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The Census Bureau and American Congregations

In the nineteenth century, the U.S. government collected data about churches as part of its decennial population census, but when Congress created the Census Bureau as a permanent agency in 1902, it authorized it to undertake a separate decennial survey of “religious bodies.” Every ten years from 1906 to 1946, the U.S. Census Bureau surveyed congregations, synagogues, and other religious groups in the United States.

While the Census Bureau published summary reports from that data, the forms (or schedules) filled out by each congregation have not been widely used. Only the schedules from the 1926 Census survive, housed in a collection at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC.

These schedules are a rich source of information about American religious institutions in the early twentieth century. They contain a wealth of information about each congregation, including its membership by age and sex, its expenditures on buildings and missions, its minister’s name and whether he or she had gone to seminary, and its denominational affiliation, which the Census Bureau cataloged into 213 different groups. The schedules also include the location of the congregations, usually by county and city or town, and in many cases the street address as well.

Totals

164,028 schedules digitized (70.7% of total)

217 denominations

3,112 counties

Schedules per denomination (top 25)

DenominationSchedule count
Methodist Episcopal Church26,055
Southern Baptist Convention23,129
Methodist Episcopal Church, South19,465
Negro Baptists A18,281
Northern Baptist Convention7,676
Protestant Episcopal Church7,209
Disciples of Christ6,056
Churches of Christ5,503
Congregational Churches4,010
Primitive Baptists3,553
Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of America: Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States2,963
Evangelical Church2,665
Norwegian Lutheran Church of America2,547
Seventh-day Adventist Denomination1,980
Methodist Protestant Church1,446
Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of America: Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Wisconsin and Other States1,309
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints1,230
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America1,203
Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America1,179
Negro Baptists B1,079
Christian Church (General Convention of the Christian Church)1,044
Church of the Brethren (Conservative Dunkers)1,030
Free Will Baptists1,025
Congregational Methodist Church923
Colored Primitive Baptists922

Schedules per county (top 25)

CountySchedule count
Cook, Illinois1,223
Los Angeles, California808
Jefferson, Alabama556
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania548
Allegheny, Pennsylvania509
Wayne, Michigan459
Middlesex, Massachusetts353
Erie, New York344
New York, New York339
Shelby, Tennessee330
Baltimore City, Maryland314
Kings, New York313
Cuyahoga, Ohio312
Marion, Indiana279
Harris, Texas273
Jefferson, Kentucky272
Essex, New Jersey268
Hamilton, Ohio264
Davidson, Tennessee261
Pulaski, Arkansas256
Dallas, Texas249
Spartanburg, South Carolina247
Essex, Massachusetts239
District Of Columbia238
Fulton, Georgia238