Jews Less Likely to Believe in God Than Any Religious Group in America, Survey Shows

According to the latest Religious Landscape Study, conducted by the Pew Research Center, Jews are more likely to be intermarried and to support abortion and gay rights than most other Americans. After Hindus, they earn more money than members of any other religious group.

Jews are less likely than members of other religious groups in the United States to believe in God, to be married to members of their own religion, and to pray regularly, according to an in-depth study published on Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

The study also found that Jews were more likely than most Americans to believe in evolution, to consider immigration to the United States as a positive phenomenon, and to support gay, transgender and women’s reproductive rights.

The Religious Landscape Study was conducted between July 2023 and March 2024 among a nationally representative sample of nearly 37,000 respondents. It was last conducted in 2014, and before that, in 2007.

It found that 62 percent (the figures have been rounded off) of Americans identify as Christian, 29 percent as religiously unaffiliated, and 7 percent belong to religions other than Christianity. Jews account for 2 percent of the U.S. population, while Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists each account for 1 percent.

The percentage of Jews has remained virtually unchanged from the previous two surveys. After declining over a period of many years, the study found that the share of Christians in America has levelled off.

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Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, New York (illustrative).Credit: Mark Lennihan, AP

Although Jews were less likely to be “believers” than members of other religious groups, the study found that they were more likely than most Americans to belong to a house of worship.

It also found that Jews tend to be far better educated than most Americans, bigger earners and more likely to identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the study:

■ Jews are less likely to believe in God than members of other religious groups in the United States. Among the Jewish respondents, 18 percent said they did not believe in God. That compares with 8 percent of Americans overall, 3 percent of Protestants, 6 percent of Catholics and 2 percent of Buddhists. The survey shows that Americans overall are becoming less convinced of a divine existence. In 2007, more than 70 percent of the respondents said they were certain God exists. By 2014, only 63 percent did, and in the latest survey, their share had dropped to 54 percent. Among Jewish respondents, 41 percent said they were certain God existed in 2007. Seven years later, only 37 percent were, and in the latest survey, their share was down to 29 percent. Jews are also less likely than Americans overall, the survey found, to believe in the concepts of heaven and hell.

■ Jews are more likely than members of other religious groups to say that religion is not too important or not at all important in their lives. Among Jewish respondents, 43 percent said that was the case for them, compared with 11 percent of Protestants, 17 percent of Catholics and 13 percent of Muslims.

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The lighting of the Hanukkah candles.Credit: Daniel Bar-On

■ Only one in three Jews reported that religion was very important to their family when they were growing up. That compares with 45 percent of Americans overall, about half of all Protestants and Catholics, and two out of every three Muslims. Six out of 10 Jews said that the Bible is not too important or not at all important to them.

■ Among married Jews, 35 percent reported having non-Jewish spouses. Among Protestants, only 19 percent were married to non-Protestants, and among Catholics, only 25 percent were married to non-Catholics. Seven percent of U.S. Jews have Protestant spouses, and 11 percent have Catholic spouses.

■ Jews tend to be geographically concentrated in the Northeast, where they account for 4 percent of the population – as opposed to 1 percent in the Midwest and the South and 2 percent in the West.

■ Jews are more likely than most Americans to attend private religious educational institutions for most of their schooling. Among the Jewish respondents, 18 percent said they had attended private Jewish day schools for at least seven years. That compares with 11 percent of Americans overall and 5 percent of Protestants. Only Catholics attended private religious schools at a higher rate (25 percent).

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The U.S. National Hanukkah Menorah in front of the White House, November 27, 2013.Credit: Reuters

■ About three-quarters of American adults who were raised Jewish still identify as Jewish. That is similar to the share raised Muslim, somewhat lower than the share raised Hindu, but somewhat higher than the share raised Protestant and Catholic.

■ Jews are far less likely than members of other religious groups to have grown more religious over the course of their lifetime. Only 18 percent of the Jewish respondents said this was the case for them, as compared with 28 percent of Americans overall, 43 percent of Protestants, 30 percent of Catholics and 38 percent of Muslims. Of the Jewish respondents, 29 percent reported becoming less religious over the course of their lifetime.

■ Fewer than half of Jewish Americans attend religious services at least once a month. That compares with more than two-thirds of Americans overall, 80 percent of Protestants, 75 percent of Catholics and 55 percent of Muslims. Buddhists (24 percent) were the only group less inclined to pray than Jews. Jews were also least likely (tied with Buddhists) to pray on a daily basis. Only 22 percent said they prayed at least once daily, half the percentage of overall Americans. Still, 42 percent of the Jewish respondents said they belonged to a house of worship – somewhat higher than Americans overall (37 percent).

■ Among Jewish respondents, 87 percent believe in evolution. That compares with 80 percent of Americans overall, 76 percent of Protestants, 80 percent of Catholics and 82 percent of Muslims.

■ Among Jewish respondents, 82 percent say homosexuality should be accepted by society. That compares with two-thirds of Americans overall, 50 percent of Protestants, 74 percent of Catholics and 41 percent of Muslims.

■ Jews are more likely than members of any other religious group to say that greater acceptance of transgender people is a “change for the better.” Among Jewish respondents, 59 percent supported greater inclusivity for transgender people, as compared with 39 percent of Americans overall, 26 percent of Protestants, 36 percent of Catholics and 33 percent of Muslims.

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A boy is fitted with tefillin during his Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in the Old City of Jerusalem, January.Credit: Maya Alleruzzo/AP

■ Jews are more likely than members of other religious groups to support women’s reproductive rights. Among Jewish respondents, 83 percent said abortion should be legal in most or all cases. That compares with 64 percent of Americans overall, 49 percent of Protestants, 59 percent of Catholics and 57 percent of Muslims.

■ Among Jewish respondents, 4 percent identify as gay or lesbian and 7 percent as bisexual. Among Americans overall, 3 percent identify as gay or lesbian, and 5 percent as bisexual. Among Catholics, 2 percent identify as gay or lesbian and 2 percent as bisexual, and among Protestants, only 1 percent identify as gay or lesbian and 2 percent as bisexual.

■ Jews are far more likely to be college graduates than members of other religious groups. Among Jewish respondents, two-thirds had at least a bachelor’s degree. That compares with only 35 percent of U.S. citizens overall, 31 percent of Protestants, 35 percent of Catholics and 44 percent of Muslims.

■ After Hindus, Jews have the highest household incomes of any religious group in the United States. Among the Jewish respondents, 54 percent earn more than $100,000 a year (compared with 57 percent of Hindus). Only 30 percent of Americans overall reach this income level.