Most adults in the United States believe in God and engage in some form of religious practice, but nearly half seldom or never attend religious services, according to data from the Pew Research Center that offers a snapshot of American faith by scaling the population down to a hypothetical town of 100 people.
The analysis, based on Pew’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study, found that 83 of every 100 U.S. adults say they believe in God or a universal spirit. Of those, a majority express strong conviction: 54 say they believe with absolute certainty, while 21 are fairly certain. Another eight say they are not too certain or not certain at all. Sixteen people in the hypothetical town say they do not believe in God or a universal spirit.
Religious practice, however, is more uneven. If the United States were reduced to 100 adults, 25 would attend religious services in person at least once a week. Eight would attend once or twice a month, and 18 would go a few times a year. Nearly half — 49 people — would seldom or never attend in-person services.
Prayer remains common, the study found. In the scaled-down town, 44 people would pray daily, while 23 would pray weekly or monthly. Thirty-two would seldom or never pray.
Views on the importance of religion also vary widely. Thirty-eight people would say religion is very important in their lives, and another 26 would describe it as somewhat important. By contrast, 35 would say religion is not too important or not important at all.
Belief in the afterlife continues to be widespread but not universal. Seventy of the 100 people would say they believe in an afterlife. Among them, 52 would believe in both heaven and hell, 14 would believe in heaven but not hell, and three would believe in hell but not heaven. Twenty-eight people would say they do not believe in any form of afterlife.
The analysis draws on responses from 36,908 U.S. adults who participated in the 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study. The survey was conducted from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 0.8 percentage points.
Pew researchers said the “100 people” framework is intended to make large national statistics more tangible.
