Most religious groups report lower service attendance: Gallup

Muslim and Jewish service attendance has risen in recent years.

by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech | Mar. 26, 2024

FILE – Congregants sit in largely empty pews during service at Zion Baptist Church, April 16, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. Post-pandemic burnout is at worrying levels among Christian clergy in the U.S., prompting many to think about abandoning their jobs, according to a new nationwide survey released Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski, File)

Story at a glance

Just over 20 percent of all U.S. adults say they attend a religious service every week, according to Gallup survey data.

Two decades ago, 42 percent of Americans said they went to a religious service every week or nearly every week.

Jewish and Muslim service attendance is actually up.

Three out of 10 religious adults in the U.S. attend a service every week or nearly every week, according to recent Gallup survey findings.

That number marks a sharp decline from 20 years ago when, on average, 42 percent of American adults went to a religious service every week or almost every week, according to Gallup.

Members of the Mormon Church are the most likely to attend a service regularly, with 54 percent saying they go to a sacrament meeting once a week, Gallup found.

Protestants are the second-most likely, with 30 percent saying they attend a service every week, followed by Muslims — 28 percent say they pray at a mosque weekly.

Atheists, agnostics or people with no religion are the least likely to go to a religious service — 79 percent have never attended one — although 3 percent say they attend a service weekly or almost every week.

Over 40 percent of Jewish American adults acknowledge seldom attending a service, as well as 40 percent of Orthodox Christian adults.

Most religious groups in the U.S. have experienced a decline in service attendance over the last two decades, mostly driven by the rising number of people who do not have any religious affiliation.

Between 2000 and 2003, about 9 percent of American adults reported no religious affiliation, according to Gallup. By 2021 to 2023, that number has increased to 21 percent.

Catholics have seen one of the most significant drop in mass attendance since 2000.

That year about 45 percent of Catholic adults said they attended church every week or nearly every week, Gallup data show; that number has now fallen to 33 percent.

Meanwhile, there has been a slight increase in religious service attendance among Muslim and Jewish Americans over the past two decades.

About 38 percent of Muslim adults attend mosque weekly or almost weekly, up from 34 percent in 2000 and 2003, but lower than the 46 percent between 2011 and 2013.

Two decades ago, about 15 percent of Jewish Americans went to synagogue weekly or almost weekly — now it is 22 percent.