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The long-term decline in Americans who identify as Christian has largely leveled off. At the same time, the increasing share of people who identify as "religiously unaffiliated" has plateaued.
Those are among the findings in a Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday.
The Religious Landscape Study, which was first conducted in 2007, paints a picture of America that is more secular, particularly among young people, and remains a place where religious views closely align with politics. And for the first time in the Pew study, more liberals are unaffiliated with a religion than identify as Christian.
Here are some of the key findings.
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Overall, 62 percent of Americans call themselves Christian, a figure that has been roughly stable over the past five years, but is down from 71 percent in 2014 and 78 percent in 2007. In the latest poll, 40 percent of U.S. adults identify as Protestants, 19 percent as Catholics and 3 percent as "other" Christians.
Meanwhile, about 3 in 10 Americans, 29 percent, are religiously unaffiliated. That figure has also been relatively stable in recent years, but is up from 23 percent in 2014 and 16 percent in 2007.
Those who don't identify as religious include 6 percent of U.S. adults who are agnostic, 5 percent who are atheist and 19 percent who say they are "nothing in particular."
"One driver of the long-term trend," the report said, is "generational replacement," where "older, highly religious, heavily Christian generations are passing away. The younger generations succeeding them are much less religious, with smaller percentages of Christians and more 'nones.'"
• More Americans identify with a religion other than Christianity
Seven percent of Americans identify with a religion other than Christianity, up from 5 percent in 2007. Similar to previous Pew surveys, 1.7 percent of Americans are Jewish.
At the same time, more Americans now identify as Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu.
Muslims have grown from 0.4 percent of the population in 2007 to 1.2 percent in 2024, according to the survey. The share of Buddhists grew from 0.7 percent to 1.1 percent during that time period, while Hindus grew from 0.4 percent to 0.9 percent of the population.
• Most Americans are spiritual
Almost 9 in 10 Americans believe that people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body, according to Pew. Seven in 10 believe in heaven, hell or both. More than 8 in 10 believe in God or a universal spirit.
"Americans of all ages are more likely to say their spirituality has grown stronger than to say it has weakened," the study said.
• Religion and politics closely align
Generally, the more religious someone is, the more likely they are to identify or lean toward the Republican Party and express conservative opinions. Less-religious people are more likely to identify or lean toward the Democratic Party and express liberal opinions, according to the Religious Landscape Study.
"Highly religious" Americans, for example, are more likely than the least-religious Americans to say that abortion should be illegal, that homosexuality should be discouraged, that children are better off if their mothers stay at home, that environmental regulations cost jobs and hurt the economy, and that if America is too open to outsiders, it "risks losing national identity."
• A liberal shift away from Christianity
Among self-described liberals, 37 percent identify as Christian, down from 62 percent in 2007, a 25-point shift. Meanwhile, the share of liberals who identify with no religion increased to 51 percent in 2024, up from 27 percent in 2007.
"There are now more religious 'nones' than Christians among liberals, a reversal since 2007," the report said.
There has also been a decline in Christian identity among moderates. Among those who identify as politically moderate, 61 percent say they are Christian, down 16 points from 2007.
Conservatives are the most likely to identify as Christian, though there has also been a seven-point shift away from Christianity there as well: 82 percent identify as Christian, compared with 89 percent in 2007.
• Younger Americans are far less religious than older Americans
Americans ages 18 to 24 are less likely than Americans 74 and older to identify as Christian, pray daily and attend religious services at least monthly. They are also more likely to be religiously unaffiliated.
Younger American adults are also less likely to have been raised in religious households, according to the survey. But when it comes to measures of spirituality, there are smaller differences based on age.
• Immigrants are mostly Christian
Fifty-eight percent of Americans born outside the country are Christian, as are 63 percent of those born in the country. Both shares are down from 2007 and 2014.
Immigrants are more likely to identify with another religion (14 percent) than those born in the United States (6 percent), and 26 percent of adults born outside of the country are religiously unaffiliated, as are 30 percent of those born stateside.
• Women are more religious than men
U.S. women have long been more likely to identify with religion than men, and to say they pray daily and believe in a G od. But the gap is narrowing.
"In every age group," the report says, "women are at least as religious as men, and in many [generations], women are significantly more religious than men."
• Methodology
The Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study was conducted in English and Spanish from July 2023 to March 2024 among a nationally representative sample of 36,908 respondents. Respondents were recruited through address-based sampling and could complete the survey online, on paper or by calling a telephone number and speaking with an interviewer. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 0.8 percentage points.