# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The number of countries and territories where religious groups experienced harassment by governments and social groups reached 190 (out of 198 analyzed) in 2019, a higher number than in any other year of the study. This figure is up from 185 in 2018.

The harassment measured in the study includes a wide variety of actions - from derogatory statements by government officials to physical acts of force such as property damage, detentions, displacements from homes, assaults and killings - that target groups or individuals at least in part because of their religion. Harassment directed against those who are religiously unaffiliated, including atheists, agnostics and humanists, also is captured by this study.

Christians and Muslims, the world's largest and most widely dispersed religious groups, experienced harassment in more countries than other religious groups in 2019, continuing a consistent pattern since the beginning of the study. In addition, both Muslims and Christians saw increases in the number of countries where they were harassed in 2019. And, as in prior years of the study, both groups faced harassment in countries where they are religious minorities as well as in countries where they are the majority. For instance, Muslims faced harassment in 38 European countries where Islam is not the majority religion, as well as in all 19 countries and territories with Muslim majorities (either Sunni or Shiite) in the Middle East.

In 2019, harassment of Christians was reported in 153 countries, up from 145 countries in 2018. In Pakistan, for example, a Christian suspect in a theft case was tortured while in police custody and died a few hours after being released. The victim's brother reported that one of the police officers who arrested the man said, "I know how to deal with these infidels." In Cuba, meanwhile, there were multiple reports of state officials threatening Christian house church leaders for conducting religious activities.

Muslims were harassed in 147 countries in 2019, up from 139 countries in 2018. In France, the Interior Ministry closed numerous Muslim-owned businesses, Islamic schools, Islamic cultural sites and mosques as the Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interior linked them to "political Islam." And in South Africa, 80 Islamic graves were vandalized and rearranged to form the shape of a cross.

Jews faced harassment in more countries than any other religious groups besides Christians and Muslims, despite their relatively small population size. (Jewish people make up just 0.2% of the world's population.) In 2019, Jews were harassed in 89 countries - a slight uptick from 88 countries in 2018. One such incident occurred in Argentina, where a prominent rabbi was seriously injured during a home invasion in which his attackers physically assaulted him, robbed him and said they knew he was a rabbi.

Hindus were harassed in 21 countries in 2019 - up from 19 countries the previous year. In Bangladesh, for instance, rioters ransacked a Hindu temple after two Muslims were arrested for allegedly hacking the Facebook account of a Hindu man and posting material disparaging Islam on his account.

Buddhists experienced a small increase in the number of countries where they faced harassment, from 24 in 2018 to 25 in 2019 - the highest total for this religious group since the study began in 2007. In Austria, for example, the construction site of a Buddhist shrine was vandalized with swastikas.

Religiously unaffiliated people (including atheists, agnostics and people who don't identify with any religion) were harassed in 22 countries in 2019, up from 18 the previous year. In Saudi Arabia, the Presidency of State Security released a video on Twitter referring to atheism as "extremist." A 2014 royal decree in the country punishes atheism with up to 20 years in prison, and in early 2019, the government criminalized "the promotion of atheistic ideologies in any form."

Government versus social harassment of groups

Most of the religious groups analyzed individually - Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and the religiously unaffiliated - faced harassment in more countries from governments and public officials than from private actors, such as social groups or individuals.

Jews were the only religious group that faced social harassment in more countries (73) than government harassment (69) in 2019, although the gap between those two figures is at its narrowest since the study began, and the 69 countries where Jews experienced some form of government harassment is a record high since the beginning of the study in 2007.

Adherents of folk religions experienced government harassment in 20 countries and social harassment in 18 countries in 2019. In Canada, an Indigenous elder contended that airport security officials desecrated the contents of a pouch containing cedar, sage, sweet grass and tobacco, considered sacred by her tribe, by requiring her to open it for inspection in order to travel. And in the United States, an Indigenous tribe called the Ramapough Mountain Indians had an ongoing lawsuit in 2019 against the township of Mahwah, New Jersey, after the township limited their religious gatherings and ordered them to remove several religious structures, including an altar and prayer circle. (The U.S. Department of Justice later supported the tribe's lawsuit against the town, and the parties eventually settled in June 2019.)

Other religious groups beyond those analyzed individually - including Baha'is, Scientologists, Sikhs, Rastafarians and Zoroastrians, among others - faced government harassment in more than twice as many countries (59) as they faced social hostilities (24). In Kenya, for example, a public secondary school asked a Rastafarian student to shave her dreadlocks. The school had expelled the student the previous year for wearing them in a turban and had been ordered by a court to let her return.

Harassment of Christians and Muslims by region

Across geographic regions, the shares of countries in which specific religious groups are harassed tend to vary.

The Middle East-North Africa region, for example, had the highest share of countries in 2019 where Christians were harassed. Of the 20 countries in the region, 19 had some form of harassment, either by governments or social groups, targeting Christians. Government harassment of Christians was reported in all 19 of these countries, while social harassment occurred in 15 countries, with both figures remaining stable since 2018.

The Asia-Pacific region had the second-highest share of countries where Christians were harassed in 2019 for their religion (82% of countries in the region). Christians also faced harassment in 79% of countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in 78% of countries in Europe. Each of these shares increased from 2018. Meanwhile, the share of countries where Christians were harassed stayed the same in the Middle East and North Africa (95% of countries in the region) and in the Americas (57%).

Christians experienced government harassment in more countries than they did social harassment in every region included in the study.

Muslims were most widely harassed in the Middle East-North Africa region and Europe (100% and 91% of countries, respectively). All 20 countries in the Middle East-North Africa region had reports of government harassment of Muslims - including against both the dominant and minority sects of Islam in each country - while 84% of European countries had reports of government harassment against Muslims. Meanwhile, social harassment of Muslims was reported in 82% of countries (37 out of 45) in Europe and 65% of countries (13 out of 20) in the Middle East and North Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, harassment of Muslims reportedly occurred in 77% of countries. This figure was 74% in Asia and the Pacific and 34% in the Americas. In all regions, the sources used in this study reported more countries with government harassment than with social harassment of Muslims.

Looking at both government harassment and social harassment, the share of countries where Muslims were harassed increased in 2019 in every region except in the Middle East and North Africa, where all 20 countries in the region recorded such harassment in both 2018 and 2019.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Harassment of religious groups reaches new peak

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The number of countries and territories where religious groups experienced harassment by governments and social groups reached 190 (out of 198 analyzed) in 2019, a higher number than in any other year of the study. This figure is up from 185 in 2018.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore the geographic distribution and demographics of America's major religious groups.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Make sure your religious community participates in the 2020 US Religion Census and help us get a clear picture of religion in the US. The US Religion Census is your source for religious data at the county level. It reports the number of congregations in every US county equivalent for each of 236 faith groups. Sign up to receive updates.

THE 2020 US RELIGION CENSUS HAS BEGUN

The Operations Committee is now in the process of contacting hundreds of religious groups to secure their participation in the 2020 US Religion Census. Each group is asked to provide a count of congregations, members, adherents, and attendees in each county of the nation.

Special studies have been commissioned for groups that do not have central data offices, such as the Amish, Buddhist and Hindu groups, and non-denominational Christian churches.

The study is timed to coincide with the US census. National polls rarely give any religious data below the national level. This series gives a picture of county-level religious affiliation nationwide. The longevity of the study helps to identify trends and track religious change.

OUR CENSUS OFFERS WHAT NO OTHER DOES

Religion Census 2010 offers unique insight on US religious populations

Continues decennial series started in 1952

Provides data on specific religious bodies, from the Amana Church Society to Zoroastrians

Differentiates among specific bodies within same tradition

Features the only county-level data on U.S. religious adherence

Download the complete 2010 census summary.

LEARN ABOUT OUR DATA

Religion Census includes data on...

Congregations, groups of persons who meet together regularly for worship

Members, e.g., persons with communicant, confirmed, or full membership status

Adherents, including members, their children, and the estimated number of other participants who are not considered members

Attendance, average weekly attendance at worship services

Get more information on data collected. Our data
collection office can assist any group with compiling their
data to the county level.

FULL REPORT AVAILABLE

Order the 2010 US Religion Census Publication

236 faith groups have been included in this census. Get the complete census results, including maps, charts, lorem ipsum dolor sit ametdolor sit consectetur adipscing..

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Home | U.S. Religion Census | Religious Statistics & Demographics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Make sure your religious community participates in the 2020 US Religion Census and help us get a clear picture of religion in the US. The US Religion Census is your source for religious data at the county level. It reports the number of congregations in every US county equivalent for each of 236 faith groups.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Religion Communicators Council members are diverse. We work for a variety of organizations, from different faith traditions, with different job responsibilities and professions. What links all of us are "communication" and "faith-based." What distinguishes RCC from other professional associations for those who work in communications or a related field and whose business or customer base is primarily faith-based is that RCC is inter-faith.

We are nearly 500 religion communicators who work in print, electronic communications, advertising and public relations. We are writers, professors, public information officers, vice-presidents, directors of communication, graphic designers, consultants, managers. We worship as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Scientologists, Buddhists, Sikhs, Bahá'í and work for those faith groups doing communication in one form or another. Our organizations are non-profit, for-profit and faith-related or work with a faith-based clientele. We print, tweet, advertise, tell stories about, preach, post, release, publish and publicize.

In other words, we are professional communicators working in many different jobs, for different types of organizations, for different faith groups who find RCC to be a place where we can develop professionally, network, fellowship and enrich our personal and professional lives through the organization.

We have a place for you.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Religion Communicators Council members are diverse. We work for a variety of organizations, from different faith traditions, with different job responsibilities and professions. What links all of us are "communication" and "faith-based." What distinguishes RCC from other professional associations for those who work in communications or a related field and whose business or customer base is primarily faith-based is that RCC is inter-faith.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Demographic, social, and economic data on veterans are collected on several U.S. Census Bureau surveys. These data are used for policy analysis, program planning, and budgeting of veteran programs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Demographic, social, and economic data on veterans are collected on several U.S. Census Bureau surveys. These data are used for policy analysis, program planning, and budgeting of veteran programs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Income is the gauge many use to determine the well-being of the U.S. population. Survey and census questions cover poverty, income, and wealth.

# data[].attributes.body
Social Class & Poverty in the US: Crash Course Sociology #24

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Social Class & Poverty in the US: Crash Course Sociology #24

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
About half of U.S. adults (52%) lived in middle-income households in 2018, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. Roughly three-in-ten (29%) were in lower-income households and 19% were in upper-income households.

Our calculator below, updated with 2018 data, lets you find out which group you are in - first compared with other adults in your metropolitan area and among American adults overall, and then compared with other adults in the United States similar to you in education, age, race or ethnicity, and marital status.

Our latest analysis shows that the share of adults who live in middle-income households varies widely across the 260 metropolitan areas examined, from 39% in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to 67% in Ogden-Clearfield, Utah. The share of adults who live in lower-income households ranges from 16% in Ogden-Clearfield to 49% in Las Cruces. The estimated share living in upper-income households is greatest in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California (34%) and the smallest in El Centro, California (7%).

Lower-income adults, already under significant financial pressure, have been especially vulnerable to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted April 29-May 5, 2020. The survey found that 36% of lower-income adults and 28% of middle-income adults said they had lost a job or taken a pay cut due to the coronavirus outbreak, compared with 22% of upper-income adults. In a Center survey conducted in April 2020, only 23% of lower-income adults said they had rainy day funds that could last three months, compared with 48% of middle-income adults and 75% of upper-income adults.

Pew Research Center designed this calculator as a way for users to see, based on the Center's analysis, where they appear in the distribution of U.S. adults by income tier, as well as how they compare with others in their own demographic profile.

In our analysis, "middle-income" Americans are adults whose annual household income is two-thirds to double the national median, after incomes have been adjusted for household size. Lower-income households have incomes lower than two-thirds of the median, and upper-income households have incomes that are more than double the median.

In 2018, the national middle-income range was about $48,500 to $145,500 annually for a household of three. Lower-income households had incomes less than $48,500 and upper-income households had incomes greater than $145,500 (incomes in 2018 dollars).

These income ranges vary with the cost of living in metropolitan areas and with household size. A household in a metropolitan area with a higher-than-average cost of living or one with four or more people needs more than $48,500 to be included in the middle-income tier. Households in less expensive areas or with less than three people need less than $48,500 to be considered middle income. Additional details on the methodology are available in our earlier analyses.

How the income calculator works

The calculator takes your household income and adjusts it for the size of your household. The income is revised upward for households that are below average in size and downward for those of above average size. This way, each household's income is made equivalent to the income of a three-person household (the whole number nearest to the average size of a U.S. household, which was 2.5 in 2018).

Pew Research Center does not store or share any of the information you enter.

Your size-adjusted household income and the cost of living in your area are the factors we use to determine your income tier. Middle-income households - those with an income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income - had incomes ranging from about $48,500 to $145,500 in 2018. Lower-income households had incomes less than $48,500 and upper-income households had incomes greater than $145,500 (all figures computed for three-person households, adjusted for the cost of living in a metropolitan area, and expressed in 2018 dollars).

The following example illustrates how cost-of-living adjustment for a given area was calculated: Jackson, Tennessee, is a relatively inexpensive area, with a price level in 2018 that was 19.0% less than the national average. The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metropolitan area in California is one of the most expensive areas, with a price level that was 31.6% higher than the national average. Thus, to step over the national middle-class threshold of $48,500, a household in Jackson needs an income of only about $39,300, or 19.0% less than the national standard. But a household in the San Francisco area needs a reported income of about $63,800, or 31.6% more than the U.S. norm, to join the middle class.

The income calculator encompasses 260 of some 384 metropolitan areas in the U.S., as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. If you live in an area outside of one of these 260 areas, the calculator reports the estimates for your state.

The second part of our calculator asks you more questions about your education, age, race or ethnicity, and marital status. This allows you to see how other adults who are similar to you demographically are distributed across lower-, middle- and upper-income tiers in the U.S. overall. It does not recompute your economic tier.
Note: This post and interactive calculator were originally published Dec. 9, 2015, and have been updated to reflect the Center's new analysis.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our latest analysis shows that the share of adults who live in middle-income households varies widely across the 260 metropolitan areas examined, from 39% in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to 67% in Ogden-Clearfield, Utah. The share of adults who live in lower-income households ranges from 16% in Ogden-Clearfield to 49% in Las Cruces.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Resources

The separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii reflect Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the 1966-1970 period. Note that the poverty thresholds - the original version of the poverty measure - have never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii. The poverty guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office which administers the program is responsible for deciding whether to use the contiguous-states-and-D.C. guidelines for those jurisdictions or to follow some other procedure.

The poverty guidelines apply to both aged and non-aged units. The guidelines have never had an aged/non-aged distinction; only the Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged one-person and two-person units.

Programs using the guidelines (or percentage multiples of the guidelines - for instance, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines) in determining eligibility include Head Start, the Supplemental Nutition Assistance Program (SNAP), the National School Lunch Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Note that in general, cash public assistance programs (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income) do NOT use the poverty guidelines in determining eligibility. The Earned Income Tax Credit program also does NOT use the poverty guidelines to determine eligibility. For a more detailed list of programs that do and don't use the guidelines, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

The poverty guidelines (unlike the poverty thresholds) are designated by the year in which they are issued. For instance, the guidelines issued in January 2023 are designated the 2023 poverty guidelines. However, the 2023 HHS poverty guidelines only reflect price changes through calendar year 2022; accordingly, they are approximately equal to the Census Bureau poverty thresholds for calendar year 2022. (The 2022 thresholds are expected to be issued in final form in September 2023; a preliminary version of the 2022 thresholds is now available from the Census Bureau.)

The poverty guidelines may be formally referenced as "the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2)."

There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines.

The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure. They are updated each year by the Census Bureau. The thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes - for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty each year. (In other words, all official poverty population figures are calculated using the poverty thresholds, not the guidelines). Poverty thresholds since 1973 (and for selected earlier years) and weighted average poverty thresholds since 1959 are available on the Census Bureau's Web site. For an example of how the Census Bureau applies the thresholds to a family's income to determine its poverty status, see " How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty " on the Census Bureau's web site.

The poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes - for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs.

The poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the "federal poverty level" (FPL), but that phrase is ambiguous and should be avoided, especially in situations (e.g., legislative or administrative) where precision is important.

Key differences between poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines are outlined in a table under Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). See also the discussion of this topic on the Institute for Research on Poverty's web site.

The January 2023 poverty guidelines are calculated by taking the 2021 Census Bureau's poverty thresholds and adjusting them for price changes between 2021 and 2022 using the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). The poverty thresholds used by the Census Bureau for statistical purposes are complex and are not composed of standardized increments between family sizes. Since many program officials prefer to use guidelines with uniform increments across family sizes, the poverty guidelines include rounding and standardizing adjustments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines Used to Determine Financial Eligibility for Certain Programs HHS Poverty Guidelines for 2023 The 2023 poverty guidelines are in effect as of January 19, 2023. Federal Register Notice, January 19, 2023 - Full text.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
About the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

In 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others called for a "revolution of values" in America. They sought to build a broad, fusion movement that could unite poor and impacted communities across the country. Their name was a direct cry from the underside of history: The Poor People's Campaign.

Today, the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has picked up this unfinished work. From Alaska to Arkansas, the Bronx to the border, people are coming together to confront the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. We understand that as a nation we are at a critical juncture - that we need a movement that will shift the moral narrative, impact policies and elections at every level of government, and build lasting power for poor and impacted people.

During the summer of 2018, from Mother's Day to the Summer Solstice, poor people and moral witnesses in 40 states committed themselves to a season of direct action to launch the Campaign. What ensued was the most expansive wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in the 21st century United States. More than a series of rallies and actions, a new organism of state-based movements was born. Now, in over 40 states, the groundwork for a mass poor people's movement is emerging.

In June 2019, we convened over 1,000 community leaders in Washington, D.C. for the Poor People's Moral Action Congress, which included the largest presidential candidates' forum of the pre-debate season, the release of our Poor People's Moral Budget, and a hearing before the House Budget Committee on the issues facing the 140 million poor and low-income people in the nation. Over the next nine months, we embarked on a 25+ state We Must Do M.O.R.E. Tour (Mobilize, Organize, Register, and Educate), which led toward an unprecedented Digital Mass Poor People's Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20, 2020.

In the summer and fall of 2020, we will demonstrate the power of poor people to be agents of change in not just one election, but at the very heart of this democracy. In this time of significant danger and real possibility, a moral fusion movement is necessary to revive and advance our most precious Constitutional and moral values. But this can only happen if those who are impacted link up with other moral leaders and people of conscience to break through the silos of our work and the divisions that have been wrought in our communities.

In the coming year, our ranks will increase as we broaden our efforts and stretch the banner of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival even wider. We rise together because:

1. We rise to demand that the 140 million poor and low-income people in our nation - from every race, creed, color, sexuality and place - are no longer ignored, dismissed or pushed to the margins of our political and social agenda.

2. We rise not as left or right, Democrat or Republican, but as a moral fusion movement to build power, build moral activism, build voter participation, and we won't be silent any more!

3. We rise to change the moral narrative and demand that the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy/militarism and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism all be ended.

4. We rise to challenge the lie of scarcity in the midst of abundance.

5. We rise to lift the voices and faces of poor and low-income Americans and their moral allies with a new vision of love, justice, and truth for America that says poverty can be abolished and change can come.

If you believe it's time to rise, join us!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others called for a "revolution of values" in America. They sought to build a broad, fusion movement that could unite poor and impacted communities across the country. Their name was a direct cry from the underside of history: The Poor People's Campaign.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Can You Guess Who's Muslim? ft. Karim Metwaly | Decoded | MTV News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Do All Muslim Women Wear a Hijab? ft. Fareeha Khan | Decoded | MTV

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rooted in the belief that hard work coupled with honesty and integrity is the key to any success, Veteran PR strives to help companies build their brand awareness through strategic and effective Public Relations Campaigns and Social Media Marketing Efforts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you are a veteran with public affairs skills transitioning from the military to a civilian role, or a military spouse, PRSA wants to help support this process and give you the best career tools possible. You are our heroes that have kept us safe and secure; let's get you on the road to finding a job through our Moving Veterans Forward Program.

In our partnership with Bell, Raytheon, ScoutComms and WVU, we are proud to offer free national membership to responding qualified public affairs professionals transitioning from the military to the civilian workforce.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you are a veteran with public affairs skills transitioning from the military to a civilian role, or a military spouse, PRSA wants to help support this process and give you the best career tools possible. You are our heroes that have kept us safe and secure; let's get you on the road to finding a job through our Moving Veterans Forward Program.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Looking for a new religious congregation is common in the United States. In fact, about half of American adults (49%) have at some point searched for a new church or congregation.

But how likely Americans are to look for a new church varies by their education and income levels. About six-in-ten (59%) college-educated Americans have searched for a new religious congregation, compared with only 38% of those with a high school education or less, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data collected in 2015. Likewise, higher-income Americans are more likely to look for a new church than those with lower incomes. This may be due in part to the fact that highly educated and affluent Americans tend to be more geographically mobile.

Income and education also influence how people look for a new church. In some cases, church "shoppers" with higher incomes are more likely than less-affluent adults to research a potential new religious congregation. For instance, among the roughly half of Americans who have looked for a new congregation, 44% of those with family incomes of $75,000 or more read about the congregation online, compared with 37% of those with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999, and about three-in-ten (28%) with incomes below $30,000. People with higher incomes also are more likely to visit houses of worship to attend services and to talk to friends or colleagues before choosing a new congregation.

Education is even more strongly associated with researching a new congregation - perhaps because people generally learn more research skills the longer they stay in school. For example, 71% of college graduates talked to church members before choosing a new congregation, compared with 63% among those with a high school degree or less.

Highly educated church shoppers also are relatively more likely than those who are less educated to read about the congregation online. In addition, they are more likely to attend services before making a decision and speak with friends or colleagues about the congregation.

Socioeconomic status also affects the congregational characteristics that church shoppers value most. Location is particularly important to more affluent, well-educated adults. Roughly three-quarters of church shoppers who either are college educated or who have household incomes of $75,000 or more (77% and 75%, respectively) say location played an important role in their choice of a new congregation. By comparison, about two-thirds of church shoppers either with a high school degree or less or a household income of less than $30,000 (64% and 67%, respectively) say location is important.

By contrast, both less affluent and less educated church shoppers are more likely to value the potential social connections, religious education and community service offered by a church. Roughly six-in-ten (62%) of those with a high school degree or less say that access to religious education for children played an important role in their choice of congregation, compared with about half (51%) of college-educated adults.

Church shoppers in the lowest income bracket are the most likely to choose a congregation that offers opportunities to volunteer in the local community, or to choose a congregation because their friends or family worship there.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The U.S. class divide extends to searching for a religious congregation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Looking for a new religious congregation is common in the United States. In fact, about half of American adults (49%) have at some point searched for a new church or congregation. But how likely Americans are to look for a new church varies by their education and income levels.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Resources

The separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii reflect Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the 1966-1970 period. Note that the poverty thresholds - the original version of the poverty measure - have never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii. The poverty guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office which administers the program is responsible for deciding whether to use the contiguous-states-and-D.C. guidelines for those jurisdictions or to follow some other procedure.

The poverty guidelines apply to both aged and non-aged units. The guidelines have never had an aged/non-aged distinction; only the Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged one-person and two-person units.

Programs using the guidelines (or percentage multiples of the guidelines - for instance, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines) in determining eligibility include Head Start, the Supplemental Nutition Assistance Program (SNAP), the National School Lunch Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Note that in general, cash public assistance programs (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income) do NOT use the poverty guidelines in determining eligibility. The Earned Income Tax Credit program also does NOT use the poverty guidelines to determine eligibility. For a more detailed list of programs that do and don't use the guidelines, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

The poverty guidelines (unlike the poverty thresholds) are designated by the year in which they are issued. For instance, the guidelines issued in January 2023 are designated the 2023 poverty guidelines. However, the 2023 HHS poverty guidelines only reflect price changes through calendar year 2022; accordingly, they are approximately equal to the Census Bureau poverty thresholds for calendar year 2022. (The 2022 thresholds are expected to be issued in final form in September 2023; a preliminary version of the 2022 thresholds is now available from the Census Bureau.)

The poverty guidelines may be formally referenced as "the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2)."

There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines.

The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure. They are updated each year by the Census Bureau. The thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes - for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty each year. (In other words, all official poverty population figures are calculated using the poverty thresholds, not the guidelines). Poverty thresholds since 1973 (and for selected earlier years) and weighted average poverty thresholds since 1959 are available on the Census Bureau's Web site. For an example of how the Census Bureau applies the thresholds to a family's income to determine its poverty status, see " How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty " on the Census Bureau's web site.

The poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes - for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs.

The poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the "federal poverty level" (FPL), but that phrase is ambiguous and should be avoided, especially in situations (e.g., legislative or administrative) where precision is important.

Key differences between poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines are outlined in a table under Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). See also the discussion of this topic on the Institute for Research on Poverty's web site.

The January 2023 poverty guidelines are calculated by taking the 2021 Census Bureau's poverty thresholds and adjusting them for price changes between 2021 and 2022 using the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). The poverty thresholds used by the Census Bureau for statistical purposes are complex and are not composed of standardized increments between family sizes. Since many program officials prefer to use guidelines with uniform increments across family sizes, the poverty guidelines include rounding and standardizing adjustments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines Used to Determine Financial Eligibility for Certain Programs HHS Poverty Guidelines for 2023 The 2023 poverty guidelines are in effect as of January 19, 2023. Federal Register Notice, January 19, 2023 - Full text.