Although the Southern Baptist Convention remains the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, only about 3.6% of the 342 million Americans were members of SBC churches in 2025. Not only has membership in SBC churches been on the decline for two decades but the proportionate influence of Southern Baptists continues to decline as well.
As SBC membership has decreased, the U.S. population has increased, widening the gap nationwide — although in some Southern states and cities, Southern Baptist influence remains strong. According to new data from Lifeway, SBC churches counted 12,331,954 members in 2025.
In 2006, SBC membership peaked at 16.3 million people. That same year, the U.S. population exceeded 300 million — meaning about 5.4% of Americans claimed to Southern Baptists then.
In 2025, SBC membership returned to a 1973 level while the U.S. population in 2025 (342 million) was 62% larger than it was in 1973 (211 million). That means the U.S. population increased by 131 million people while SBC membership retracted.
These church membership percentages are not precise because Southern Baptists count as members only baptized believers, and most SBC children are not baptized until third grade or later — a personal decision not guided by any structure. Thus, the number of people on the rolls of SBC churches in any year would be larger than the membership count. While that would affect tallying the percentage of Americans who are Southern Baptists, it would not affect the proportional comparison from year to year.
Considering average weekly attendance at SBC churches creates a portrait of even less influence. About 4.5 million people attended a Southern Baptist church each week in 2025 — meaning people of all ages and baptismal status — which is 1.3% of the 342 million U.S. population in 2025. To be fair, those are not usually the same people attending week after week, but since the number given is an average, it’s fair for our comparison.
While Southern Baptists are a prized voting bloc, largely supporting conservative Republican candidates today, they represent a small part of the U.S. electorate. However, they tend to be reliable voters.
In 2025, about 23% of U.S. adults identified as evangelical Protestants, according to Pew Research Center. The largest part of that share is found in nondenominational churches, where membership accounts for about 14% of Americans.
In 2025, 40 million Americans said they attend nondenominational churches — compared to 12.3 million documented members of SBC churches in the same year. As Ryan Burge and other researchers have been explaining for years now, nondenominational churches — which by definition are not reported as part of any denomination — would be the second-largest religious group in the U.S. if counted together.
By comparison, about 20% of U.S. adults identify as Catholic — the largest religious group in the nation.
Why does this matter?
The important trendline is not that Southern Baptists are declining in membership (while still rebounding from COVID in attendance) but that Southern Baptists are less visible across the nation and have less clout to shape anything beyond their own structures.
Yes, it is true that the current speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is a Southern Baptist — but marginally so. And yes, there have been three U.S. presidents who were Southern Baptists — Harry S. Truman, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. But there never has been a Southern Baptist Supreme Court justice.
And today, Southern Baptists have much less clout on Capitol Hill than nondenominational and parachurch groups.
Both AARP and AAA have far more members than the SBC and are powerhouses of political influence. The Roman Catholic Church has more influence. Focus on the Family and its affiliated entities have more influence.
Most importantly, understanding the shrinking size and influence of the SBC explains why so many evangelicals like Southern Baptists are fighting tooth and nail to hold on to political power through gerrymandering and partisan patronage.