Short answer
The US has 356,642 religious congregations, according to the 2020 U.S. Religion Census, the most complete count; 345,165 of them are Christian churches. The Hartford Institute estimates about 373,000 including groups the census missed. The IRS exempt organizations file lists 293,326 churches (October 2026), and the Census Bureau counted 186,801 religious organizations with paid staff in 2023. Texas has the most congregations, 29,750.
- 356,642 congregations of 372 religious bodies in 2020; 293,042 are Protestant and 19,522 Catholic.
- The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest by number: 46,608 churches in 2025, plus 2,227 missions.
- About 4,000 Protestant churches closed and 3,800 started in 2024, so the total is roughly flat.
- The typical congregation has about 70 regular participants, and 61.6% of churches with paid staff employ fewer than five people.
- The free IRS file names 293,326 churches with addresses, but churches don't have to register, so coverage varies by state.
On this page
This page is for anyone who needs the number of churches in America, and for companies that sell to them: church management and giving software, audio-visual and livestream installers, insurers, builders and facilities contractors, payroll and background check providers. It sets out each count and why they differ, breaks churches down by denomination, state and size, and shows how to build a list with names and addresses. For the wider nonprofit sector, see our list of nonprofit organizations.
How many churches there are in the US
| Source | Count | Date | What it counts |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) | 356,642 congregations | 2020 | Congregations of 372 religious bodies of all faiths, reported by the bodies themselves |
| of which Christian | 345,165 | 2020 | Our sum of the census's Christian traditions |
| Hartford Institute for Religion Research | about 373,000 | estimate | Adds an allowance for congregations the census didn't capture |
| IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File | 293,326 | October 2026 | Organizations the IRS classes as churches (foundation code 10), of all faiths |
| Census County Business Patterns, NAICS 813110 | 186,801 establishments | 2023 | Religious organizations with paid employees, including denominational offices |
The U.S. Religion Census is run every ten years by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. It counted congregations in 3,141 of the 3,143 counties. Its authors note that other estimates of the total have ranged from 268,000 to 414,000, and that because the true total is unknown, they can't say exactly what share they captured.
Why the counts differ
- Churches don't have to register. IRS Publication 1828 says churches that meet the section 501(c)(3) requirements are automatically tax exempt and don't need to apply for recognition, and they don't file Form 990. The IRS file holds only those that applied or that sit under a denomination's group exemption (125,391 of the 293,326 do).
- Coverage varies by state. Tennessee has 13,397 congregations in the Religion Census but only 4,890 church records in the IRS file. California has the reverse: 23,567 congregations but 33,711 IRS records. The IRS file is a list of tax records, not a count of congregations.
- "Church" means any faith in tax law. The IRS's church category includes synagogues, mosques and temples, and conventions and associations of churches.
- Census payroll counts leave out volunteer-run churches. County Business Patterns counts only establishments with paid employees, so a congregation with no paid staff isn't in it.
- Independent churches are hard to count. The Religion Census found 44,319 nondenominational churches in 2020; with no central body reporting for them, they're the group most likely to be missed.
Churches by denomination
| Religious body | Congregations, 2020 | Latest count from the body |
|---|---|---|
| Southern Baptist Convention | 51,379 | 46,608 churches and 2,227 church-type missions (2025) |
| Non-denominational Christian churches | 44,319 | none (no central body) |
| United Methodist Church | 30,051 | not checked |
| Catholic Church | 19,405 | 16,125 parishes (2025, CARA) |
| Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | 14,567 | not checked |
| Assemblies of God | 12,739 | not checked |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | 12,285 | not checked |
| Churches of Christ | 11,881 | not checked |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | 8,857 | not checked |
| Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | 8,851 | not checked |
| National Missionary Baptist Convention | 7,564 | not checked |
| Episcopal Church | 6,353 | not checked |
2020 counts from the U.S. Religion Census group detail file. Denominations count differently: the Religion Census counts congregations, the SBC separates churches from missions, and CARA counts canonical parishes.
By tradition, the 2020 census counted 199,694 Conservative Protestant, 69,865 Mainline Protestant, 23,483 Black Protestant, 19,522 Catholic, 14,631 Latter-day Saints, 12,285 Jehovah's Witnesses and 2,921 Orthodox congregations. Non-Christian congregations totaled 11,477: 3,306 Jewish, 2,771 Muslim, 1,984 Buddhist, 1,811 Hindu and 1,605 others.
Churches by state
| State | Congregations, 2020 | Per 100,000 people | IRS church records, 2026 | Religious organizations with paid staff, 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 29,750 | 102.1 | 24,804 | 14,784 |
| California | 23,567 | 59.6 | 33,711 | 12,379 |
| Florida | 17,511 | 81.3 | 20,941 | 9,407 |
| North Carolina | 16,200 | 155.2 | 9,413 | 8,995 |
| Pennsylvania | 15,135 | 116.4 | 10,541 | 9,420 |
| Ohio | 13,906 | 117.9 | 10,629 | 7,911 |
| New York | 13,828 | 68.5 | 21,585 | 8,420 |
| Tennessee | 13,397 | 193.9 | 4,890 | 5,827 |
| Georgia | 12,891 | 120.3 | 11,127 | 6,792 |
| Illinois | 12,153 | 94.9 | 11,062 | 7,046 |
Sources: U.S. Religion Census 2020; IRS EO BMF posted 13 October 2026, foundation code 10; Census County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 813110.
Nationally there are 107.6 congregations per 100,000 people. Arkansas (246.7), Mississippi (242.5) and West Virginia (227.0) have the most per person; Nevada (49.6), California (59.6) and Massachusetts (62.0) the fewest.
How big churches are
Most churches are small. The Hartford Institute, citing the 2025 Faith Communities Today survey, puts the median at about 70 regular worship participants. Southern Baptist churches averaged about 96 in weekly in-person worship in 2025 (4,460,910 across 46,608 churches, our calculation). Hartford counts roughly 1,850 Protestant megachurches with 2,000 or more weekly attendees.
Staff numbers tell the same story. These are County Business Patterns counts for 2023:
| Paid employees | Religious organizations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 5 | 115,035 | 61.6% |
| 5 to 9 | 38,143 | 20.4% |
| 10 to 19 | 17,488 | 9.4% |
| 20 to 49 | 11,655 | 6.2% |
| 50 to 99 | 3,275 | 1.8% |
| 100 or more | 1,205 | 0.6% |
Together they employ 1,576,295 people with an annual payroll of $45.2 billion.
How many churches open and close
Lifeway Research estimates that 3,800 Protestant churches started and 4,000 closed in 2024, about 1.4% of the roughly 293,000 Protestant churches. The estimate scales up reports from 35 denominations that cover 58% of Protestant churches. The previous analysis found 1,500 more closures than openings, so the gap has narrowed. Among Southern Baptists, 715 congregations closed in 2024 and 188 left the convention.
Catholic parishes have declined for three decades, from 19,620 in 1990 to 16,125 in 2025. CARA counts 3,674 parishes without a resident priest pastor.
How to get a list of churches
| Source | What it covers | Format and fields |
|---|---|---|
| IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File | 293,326 churches that applied for exemption or sit under a group exemption | Free CSVs by state: name, EIN, street address, city, ZIP, group exemption number, NTEE code. Only 9,677 church records show income, because churches don't file Form 990 |
| Denominational directories | Each denomination's own congregations | Web search tools, such as the United Methodist Church's Find-a-Church and the ELCA's congregation search; Catholic parishes through each diocese |
| U.S. Religion Census and ARDA reports | Counts by body for every state, county and metro area | Free spreadsheets; no names or addresses |
| County property tax exemption rolls | Properties exempt as places of worship | Varies by county; a good check that a church still owns a building |
To build a list: download the IRS file for your states and filter to foundation code 10, then check it against the denominational directories for your segment. Expect gaps among independent churches, and remove ministries that aren't congregations. To count the industry in Census data, use NAICS code 813110.
Who buys inside a church
As general guidance, these are the usual decision makers:
| What you sell | Who usually decides |
|---|---|
| Audio, video, lighting and livestream | The worship pastor or technical director, with the executive pastor |
| Church management and giving software | The executive pastor or church administrator, with the finance committee |
| Buildings, roofing, HVAC and renovations | Trustees or a building committee; large projects often go to a congregational vote |
| Insurance, payroll and benefits | The business administrator and finance committee |
| Anything at a Catholic parish | The pastor, advised by the parish finance council that canon law requires in every parish; many purchases run through diocesan programs |
At a church with fewer than five staff, the senior pastor usually decides alone. Budgets are typically set once a year, so learn each church's budget month before you pitch.
Worked example: livestream systems in Dallas-Fort Worth
Illustrative example. The company, its rates and the share that buys are invented; the counts come from the IRS file posted 13 October 2026, the 2020 Religion Census and County Business Patterns 2023.
The seller: Lone Star Stage (lonestar-stage.example) installs cameras, streaming and sound systems in churches. The territory: Dallas-Fort Worth.
- Pull the names. The IRS file lists 7,096 church records in Texas ZIP codes starting 750 to 753 and 760 to 762, roughly the metro area.
- Allow for gaps. Texas has 24,804 IRS church records against 29,750 congregations in the Religion Census, about 83% as many. Add independent churches from local searches.
- Size the list. 3,255 of Texas's 14,784 religious organizations with paid staff (22%) employ ten or more people, which Lone Star assumes is the size that can pay for a technical director. Applied to the 7,096, that's about 1,560 target churches.
- Do the arithmetic. If an illustrative 10% upgrade their systems in a year, that's 156 projects. Winning one in ten gives 16 installs; at an illustrative $40,000 each, $640,000 a year.
- Find the buyer. Finding the technical director at each church, and what's changed (a new building, a new campus, a capital campaign), is the slow part; Bebop finds the contacts and researches each church in the list.
Next step: profile each target church with the account research template before you write.
Sources
- 2020 U.S. Religion Census: Introduction and national overview, Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, October 2023
- 2020 U.S. Religion Census: summary and group detail data files, Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, June 2023, accessed 30 October 2026
- Exempt Organizations Business Master File Extract (EO BMF), Internal Revenue Service, data posted 13 October 2026
- Publication 1828, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations, Internal Revenue Service, Rev. August 2015
- County Business Patterns 2023, US Census Bureau, 2025
- Church closures eclipse openings in the U.S., Lifeway Research, 13 January 2026
- 2025 SBC Annual Church Profile: Statistical Summary, Lifeway Research, 19 April 2026
- Frequently requested Church statistics, Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), Georgetown University, accessed 30 October 2026
- Fast facts on American religion, Hartford Institute for Religion Research, accessed 30 October 2026
- Code of Canon Law, Book II, canon 537, The Holy See, accessed 30 October 2026
- Find-a-Church, The United Methodist Church, accessed 30 October 2026
- Find a congregation, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many churches are in the US?
356,642 religious congregations, according to the 2020 U.S. Religion Census, of which 345,165 are Christian churches and 293,042 Protestant. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research estimates about 373,000 including congregations the census missed. The IRS exempt organizations file lists 293,326 churches as of October 2026, but churches don't have to register with the IRS, so it isn't complete.
How many Catholic churches are in the US?
16,125 Catholic parishes in 2025, according to CARA at Georgetown University, from The Official Catholic Directory. That's down from a peak of 19,620 in 1990, and 3,674 parishes have no resident priest pastor. The 2020 U.S. Religion Census counted 19,405 Catholic congregations; the two sources count in different ways, so use CARA's figure for parishes.
Which state has the most churches?
Texas, with 29,750 congregations in the 2020 U.S. Religion Census, followed by California (23,567), Florida (17,511), North Carolina (16,200) and Pennsylvania (15,135). Per person, Arkansas has the most, with 246.7 congregations per 100,000 people, followed by Mississippi and West Virginia. Nevada, California and Massachusetts have the fewest per person.
How many churches close each year?
About 4,000 Protestant churches closed in 2024 while about 3,800 started, according to Lifeway Research, which estimated the totals from 35 denominations covering 58% of Protestant churches. That's about 1.4% of Protestant churches closing in a year. Among Southern Baptists, 715 congregations closed in 2024. Catholic parishes fell from 19,620 in 1990 to 16,125 in 2025.
How many Baptist churches are in the US?
The Southern Baptist Convention alone reported 46,608 churches and 2,227 church-type missions in its 2025 Annual Church Profile, with 12.3 million members. The 2020 U.S. Religion Census also counted 7,564 congregations of the National Missionary Baptist Convention and thousands more in other Baptist bodies. Each body publishes its own count, so add them up for a total.
Where can I get a list of churches with addresses?
Start with the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, a free set of CSVs that lists 293,326 churches with name, EIN, street address and ZIP code; filter to foundation code 10. Because churches don't have to apply to the IRS, add congregations from denominational church finders and local searches. The U.S. Religion Census gives counts by county to check coverage, but no names.