%.

Meanwhile, the share of religiously unaffiliated adults in each region has risen since 2007. For example, it has roughly doubled in the Northeast and the Midwest, from 16% to 30% in each.

The share of people who collectively identify with religions other than Christianity has increased slightly in each region. In the South, that share has doubled from 3% in 2007 to 6% in 2023-24. In the Northeast, it is 10% compared to 7%.

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