Christian education takes place in private schools, churches, family routines, and religious education programs. The available U.S. figures show both the scale of religiously oriented schooling and the lasting reach of childhood religious exposure. The measures below come from the 2015–16 National Center for Education Statistics Private School Survey and the 2023–24 Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study.
Contents
- Religiously oriented private schools
- Christian school enrollment by tradition
- School and teacher counts
- Childhood religious education
- Christian upbringing and religious identity
- What Christian parents practice
Religiously oriented private schools
The National Center for Education Statistics counted 23,272 private schools with a religious orientation in the United States during 2015–16. They represented 67.3% of all private schools offering kindergarten through grade 12 or comparable ungraded levels. These schools enrolled 3,834,293 students, equal to 78.2% of all private-school students, and employed 336,401 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 69.9% of private-school FTE teachers. NCES, Table 2
The figures describe schools with the survey’s religious-orientation categories. They do not count every form of Christian education: the survey is not a census of churches, Sunday schools, colleges, or homeschool programs. That distinction matters because private K–12 schooling is only one part of the broader Christian education landscape.
Roman Catholic schools formed the largest named religious category in the NCES table. There were 7,008 Roman Catholic private schools, representing 20.3% of all U.S. private schools in the survey. They enrolled 1,901,474 students, or 38.8% of private-school enrollment, and employed 143,186 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 29.7% of private-school FTE teachers. NCES, Table 2
The category of Christian private schools with no specific denomination included 5,408 schools, or 15.6% of all private schools. Those schools enrolled 769,673 students, equal to 15.7% of private-school students, and employed 77,309 FTE teachers, or 16.1% of private-school FTE teachers. NCES, Table 2
Christian school enrollment by tradition
The NCES figures show considerable variation among the Christian traditions identified in the survey. Baptist private schools numbered 1,863, representing 5.4% of all U.S. private schools. They enrolled 193,381 students, or 3.9% of private-school students, and employed 19,762 FTE teachers, or 4.1% of private-school FTE teachers. NCES, Table 2
Amish private schools numbered 2,105, or 6.1% of all U.S. private schools. Their 68,690 students represented 1.4% of private-school students, while their 3,858 FTE teachers represented 0.8% of private-school FTE teachers. NCES, Table 2
Assembly of God private schools numbered 246, representing 0.7% of all private schools. They enrolled 33,483 students, or 0.7% of private-school students, and employed 2,982 FTE teachers, or 0.6% of private-school FTE teachers. Calvinist private schools numbered 102, representing 0.3% of all private schools, and enrolled 20,437 students, or 0.4% of private-school students. NCES, Table 2
The comparison below keeps the NCES measures together and makes the different scales easier to see.
| Religious orientation | Schools | Students | FTE teachers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roman Catholic | 7,008 | 1,901,474 | 143,186 |
| Christian, no specific denomination | 5,408 | 769,673 | 77,309 |
| Baptist | 1,863 | 193,381 | 19,762 |
| Amish | 2,105 | 68,690 | 3,858 |
| Assembly of God | 246 | 33,483 | 2,982 |
| Calvinist | 102 | 20,437 | Not reported in the supplied figure |
All counts in this table refer to 2015–16 U.S. private schools offering kindergarten through grade 12 or comparable ungraded levels. NCES, Table 2
School and teacher counts
Additional denominations and traditions appear at smaller measured scales in the NCES survey. Church of Christ private schools numbered 117, or 0.3% of all U.S. private schools. They enrolled 25,139 students, representing 0.5% of private-school students, and employed 2,288 FTE teachers, or 0.5% of private-school FTE teachers. NCES, Table 2
Church of God private schools numbered 80, representing 0.2% of all private schools. They enrolled 8,156 students, or 0.2% of private-school students, and employed 754 FTE teachers, also 0.2% of private-school FTE teachers. Church of the Nazarene private schools numbered 70, or 0.2% of all private schools, and enrolled 6,173 students, or 0.1% of private-school students. Their 594 FTE teachers represented 0.1% of private-school FTE teachers. NCES, Table 2
Methodist private schools numbered 289, representing 0.8% of all U.S. private schools in the 2015–16 survey. The supplied NCES figure identifies the school count and percentage for this category but does not provide a corresponding student or teacher count here. NCES, Table 2
These denomination-level numbers should be read as survey categories from a defined period, not as current enrollment estimates. They also should not be added together unless the categories are known to be mutually exclusive in the underlying table.
Childhood religious education
Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study examined religious upbringing and childhood education among U.S. adults. Eighty-six percent said they were raised in a religion, including Christianity or another faith. Sixty-eight percent said they attended religious services at least once or twice a month while growing up, and 56% said they attended weekly or more often as children. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
Formal religious education was also common. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults said they received at least some formal religious education as children. Thirty-five percent said they received a lot of formal religious education, which the study defined as seven or more years in a private religious school or extracurricular religious program. Forty-five percent said religion was very important to their family while they were growing up. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
Christian childhood education was especially widespread in the study’s measures. Eighty percent of U.S. adults said they were raised as Christians, including Protestants, Catholics, and other Christian traditions. Sixty-two percent said they attended Sunday school, CCD, or another religious-education program for at least one year as children. Twenty percent said they attended such a program for one to three years. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
The survey also shows differences by generation. Ninety-four percent of adults born before 1950 said they were raised in a religion. The figure was 81% among adults born from 1990 to 1999 and 75% among adults born between 2000 and 2006. These are survey estimates for the groups measured in the 2023–24 study, not forecasts of future religious affiliation. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
Christian upbringing and religious identity
Among U.S. adults raised as Christians, 78% said they attended religious services at least monthly while growing up, while 63% said they attended at least weekly. Half said religion was very important to their family during childhood. Among people raised as Christians, 41% said they received a lot of religious education during childhood. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
The study reported similar but not identical measures for people raised Protestant and Catholic. Forty-nine percent of adults raised Protestant said religion was very important to their family while they were children. The corresponding figure among adults raised Catholic was 51%. By comparison, 69% of adults raised religiously unaffiliated said religion was not too or not at all important to their family while growing up. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
Childhood practices were associated with reported adult patterns, but the figures describe relationships in survey responses rather than proof that one factor caused another. U.S. adults who grew up attending religious services at least monthly were currently monthly attenders at a rate of 40%, compared with 17% among those who attended less often as children. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
Among people raised Protestant, 80% who grew up attending church monthly in families where religion was very important still identified as Protestant. The comparable figure was 57% among those in the low-attendance, low-importance group. Among Catholics raised in religious families, 30% now identified as religiously unaffiliated or with a religion other than Catholicism. Pew Research Center, “Religious upbringing and childhood education”
What Christian parents practice
The 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study also asked parents and guardians living with a minor child about religious practice and education. Among Christian parents or guardians in this group, 58% said they pray or read scripture with their children, and 48% said they send a child to a religious education program. Twenty-two percent said they homeschool or send a child to a private religious school instead of public school. Pew Research Center, “Religion, fertility and child-rearing”
Seventy percent of Christian parents or guardians living with a minor child said they engaged in at least one of the study’s measured religious-education or religious-practice activities with their children. The share was 82% among evangelical Protestant parents or guardians and 84% among Latter-day Saint parents or guardians. Among religiously unaffiliated parents or guardians, 9% said they sent a child to a religious education program. Pew Research Center, “Religion, fertility and child-rearing”
Religiosity was also associated with reported family practices. Among highly religious parents or guardians living with a minor child, 81% said they pray or read scripture with their children, 66% said they send a child to a religious education program, and 29% said they homeschool or send a child to a private religious school instead of public school. These percentages apply to the study’s defined parent or guardian group and its measured activities. Pew Research Center, “Religion, fertility and child-rearing”
Pew also reported that U.S. Christians ages 40 to 59 had an average of 2.2 biological children over their lifetimes, compared with 1.8 among religiously unaffiliated U.S. adults in the same age range. These are reported averages from the 2023–24 study, not estimates of the number of children in a particular Christian household. Pew Research Center, “Religion, fertility and child-rearing”