Last updated: October 2026
Written by: Kidddo team; with 10+ years working with churches and child check-in systems

From Gen Z preferences to post-pandemic shifts and the rise of hybrid worship—here’s what the latest data says about how people show up for church in 2026.

Church attendance statistics at a glance

• 31% of U.S. adults attend religious services weekly or nearly weekly, and 57% seldom or never attend (Gallup, 2025 data).

• 33% attend in person at least once a month, and 40% take part either in person or online (Pew Research Center, 2023–24).

• 80% of congregations offered hybrid worship as of March 2022 (Hartford Institute, EPIC study).

• 52% of Protestant churches grew by 4% or more over two years, and larger churches were likelier to grow (Lifeway Research, surveyed 2024).

• The median congregation had 65 people at worship in 2020, down from 137 in 2000 (Faith Communities Today).

• Gen Z churchgoers attend an average of 1.9 weekends a month, the highest Barna has recorded for young Christians (Barna, 2025).

Three well-known surveys put U.S. church attendance at 31%, 33%, and 40%. They are measuring different things: weekly attendance, monthly attendance in person, and monthly participation that includes watching online.

This page collects the most recent national figures we could verify as of October 2026. Each one is shown with its source and the year the data was collected, because the year in a headline is often later than the year people were actually asked.

How Many Americans Go to Church in 2026?

About three in ten attend most weeks. Gallup found that 31% of U.S. adults attended religious services weekly or nearly weekly in 2025, 10% about once a month, and 57% seldom or never. Pew Research Center, in a larger study fielded in 2023–24, found 33% attending in person at least monthly.

 Two cautions when quoting these. They cover religious services of every faith, so they are slightly broader than "church." And they are self-reported, so they describe what people say they do.

Is Church Attendance Still Declining?

Over the long run, yes, and the most recent figures are flat. Gallup recorded 42% of U.S. adults attending weekly or nearly weekly in 2000–2003, 38% in 2011–2013, and 30% in 2021–2023. Its 2025 figure is 31%, about the same as the three years before it.

The same shift shows up inside congregations. The median U.S. congregation had 65 people at worship in 2020, down from 137 in 2000, according to the Faith Communities Today 2020 study. Median means half of all congregations had 65 people or fewer.

How Common Is Online and Hybrid Worship?

Very common on the church side. Hartford Institute's EPIC study found that 80% of congregations offered hybrid worship, in person and online, as of March 2022, compared with about 19% seven years earlier. On the attender side, Pew found 23% of U.S. adults watching services online or on TV at least monthly in 2023–24.

Most of those viewers also attend in person. Pew's 8% is the share who take part only online or on TV.

Watching in place of attending is a regular habit for a large minority. Lifeway Research found that 39% of Protestant churchgoers had watched a livestream service in place of attending in person more than five times in the previous year, in a survey from September 2022.

Are Young People Coming Back to Church?

Young churchgoers are attending more often. Barna reported in 2025 that Gen Z churchgoers attend an average of 1.9 weekends a month and Millennial churchgoers 1.8, the highest it has recorded for young Christians. That figure describes how often young churchgoers attend. It doesn't show how many young people attend at all.

On that second question, Springtide Research Institute found in its 2023 study that 36% of 13-to-25-year-olds attend religious services at least once a month, and a similar share never attend. In the same study, 68% described themselves as at least slightly religious and 78% as at least slightly spiritual, so interest in faith runs well ahead of attendance.

For the children's side of the picture, see our children's ministry statistics.

Which Churches Are Growing?

About half of Protestant churches. Lifeway Research surveyed 1,001 Protestant pastors in autumn 2024 and found that 52% of churches had grown by 4% or more over two years, 33% had plateaued, and 15% had declined. Growth was much likelier in larger churches.

For a small church this is hard reading. Only 23% of churches with fewer than 50 people were growing, against 62% of those with more than 250, and with a median of 65, most congregations are small. The same figures show that 45% of churches with 50 to 99 people grew.

What a Small Church Can Control

These surveys measure how many churches are growing. They don't explain why, so what follows is practical suggestion from working with small churches, not a research finding.

• Count by name, the same way every week. A headcount shows how many came. A list of names shows who has stopped coming, which is the thing you can act on.

• Follow up with first-time families in the same week. A small church can do this personally.

• Make children's drop-off safe and visible. For a family with young children, the nursery door is part of their first visit. Our comparison of church check-in software covers the options.

How to Read Church Attendance Statistics

Three questions sort out most of the confusion. Who was asked: adults in general, churchgoers, or pastors describing their own church. What counted: in-person attendance only, or online viewing as well. And when the data was collected, which is often a year or two before the report's date.

The figures on this page differ for those reasons. Gallup and Pew ask adults about themselves. Lifeway's growth figures come from pastors. Barna's 1.9 weekends a month is an average among people who already attend. Quoted without that context, the same numbers can be made to say church is collapsing or surging.

Where Kidddo Fits

Kidddo is child check-in software, so the attendance it records is the children's side: who was checked in, in which room, on which dates, with a report you can download as a spreadsheet. For a church that wants to count by name every week, children's ministry is often the easiest place to start, because families already check in. It costs $19 a month.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is church attendance increasing in 2026?

Overall, the figures are flat. Gallup's weekly-or-nearly-weekly figure was 31% in 2025, against 30% across 2021–2023. The clearest increase is in how often young churchgoers attend: Barna reported in 2025 that Gen Z churchgoers average 1.9 weekends a month, the highest it has recorded for young Christians.

What percentage of Americans attend church every week?

Gallup found that 31% of U.S. adults attended religious services weekly or nearly weekly in 2025. That category includes people who attend almost every week, and it covers all faiths.

What is the average church size in the United States?

The median congregation had 65 people at worship in 2020, according to the Faith Communities Today study, down from 137 in 2000. The median is used because a small number of very large churches would pull an average upward.

How many churches offer online services?

Hartford Institute's EPIC study found that 80% of congregations offered hybrid worship, both in person and online, as of March 2022. About 19% did seven years earlier.

Sources

• Gallup, "Americans' Religious Engagement Holds at Lower Levels" (March 2026; 2025 data)

• Gallup, "Church Attendance Has Declined in Most U.S. Religious Groups" (March 2024; 2000–2023 data)

• Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study (February 2025; 2023–24 data)

• Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations (EPIC), "The Pandemic Church" (March 2022 data)

• Faith Communities Today, "Twenty Years of Congregational Change" (2020 data)

• Lifeway Research, "Half of Churches Experiencing Post-Pandemic Attendance Growth" (March 2025; surveyed autumn 2024)

• Lifeway Research, "Churchgoers Still Watch Livestream Services" (June 2023; surveyed September 2022)

• Springtide Research Institute, The State of Religion & Young People 2023

• Barna, "Barna's Top Trends of 2025"

See Your Own Children's Attendance

Start a free trial, check families in for a few Sundays, and download the report. It's a small, exact number to set beside the national ones.