Texas Largest Religious Bodies
Religious Body | Adherents | Percent of Population |
Year | 2010 | 2000 |
1. Catholic Church | 4,673,500 | 18.59 | 20.95 | |
2. Southern Baptist Convention | 3,722,194 | 14.80 | 16.88 | |
3. Non-Denominational Christian | 1,546,542 | 6.15 | — | |
4. United Methodist Church | 1,122,736 | 4.46 | 4.90 | |
5. Muslim estimate | 421,972 | 1.68 | 0.55 | |
6. Church of Christ | 351,129 | 1.40 | 1.81 | |
7. LDS (Mormons) | 296,141 | 1.18 | 0.75 | |
8. Assembly of God | 275,565 | 1.10 | 1.09 | |
9. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | 155,046 | 0.62 | 0.86 | |
10. Episcopal Church | 148,439 | 0.59 | 0.85 | |
11. Lutheran–Missouri Synod | 132,508 | 0.53 | 0.67 | |
12. Lutheran–E.L.C.A. | 111,647 | 0.44 | 0.74 | |
Unclaimed by any faith | 10,103,455 | 40.18 | 38.25 |
"Adherents" includes full members, their children, and others who regularly attend services. Click here for a full listing of religious denominations in Texas.
Changes Over the Past Decades
Texas remains one of the nation’s more “religious” states, even though a smaller proportion of Texans is affiliated with a congregation than ten years ago.
At the same time, the estimated number of Muslims in the state increased to 421,972, making it the fifth largest religious group in the state and making Texas first in the nation in number of Muslims.
Texas ranks in the upper half among the states in percentage of the population belonging to a denomination. According to the 2010 U.S. Religion Census, at least 56.0 percent of Texans are adherents to a religion. The national average is 48.8 percent.
The census, sponsored by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, is the only U.S. survey to report religious membership down to the county level, as well at the state level. The census, taken every 10 years, relies on self-reports from congregations for membership numbers.
But in the past, the African-American churches did not participate in the study, and in 2010 less than half of those congregations participated.
Only 345,998 black Protestants were counted in Texas in 2010. According to the U.S. Census of 2010, there were 2,782,876 blacks in Texas, which would mean 87.6 percent of black Texans, who are predominately Protestant, were designated as unaffliliated to any church. This probably leaves out some one million Texas church members.
In 1990, it was estimated that there were 815,000 black Baptists in Texas. An estimate of the membership in black Pentecostal churches was about 300,000. And, an estimate for black Methodists in Texas was approximately 200,000.
Carrying over those estimates into 2010 and adjusting for these additions, then the percentage of Texans that are adherents of a religion would be closer to 59.8 percent in 2010. [In addition, the religion census includes denominations that provide numbers of congregations, but who have not provided the numbers of adherents in each congregation. Even with factoring in an average congregation size of 100 persons for Protestant congregations, (a figure used by the census study) the total percentage would vary less than a one percent, to 60.7 percent.]