Florida church statistics show a broad religious landscape, from 4,097,067 Catholic adherents and 2,020,876 adherents in nondenominational Christian churches to smaller denominational communities. Survey estimates also show substantial shares of Florida adults identifying as Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, or religiously unaffiliated. The figures below are reported by the Florida Baptist Historical Society, Pew Religious Landscape Study, and ARDA Florida State Membership Report. The source labels do not provide one common measurement date, so these are not presented as a single-year trend.
Contents
- Florida religious identity
- Baptist and evangelical presence
- Statewide adherence and largest church bodies
- Protestant denominations and congregations
- Jewish, Unitarian, and smaller communities
- What the counts measure
Florida religious identity
The Pew Religious Landscape Study reports that 22% of Florida adults identify as Catholic. The same study reports that 22% identify as Evangelical Protestant, making those two broad identity categories equal in the reported estimate. A narrower Baptist-family category accounts for 7% of Florida adults within evangelical Protestant traditions.
The study also separates several Baptist and historically Black Protestant identities. Southern Baptists account for 5% of Florida adults, while 3% identify with the Independent Baptist tradition. Historically Black Protestant identity accounts for 7% of adults. Within that broad tradition, 3% identify with the Baptist family, 3% with the Pentecostal family, and 2% with the Church of God in Christ.
These categories should not be added together as if they were all separate, non-overlapping populations. Some are broad traditions, while others are family or denominational subdivisions. For example, the 5% Southern Baptist estimate is part of the broader Baptist and Protestant picture, not an additional group outside it. The value of the breakdown is that it shows how a statewide religious identity can contain several layers of affiliation.
The Pew Religious Landscape Study also reports several non-Christian identities among Florida adults: 3% identify as Jewish, 1% as Muslim, 2% as Buddhist, and 1% as Hindu. Together, these reported percentages describe four distinct religious identities, each measured separately in the study.
Religious nonaffiliation is also a significant part of the picture. Four percent of Florida adults identify as atheist, 5% as agnostic, and 18% as “nothing in particular.” Another 1% identify as spiritual but not religious. These categories help explain why the statewide church landscape includes both formal congregations and a large population that does not identify with a specific religious institution.
Baptist and evangelical presence
The Florida Baptist State Convention has over 3,100 cooperating congregations, according to the Florida Baptist Historical Society. That figure describes a substantial statewide network of congregations connected through cooperation with the convention. It is a congregation count, not a direct estimate of worship attendance or total individual membership.
The Florida Baptist Historical Society has also secured and developed nearly 970 church histories of active and deactivated congregations. This is a historical-record count rather than a current congregation total. Because it includes both active and deactivated congregations, it should not be compared directly with the more than 3,100 cooperating congregations as though both figures measured the same population.
The Baptist figures fit within the broader Pew estimate that 22% of Florida adults identify as Evangelical Protestant. The Pew Religious Landscape Study reports 7% identifying with the Baptist family within evangelical Protestant traditions, including 5% identifying as Southern Baptist and 3% as Independent Baptist. These are survey identity estimates, whereas the Florida Baptist State Convention figure counts cooperating congregations. Each source therefore answers a different question: one describes self-identification among adults, and the other describes an organized congregation network.
Statewide adherence and largest church bodies
The ARDA Florida State Membership Report gives Florida’s all-denomination adherence rate as 470.79 per 1,000 residents. This is a rate, not a percentage of adults in a survey, and it should be read separately from the Pew identity estimates. The ARDA report also lists 559 Catholic congregations and 4,097,067 Catholic adherents in Florida.
The same ARDA report lists 3,287 congregations for non-denominational Christian Churches and 2,020,876 adherents. In the reported counts, this is a larger congregation total than the Catholic figure, while the Catholic adherent count is larger than the nondenominational Christian adherent count.
| Church body in Florida | Congregations | Adherents |
|---|---|---|
| Catholic Church | 559 | 4,097,067 |
| Non-denominational Christian Churches | 3,287 | 2,020,876 |
| Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) | 669 | 83,555 |
| Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | 299 | 73,064 |
| Churches of Christ | 488 | 61,514 |
| Christian Churches and Churches of Christ | 177 | 60,488 |
The table shows why congregation counts and adherent counts need to be kept distinct. Catholic reporting combines 559 congregations with the largest adherent count in this group, while non-denominational Christian Churches report the largest congregation count in the table. The Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) reports 669 congregations and 83,555 adherents. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) reports 299 congregations and 73,064 adherents. Churches of Christ reports 488 congregations and 61,514 adherents, while Christian Churches and Churches of Christ reports 177 congregations and 60,488 adherents.
Protestant denominations and congregations
The ARDA Florida State Membership Report includes several additional Protestant bodies. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church reports 43 congregations and 9,994 adherents. Full Gospel Christian Assemblies International reports 28 congregations and 8,376 adherents. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod reports 37 congregations and 7,766 adherents.
The report lists 36 congregations and 7,026 adherents for the American Baptist Association. Primitive Baptists Associations report 82 congregations and 6,991 adherents. The Salvation Army reports 42 congregations and 6,883 adherents. International Church of the Foursquare Gospel reports 39 congregations and 5,304 adherents.
These smaller figures still represent distinct statewide organizational footprints. The American Baptist Association and International Church of the Foursquare Gospel each report fewer than 50 congregations. Primitive Baptists Associations report 82 congregations, the highest congregation count in this group, while Christian Methodist Episcopal Church reports 9,994 adherents, the highest adherent count among the group listed in this section.
The denominations are not interchangeable categories. “Churches of Christ” and “Christian Churches and Churches of Christ” appear as separate entries in the ARDA report, as do the American Baptist Association, Primitive Baptists Associations, and Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Keeping the labels intact avoids combining organizations that the source reports separately.
Jewish, Unitarian, and smaller communities
The ARDA Florida State Membership Report lists Reform Judaism with 55 congregations and 53,057 adherents. This organizational count sits alongside the Pew Religious Landscape Study’s estimate that 3% of Florida adults identify as Jewish. The two figures use different methods and should not be treated as duplicate measurements of exactly the same population.
The Unitarian Universalist Association reports 45 congregations and 7,995 adherents in Florida, according to ARDA. Its congregation total is lower than Reform Judaism’s 55, while its reported adherent count is also lower than Reform Judaism’s 53,057.
The Pew Religious Landscape Study provides the broader identity context for these communities. It reports 1% of Florida adults identifying as Muslim, 2% as Buddhist, and 1% as Hindu. It also reports 4% identifying as atheist, 5% as agnostic, 18% as “nothing in particular,” and 1% as spiritual but not religious. Those estimates indicate that Florida’s religious profile extends beyond the organizations represented in the ARDA congregation-and-adherent list.
What the counts measure
Florida church statistics become easier to interpret when the unit of measurement is explicit. The Florida Baptist State Convention figure is a count of over 3,100 cooperating congregations. The Florida Baptist Historical Society figure is nearly 970 church histories covering active and deactivated congregations. Neither figure is a survey percentage or a statewide adherent estimate.
The Pew Religious Landscape Study reports the share of Florida adults who identify with particular religious, nonreligious, or spiritual categories. Its 22% Catholic estimate and 22% Evangelical Protestant estimate are broad identity measures. The 7% Baptist-family, 5% Southern Baptist, and 3% Independent Baptist estimates are narrower identity categories within that wider landscape. The 7% Historically Black Protestant estimate, along with the 3% Baptist-family, 3% Pentecostal-family, and 2% Church of God in Christ estimates within that tradition, should likewise be read as related categories rather than a simple additive list.
The ARDA Florida State Membership Report uses congregation and adherent counts for named church bodies and provides an all-denomination adherence rate of 470.79 per 1,000 residents. Its Florida entries include 559 Catholic congregations, 3,287 non-denominational Christian congregations, 669 Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) congregations, 488 Churches of Christ congregations, 55 Reform Judaism congregations, and 45 Unitarian Universalist Association congregations, among others.
For readers comparing Florida with another state or comparing one source with another, the safest approach is to preserve the source’s label, geography, and unit. An adult identity estimate is not the same as an adherent count; an adherence rate is not the same as a congregation total; and a historical church-history collection is not a current census. The reported figures are most useful when those distinctions remain visible.