The Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life has released its most recent report on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 35,000 American adults over the age of 18. The results are not very surprising. Some highlights:
More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion, or no religion at all.
16.1% of respondents say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today, which is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children.
51% of Americans report that they are members of Protestant denominations, which are loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%).
Nearly one-in-three (31%) adults with less than a high school education are members of evangelical Protestant churches.
Almost one-in-ten (9%) adults with less than a high school education are members of historically black Protestant churches.
Approximately four-in-ten Americans making less than $30,000 per year belong to evangelical Protestant churches (29%).
More than twice the proportion of people making at least $100,000 per year are atheist or agnostic (7% total) compared with those making $30,000 or less (3%).
Along these lines, check out this neat map from one of my favorite blogs called Strange Maps.
