Here's an interesting article that gives an estimate of 300,000 to
400,000 churches, with the finding that churches of over 1,000 members
are in a distinct minority:
"Americans have a faulty view of the 'typical' church, synagogue and
mosque, according to a study conducted in March by sociologist David
A. Roozen and FACT (Faith Communities Today). Despite the perception
of large, urban churches as the norm, half of all congregations have
fewer than 100 adults that attend regularly, Roozen reported.
Furthermore, 52% are located in small towns and open country. The FACT
study is the largest ever conducted on American congregations.
On a related note, another study conducted by ABCNews found that
'megachurches'--those that average more than 1,000 members--are the
minority. According to findings, only 5% to 10% of the 300,000 to
400,000 churches in the United States meet this criteria. The study
also found that the number of Americans who attend megachurches is
between 2 million and 5 million."
Church Business
http://www.churchbusiness.com/articles/191cover.html
I located much more specific data from another source. In 2001, The
Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary
published "Faith Communities Today," a report on a survey that is
described as "the largest survey of congregations ever conducted in
the United States." For copyright reasons, I am posting only the most
salient excerpts from this report; you may read the report in its
entirety by clicking the link below.
"The Faith Communities Today data brings together 26 individual
surveys of congregations representing 41 denominations and faith
groups... Although all denominations and faith groups in the United
States had the opportunity to participate in the project, not all of
them did. The proportion of U.S. congregations represented in FACT is
not possible to determine with precision because there is no accurate
count of the total number of congregations in the United States.
Estimates typically range from 300,000 to 350,000."
"When the public thinks of congregations, the image that typically
comes to mind is a mega-church or a highsteeple urban church. The
reality, however, is that half of the congregations in the United
States have fewer than 100 regularly participating adults... and just
over half are located in small town and rural settings... Indeed, a
full quarter of congregations has fewer than 50 regularly
participating adults, while less than 10 percent have more than
1,000."
A pie-chart accompanying the report provides the figures you seek:
50% of churches have fewer than 100 regular participating adults (RPA)
33% of churches have 100 to 349 RPA
11% of churches have 359 to 999 RPA
6% of churches have 1000+ RPA
Hartford Seminary
http://fact.hartsem.edu/Final%20FACTrpt.pdf
(NOTE: The file linked above is in .pdf format. You need to
have Adobe Acrobat reader software installed on your computer
in order to view .pdf files. If you do not already have this
software, a free download is available here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html )
Search terms used:
"churches in the united states"
"church membership"
"church attendance"
"church statistics"
"size of congregation(s)"
This was an interesting quest! I hope I've provided the kind of
information that you need. The figures from the Hartford study are
likely to be the most authoritative data available at this time. If
anything is unclear, if you have a question about my research, or if a
link does not function, please request clarification; I'll be glad to
offer further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |