---
title: "Many U.S. congregations are still racially segregated, but things are changing"
description: "While the degree of racial segregation within religious congregations remains high, some houses of worship in the U.S. have become more diverse in recent years, according to a National Congregations study."
date: "2014-12-08"
authors:
  - name: "Michael Lipka"
    job_title: "Associate Director, Research"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/michael-lipka/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/12/08/many-u-s-congregations-are-still-racially-segregated-but-things-are-changing-2/"
categories:
  - "Discrimination & Prejudice"
  - "Race & Ethnicity"
  - "Religion & Politics"
  - "Religious Demographics"
  - "Segregation"
  - "U.S. Religious Demographics"
---

# Many U.S. congregations are still racially segregated, but things are changing

Nearly a half century after Martin Luther King Jr. called 11 a.m. on Sunday morning [the most segregated hour in America](http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/04/24/our-most-segregated-hour-church-black-theology-ren%C3%A9-girard), two Florida churches with different racial compositions – one with a predominantly black congregation, the other predominantly white – [are set to merge](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/30/church-merger-racial-divide_n_6204244.html?utm_hp_ref=religion&ir=Religion).

[![Many U.S. congregations are still racially segregated, but things are changing ](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/12/FT_14.12.04_congregationRacialMakeup1.png)](http://www.soc.duke.edu/natcong/about.html)

The move occurs amid a larger, but slow-moving, national trend. While the degree of racial segregation within religious congregations remains high, some houses of worship in the U.S. have become[ more diverse in recent years](http://online.wsj.com/articles/a-church-of-many-colors-the-most-segregated-hour-in-america-gets-less-so-1413253801), according to findings from the most recent (2012) [National Congregations Study](http://www.soc.duke.edu/natcong/about.html) (NCS), directed by Duke University researcher Mark Chaves. (The most recent study received financial support from the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project.)

Indeed, while about eight-in-ten American congregants still attend services at a place where a single racial or ethnic group comprises at least 80% of the congregation, one-in-five now worship in congregations where no single racial or ethnic group predominates in such a way. This figure has [risen in recent years](http://www.soc.duke.edu/natcong/Docs/Changing_American_Congs.pdf), from 15% in the 1998 NCS and 17% in the 2006-07 NCS.

In addition, the share of white Americans who attend services with no one of another other race or ethnicity is dropping. In 1998, 20% of U.S. congregants were part of congregations that were entirely white. By 2012, that percentage had fallen to 11%, while increasing shares of whites are in congregations with at least some blacks, Hispanics or Asians.

That same dynamic is at work among some other groups. For example, a 2013 Pew Research Center [survey of U.S. Hispanics](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2014/05/07/chapter-5-the-ethnic-church/) found that 61% of Hispanic churchgoers say their place of worship has a mostly Hispanic congregation – down from 74% who said the same in 2006.

A majority (57%) of congregants overall are part of congregations that are predominantly (at least 80%) non-Hispanic white. Additionally, 14% of Americans who attend services do so at houses of worship with membership that is at least 80% black (including 5% who are in congregations that are entirely black). And another 8% attend churches where at least eight-in-ten churchgoers are Hispanic.

While financial reasons are playing a role in the Florida church merger, the pastors involved say they also are aiming to [promote racial reconciliation](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/30/church-merger-racial-divide_n_6204244.html?utm_hp_ref=religion&ir=Religion) in the Jacksonville area and beyond.