--- description: The percentage of white Christians in the United States has continued to decline below a majority, according to a new survey. title: America Keeps Getting Less White and Less Christian image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d7795b5cfa597aa/6988dc95196cf40ea9041cb7/white-christian-population-survey.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [faith](/tag/faith/) ## faith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # America Keeps Getting Less White and Less Christian  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 6, 2017 12:22 PM CUT  Cardinal Blase Cupich leads a march against violence in the Englewood neighborhood on April 14, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. Cardinal Blase Cupich leads a march against violence in the Englewood neighborhood on April 14, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois.Scott Olson/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 6, 2017 12:22 PM CUT The percentage of white Christians in the United States has continued to decline below a majority, according to a new survey, amid increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the country and growing numbers of people who identify as religiously unaffiliated. The survey released Wednesday by [the Public Religion Research Institute](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prri-releases-largest-survey-of-american-religious-and-denominational-identity-ever-conducted-300514391.html "undefined") (PRRI) found that just 43% of Americans now identify as white and Christian. By comparison, 81% of Americans identified as white Christians in 1976\. The report reinforces the findings of a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center, which found that the number of white Christians in the U.S. had [fallen to 46%](http://time.com/4124979/white-christian-pew-survey/ "undefined"). The PRRI survey identified a specific decline in the percentage of Americans who identify as white Protestants — now just 30%. Overall, a majority of Americans today are Christian, represented by a growing percentage of black and Hispanic Christians. While non-Christian religious groups are growing, they still account for less than 10% of the American population. But those religions are made up of higher percentages of young people, compared to the aging group of white Christians. About a quarter (24%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, and about a third of those Americans are under 30. The [survey](https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/PRRI-Religion-Report.pdf "undefined") — which polled 101,438 between Jan. 6, 2016 and Jan. 10, 2017 — has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.4 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4928811/white-christian-minority-united-states-survey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4928811/white-christian-minority-united-states-survey/"},"headline":"America Keeps Getting Less White and Less Christian","datePublished":"2017-09-06T12:22:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:17:58.499Z","description":"Just 43% of Americans now identify as white and Christian","url":"https://time.com/4928811/white-christian-minority-united-states-survey/","keywords":["faith","Religion","Demographics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d7795b5cfa597aa/6988dc95196cf40ea9041cb7/white-christian-population-survey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d7795b5cfa597aa/6988dc95196cf40ea9041cb7/white-christian-population-survey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich Leads Peace Walk On Good Friday","caption":"Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich Leads Peace Walk On Good Friday","creditText":"Scott Olson/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4928811/white-christian-minority-united-states-survey/","name":"America Keeps Getting Less White and Less Christian"}}]}] ```