Religion is showing signs of “strength and stability” in the U.S. while attendance at religious services has increased from the lows of the COVID-19 era, according to a study released Oct. 28.
The analysis conducted by Pew Research Center and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation presents a synthesis of polling this year and last year in addition to surveys tracked since 2020.
Researchers found 70% of adults identify with a religious tradition, a figure that has held steady over the past six years. Similarly, Americans who report praying daily has held steady in the upper 40% range, with 47% saying that in 2026.
Meanwhile, the percentage of respondents who say they attended religious services in the previous month, whether online, on television or in person, rose from 41% in 2021 to 45% this year, the research showed. Self-reported in-person attendance increased from 13% to 34% in that time while online or television-only participation declined from 36% to 26%.
The findings of the Pew-Knight initiative track more or less with research conducted recently by other major religion polling organizations.
Earlier this year, Hartford Institute for Religion Research found that median in-person worship attendance jumped from 45 people in 2020 to 70 people last year, adding it saw signs of “recovery” and “renewal” in other facets of U.S. congregational life.
Public Religion Research Institute reported in April that 66% of Americans identify as Christian, 28% as religiously unaffiliated and 6% with non-Christian religious traditions. But PRRI also found an ongoing decline in attendance at religious services, from 31% in 2013 to 26% last year.
In the Pew-Knight project, researchers found while 41% of adults 18 to 22 years old reported attending religious services at least once a month, only 27% of adults between 23 and 26 in age said the same — the lowest of any age group.
However, the youngest adults were undistinctive when asked about the frequency of prayer, their identification with a particular faith group or how important religion is in their lives: “On all three of these measures, the youngest adults (roughly ages 18 to 22) report higher levels of religiousness than the second-youngest adults (roughly 23 to 26). But the youngest adults tend to be less religious on these other measures than are many older cohorts and the overall U.S. public. And the second-youngest adults are the least religious age group on all core measures of religiousness.”
There also is no indication that respondents born in the 1980s or earlier have become significantly more religious or less religious in recent years.