Pew Research Center

FOR RELEASE JANUARY 26, 2010

Why the U.S. Census Does Not Ask about Religion

The U.S. Census Bureau has not asked questions about religion since the 1950s, but the federal government did gather some information about religion for about a century before that.

BY D’Vera Cohn

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RECOMMENDED CITATION

Pew Research Center, January 2010, "Why the U.S. Census Does Not Ask about Religion"

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Table of contents

  • About Pew Research Center

Why the U.S. Census Does Not Ask about Religion

The U.S. Census Bureau has not asked questions about religion since the 1950s, but the federal government did gather some information about religion for about a century before that.

The U.S. Census Bureau has not asked questions about religion since the 1950s, but the federal government did gather some information about religion for about a century before that.

An essay commissioned by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life looks into the history of census questions about religious affiliation. It explores the debate over the propriety, merit and feasibility of including them on government surveys.