Very little is known about nondenominational congregations in the United States. Yet, as of 2020, over 6% of Americans worshiped in a nondenominational church. If the nation’s independent and nondenominational churches were combined into a single group, they would represent the second-largest cluster of congregations in the country, following the Southern Baptist Convention and having the second-most members behind the Roman Catholic Church.
Our national research found over 44,000 nondenominational or independent churches representing more than 12,200,000 adherents. These churches are present in every state and in 2,753 counties in the country, or 86% of the total. They are the most dominant religious reality in many counties around the country. This collection of nonaffiliated churches, seen as a single entity, is among the top five religious groups in 48 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
This page contains research findings about nondenominational congregations from several national studies (Organizing Religious Work and Faith Communities Today) and data from the US Religion Census study of all the nondenominational and independent churches in the United States. These articles and research summaries offer a glimpse into this growing segment of the American religious landscape.
Research Reports
- Description of the 2020 National Census Profile of nondenominational churches
- Random Sample Frequency Findings from the 2020 Survey
- Overall Survey Frequency Findings from the 2020 Faith Communities Today Survey
- Description of the 2010 National Census Profile of Nondenominational Churches
- Overall Survey Frequency Findings from the 2010 Faith Communities Today Survey
- A Summary Report of the 2000 Faith Communities Today Nondenominational Research
- Profile of the 1998 Organizing Religious Work Nondenominational Congregations Data
2020 Maps of Nondenominational and Independent Churches
- Map of All US Nondenominational Churches
- Nondenominational Adherents as Percentage of State Population
- Nondenominational Adherents as Percentage of County Population
- Nondenominational Adherents as Percentage of All Religious Adherents by County
- Nondenominational Adherents and Churches by Community Location Type
Articles
The following articles are about nondenominational churches and congregations leaving denominations to become independent.
What God Makes Free Is Free Indeed: Nondenominational Church Identity and its Networks of Support
A paper presented by Scott Thumma at the annual meeting of the Religious Research Association summarizes findings from the Organizing Religious Work nondenominational research and speculates on the attraction of the nondenominational religious identity.
Growing up and Leaving Home: Megachurches That Depart Denominations
An unpublished paper by Scott Thumma and Adair Lummis presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion/Religious Research Association.
Congregational Splits & Denominational Apostasy
An unpublished paper by David Roozen and Adair Lummis presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Association of Sociology of Religion.