Evangelicals Largest Faith Group in USA

26% of Americans call themselves Evangelical Protestant.

A study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that 26% of US adults identify themselves as Evangelical Protestant.

The study also shows that 24% of American adults identified themselves as Catholic, 18% as Mainline Protestant and 7% as Black Protestant. 16% of Americans responded that they did not affiliate with any religion. 2% are Jewish and Muslims and Buddhists each account for 1% of American adults.

Minnesota

In Minnesota21% of adults are Evangelical Protestant, while 32% are Mainline Protestant and 28% Catholic. 1% of Minnesotans are Black Protestant as compared to 7% nationally, and only 13% of Minnesotans do not claim any religious affiliation, as compared to 16% nationally.

Oklahoma and Arkansas claimed the highest percentage of evangelicals where a majority of all adults (53%) identified themselves as Evangelical Protestant. Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi had the next highest concentration of evangelicals at 51%, 49% and 47% respectively.

You can view an interactive map of this report online and scroll over individual states to see the percentage of different religious groups in each state.

Attendance

Leaders often use actual church attendance as a measure of spiritual commitment or congregational vitality.

In Minnesota, even though 81% identify themselves as Christian (Evangelical, Mainline or Catholic), actual church attendance is only 21% on any given Sunday, according to the latest available study from The American Church Report.

Of people who actually attended church on any given Sunday, the report shows that 8% attended an Evangelical church, 7% attended Catholic church and 6% attended a Mainline Protestant church. (This study groups Black Protestant with Evangelical Protestant).

The good news for evangelical churches, according to this study, is that actual attendance numbers at Evangelical Protestant churches has grown from 325,000 in 1990 to over 400,000 in 2008.