IF THE U. S. HAD 100 PEOPLE: Charting Americans’ religious beliefs and practices
See a profile of American religious beliefs and practices if the country were made up of exactly 100 adults.
Pew Research Center
WASHINGTON, DC— Using data from the Pew Research Center’ s 2023 – 24 Religious Landscape Study, researchers recently explored Americans’ religious beliefs and practices by imagining the United States as a town of 100 people. The approach helps make large national statistics easier to visualize. In reality, about 218 million of the country’ s 262 million adults say they believe in God or a universal spirit. But what would that look like on a smaller scale?
If the United States were a community of 100 residents, 25 of them would attend religious services in person at least once a week. Another eight would attend once or twice a month, while 18 would go a few times a year. Nearly half— 49 people— would say they seldom or never attend services in person. Belief in God or a universal spirit would remain widespread in this hypothetical town. Eighty-three of the 100 residents would say they believe in God or a universal spirit. Among them, 54 would express absolute certainty in that belief, while 21 would say they are fairly certain. Another eight would say they are not too certain or not certain at all. By comparison, 16 of the town’ s residents would say they do not believe in God or a universal spirit. Religion would still play a meaningful role in many people’ s lives. In this town of 100 people, 38 residents would say religion is very important to them, while another 26 would say it is somewhat important. At the same time, 35 residents would describe religion as either not too important( 17 people) or not at all important( 18 people). Prayer would also remain a common practice. Forty-four of the 100 residents would say they pray every day, and another 23 would pray weekly or monthly. Meanwhile, 32 residents would report that they seldom or never pray. Belief in an afterlife would also be widespread. Seventy of the 100 residents would say they believe in life after death. Of those, 52 would believe in both heaven and hell. Fourteen would believe in heaven but not hell, while three would believe in hell but not heaven. The remaining 28 residents would say they do not believe in an afterlife. Viewed this way, the data highlights both the enduring presence of religious belief in American life and the diversity of how people practice and express their faith.
26 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | MARCH / APRIL 2026