Open Access Resources in Religious & Theological Studies: Denominations

The ARDA provides a tool for accessing data on different denominations, including their history and most recent membership numbers. A family tree is also provided which traces how a given denomination developed over time.

This resource is maintained by the University of Connecticut and is the central repository for social scientific studies of Jewish communities in North America. The website provides population information gathered from surveys as well as information on local Jewish communities broken down by state. Note: the databank has a primary focus on population statistics, not necessarily helpful for statistics on Judaism. Includes historical data from the American Jewish Year Book.

A project run by Harvard University, the Pluralism Project looks at the changing landscape of religion in America and aims to provide resources to educate users on different faiths. This is a great resource for information on non-Christian religions in America, and some statistical information is provided.

The Pew Forum conducts surveys, demographic analyses and other social science research on important aspects of religion and public life in the U.S. and around the world. The site has landing pages for reports based on religious affiliations: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Other Affiliations (incl. Hindus, Buddhists, Baha’is, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Unitarians, New Age groups and Native American religions), and Unaffiliated.

Provides a county-by-county measure of religious bodies in the US. The study is currently sponsored by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. The survey includes maps, reports, and data sets of survey results. 2010 RCMS was released May 1, 2012. An overview of the study can be found here. Full regional reports can be searched through the ARDA.