Currently, Christian churches are experiencing a mass attrition among younger generations.  Here’s a breakdown of the numbers.

Readership: Christian Men
Theme: The Protestant Reformation 2.0
Length: 600 words
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Intro

As part of my series on The Protestant Reformation 2.0, I want to provide a summary of church affiliation by age / generation, as estimated from data collected over the past 50 years.

  1. Data comes primarily from Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Studies (2007–2024) and Ryan Burge’s work, Graphs About Religion.  [Please find links embedded and under Sources below.]
  2. Additional references are listed under Sources below.
  3. Data reflects attendance, self-identification, and switching.

As always on Σ Frame, readers are invited to do their own research and their own independent thinking.  If you can offer any corrections, finer points, or revisions, then please share your insights for the benefit of others by leaving a comment below.

A Summary of the Age / Generation Data [Pew 2019]

  • The Silent Generation: 85% Christian
  • The Baby Boomers: 76%
  • Generation X: ~72%
  • Millennials: ~51%
  • Generation Z: ~45%

Below, these numbers are broken down further by denominational affiliation (or the lack thereof, AKA “religiously unaffiliated” or “Nones”).

img-1784428720-6a5c38b004caa9.11566004.gifGene Kelley and Donald O’Connor, of the Greatest and Silent generations, respectively.

The Silent Generation

The detailed systematic data collection begins with the Silent Generation (born between 1926 and 1945).

The Silent Generation has (or once had) the highest percentage of Christian identification among all living generations in the United States.

  • Around 85% of this demographic identifies (or identified, in the earlier studies) as Christian.
  • 47% Protestant
  • 22% Catholic
    • 5% of Catholics are Silents
  • Only about 9% of this generation claims (or claimed) no religious affiliation.

Baby Boomers

Despite being known as an evil, rebellious, self-centered, and sexually promiscuous generation, 76% of Boomers identify as Christian.

  • 53% of Baby Boomers identify as Protestant.
    • 18-19% of Boomers are Evangelical Protestants.
    • 10-14% are Mainline Protestants.
  • 24% of Baby Boomers identify as Catholic.
    • Baby Boomers are the single largest generation within the U.S. Catholic population, comprising 33% of adult Catholics, or roughly 17.2 million people.
    • 78% of these Boomer Catholics identify as white, non-Hispanic.
  • 13-18% identify as “Nones”.
img-1784428724-6a5c38b487dd71.55240400.png

Generation X

Approximately 70% to 74% of Generation X identifies as Christian in the United States.

  • Around 33% to 40% of Generation X identifies as Protestant.
  • 16% to 20% of Generation X adults identify as Evangelical Protestants.
  • 13% identify as Catholic.
    • 25% of Catholics are Gen Xers.
  • Approximately 22-30% identify as “Nones”, depending on specific demographics and methodology.

Gen X is the last generation with a strong claim on Christianity, as adherence has gradually declined among younger cohorts like Millennials and Gen Z.

Millennials

Only 44-58% of Millennials identify as Christian, depending on locale.

  • 32% to 35% of Millennials identify as Protestant.
    • 21% Evangelical Protestant
    • 11% Mainline Protestant
  • 16-20% are Catholic.
    • 24% of Catholics are Millennials.
  • 11% are affiliated with Mainline denominations.
  • Around 30-35% of Millennials are religiously unaffiliated “Nones”.

This demonstrates a major intergenerational shift, as this demographic is significantly more likely to identify as religiously unaffiliated compared to older generations.

img-1784428726-6a5c38b6423c93.45666582.webp

Generation Z

There’s been a more concentrated focus on Gen Z compared to previous generations, and thus more data is available for this demographic.

The major research institutions focusing on Gen Z are:

  • Barna
  • Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA)
  • Harvard’s Cooperative Election Study (CES)
  • Pew Research Center (PEW/Religion)
  • Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)

Some detailed breakdowns from these institutions map out the Gen Z denominational affiliations in the United States:

  • Approximately 45% of Generation Z identifies as Christian
  • Between 19% and 26% of Generation Z identifies as Protestant
    • 10% identify as White Evangelical Protestants
    • 8% as White Mainline Protestants
    • 7% as Black Protestants
    • 6% as Hispanic Protestants.
  • 14% to 21% are Catholic, across various studies.
    • About 40% of Gen Z Catholics self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.
    • Roughly 39% of Gen Z Catholics attend Mass at least once a month — more frequently than Millennials or Gen X.
    • 13% of Catholics are Gen Z.
  • More than a third (about 34% to 43%) now identify as religiously unaffiliated or “None” (atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular”).

In general, Gen Z’s interest in religion marks a significant decline from older groups, and a major shift away from Christian institutions. However, among those who do identify as Christian, church attendance is much higher.

In some areas of the country with high Hispanic / Latino populations, Gen Z Catholics outnumber Gen Z Protestants.

Summary

With every succeeding generation, and for every Christian denomination, religious affiliation and attendance have decreased across the board.  Meanwhile, as the generations have progressed, more and more people choose to be unaffiliated with any religion.

I’ll go over Attendance Shifts by Denomination in a future post, followed by my speculations about the whys and wherefores in another post.

Sources

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