The Socio-Economic Contributions

of Religion to American Society:

An Empirical Analysis

Religion in the United States today contributes $1.2

$438.4 BILLION $418 BILLION
trillion each year to our economy and society. These BUSINESSES C O N G R E G AT I O N S

contributions range from the basic economic drivers

of any business—staff, overhead, utilities—to billions
spent on philanthropic programs, educational
institutions and health care services. Congregations, $302.9 BILLION
businesses inspired by faith, faith-based charities and INSTITUTIONS

N
IO
institutions not only build communities and families

LL
I
but also strengthen our economy in every town and city TR
.2
of the country. $1

BUSINESSES C O N G R E G AT I O N S INSTITUTIONS

SECTOR $ % SECTOR $ % SECTOR $ %

IN BILLIONS O F T O TA L IN BILLIONS O F T O TA L IN BILLIONS O F T O TA L

Religious Media $1.3 0.1% Direct Spending $83.8 7.2% Health Care $161.0 13.9%

Food (Traditional $14.4 1.2% Individual and $243.9 21% Higher Education $46.8 4.0%
Kosher and Halal) Social Impact
Charities $95.2 8.2%
Businesses with $422.7 36.5% Schools and $91.3 7.9%
Religious Daycare TOTA L $302.9* 26.1%
Backgrounds *Numbers do not total due to rounding.
TOTA L $418* 36.1%
TOTA L $438.4 37.8%
*The sum of line items factors in the exclusion of
inter-congregational giving.

The tables and chart above represent the over 344,000 religious congregations across the United States, which collectively employ
hundreds of thousands of staff members, and buy billions in products and services in their local communities. The tables also include
the tens of thousands of religiously-affiliated charities, health care providers, institutions of higher learning, and business activities—
ranging from the purchase of Kosher and Halal food products to religious media and other faith-based companies.

VO LU N T E E R I N G & CO M M U N I TY I N VO LV E M E N T Pew Research finds that adults who

are highly religious are more likely

NOT HIGHLY RELIGIOUS HIGHLY RELIGIOUS

than those who are less religious to

Volunteered in past week report they did volunteer work and

28% 45% made donations in the past week.
This difference is driven primarily by
volunteering through houses of worship,
Donated money/time/goods
to poor in past week which as the next page shows, feeds
41% 65%
many social service programs.
The Contributions of Congregations
Congregations alone coordinate 7.5 million volunteers to help run 1.5 million social programs Over 150 million Americans
each year. Below are examples of a few of the social issues these programs address, along with (or about half of the U.S.
several examples of how individual congregations are helping to solve them. population) are members of one
of over 344,000 congregations.

EXAMPLE #
ISSUES OF PROGRAMS*
Despite declining religious
Parenting 135,000 affiliation in the U.S. population,
Assistance
religious organizations have
Alcohol / Drug 130,000
Abuse Recovery ALCOHOL / DR U G A BUS E ME N TAL ILLN E S S tripled the amount of money

Marriage 125,000 The Saddleback Church United Methodist Minister spent on social programs in the
Improvement (CA), founded a Celebrate Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder
last 15 years—to $9 billion.
Recovery program 25 created Mental Health
Helping the 121,000
years ago that has helped Ministries (CA) to help
Unemployed
over 27,000 individuals individuals use their faith to
Veteran & 94,000 overcome drug abuse combat depression, mental Religion’s $1.2 trillion impact is
Veteran Family since it began. illness, and to prevent suicide.
Support more than the annual revenues

Mental Illness 78,000 of the top 10 tech companies,

Food for the Poor 68,000 including Apple, Amazon, and

Home Building, 62,000 Google combined.

Repair,
Maintenance

Societal Race 56,000 Almost 120,000 congregations

HI V / AI DS IN TE RFAITH DIALOGUE
Relations
The Mount Lebanon The Interfaith Study Group report attracting visitors for
Helping the 48,000
Needy Baptist Church (MD), (CA) is a collaboration their art or architecture each
provides daily AIDS testing between three faith
Encouraging 44,000 and onsite counseling for communities, which teaches
year, nearly four times the
Voter Registration its local community, which about diverse faiths and number of American museums
Offering Services 33,000 has one of the highest encourages respectful,
visited during the same period.
to Immigrants diagnosis rates in the U.S. informative dialogue.
Preventing 30,000
Transmission of
HIV / AIDS If $1.2 trillion was put in
Supporting 26,000 terms of GDP, it would make
Persons with HIV
U.S. religion the 15th largest
/ AIDS
national economy in the world.
Pollution, 26,000
Environmental VETER ANS UN E MP LOYME N T
Issues
First Congregational The Greater Allen AME
Disaster Relief 18,000 Church’s (CT) veterans Church (NY) offers direct 40% of the top 50 charities in
outreach program helps help to the unemployed the U.S. are faith-based, with a
Visiting Shut-ins, 12,000
Incarcerated vets suffering from PTSD, through weekly meetings,
serves homeless veterans, interview training and combined operating revenue
Individuals
and visits hospitals. resume building support. of $45.3 billion.
*Congregation-run programs / groups.
Rounded to nearest 1000.

“The Socio-economic Contribution of Religion to American Society: An Empirical Analysis,” a 2016 study by Brian J. Grim (Georgetown University) and
Melissa E. Grim (Newseum Institute), published in the peer-reviewed journal, Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, Volume 12, Article 3.

To view the full study, please visit FaithCounts.com/Report.

Study sponsored by Faith Counts, a multifaith campaign aimed at promoting the value of faith.