Religion and Giving

U.S. religious vs nonreligious

Gave to any charity

United States households · 2017 PPS-based report

Religiously affiliated households lead by +16 pts (35% higher).

This is the strongest giving-participation measure in the set, and it includes gifts to churches and other religious causes as well as secular charities.

Household-level participation measure from the Giving USA Special Report on Giving to Religion.

U.S. religious vs nonreligious

Average annual charitable giving amount

United States households · 2017 reported average

Religiously affiliated households lead by +$895 (129% higher).

The amount gap is larger than the participation gap, which suggests religious households not only give more often but also give more in dollar terms.

Core metric, but kept at medium confidence because the public $1,590 versus $695 figures are reported through Chronicle coverage of the same Giving USA special report rather than through a directly cited public table from the report itself. It remains the clearest available public dollar-amount comparison in the current dataset and includes donations to churches and other religious causes.

Regular worship attendance vs nonattendance (U.S.)

Average annual charitable giving (PSID, attendance frame)

United States adults · 2019 Philanthropy Roundtable summary

Attend worship 2+ times/month lead by +$2,231 (317% higher).

This attendance-based supporting metric suggests a larger total-giving gap among regular worship attenders than the broader affiliation comparison, but it should not be read as a direct religious-versus-unaffiliated estimate.

Supporting metric only: this is a Philanthropy Roundtable summary of PSID-based analysis comparing attendance frequency (2+/month vs none), not affiliation, and it covers total charitable giving rather than secular-giving alone.

Religious attendance vs nonattendance

Donated money to charity in the past month

22-country nationally representative sample · 2025 study using 2023 Wave 1 data

Attend religious services more than once per week lead by +22 pts (76% higher).

Across 22 countries, charitable giving rises sharply with regular attendance, which reinforces the broader giving pattern outside the U.S.-only core frame.

Supporting metric only: this is a descriptive cross-national attendance split from the Global Flourishing Study. It compares adults who attend services more than once per week with adults who never attend, not affiliated adults with unaffiliated adults, and it should not be read as a causal comparison.

U.S. religious vs nonreligious

Donated money, time or goods to help the poor

United States adults · 2014 survey, reported in 2016

Religiously affiliated adults lead by +21 pts (68% higher).

This direct-aid measure broadens the generosity story beyond formal charitable donations and still points in the same direction.

Religious attendance vs nonattendance

Helped a stranger or someone unknown who needed help

22-country nationally representative sample · 2025 study using 2023 Wave 1 data

Attend religious services more than once per week lead by +13 pts (25% higher).

The same cross-national study also finds a helping-strangers gap, which suggests the pattern is not limited to formal charity alone.

Supporting metric only: this is a descriptive cross-national attendance split from the Global Flourishing Study. It compares adults who attend services more than once per week with adults who never attend, not a direct affiliated-versus-unaffiliated comparison, and it should not be read as causal.

Higher religiosity vs lower religiosity

Helped the poor in the past week

United States adults · 2014 survey, reported in 2016

Highly religious lead by +24 pts (59% higher).

The direct-aid pattern strengthens further when the comparison uses religiosity intensity instead of affiliation alone.

Display-only supporting metric: kept to show how much the gap expands when regular practice is part of the comparison frame.