U.S. Churches Rebound After Pandemic Decline

Bennie Bates, Unsplash

For the first time in roughly 25 years, worship attendance at U.S. churches is climbing. A new national report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research found signs of recovery after years of steep decline.

Researchers say the news is encouraging, but they are careful not to oversell it. The recovery is uneven, and not every congregation is sharing in the gains.

For the past 25 years, church attendance in the United States had been falling. Church closures and the rise of people who claim no religion grabbed most of the headlines, according to the Associated Press.

Then the 2025 data showed something new. “We were pretty surprised when we saw the 2025 data,” said Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

The numbers tell the story clearly. Median in-person worship attendance dropped from 137 people in 2000 to just 45 during COVID-19. By 2025, that figure had risen to 70 adults.

That marks the first positive gain in median attendance in 25 years. Researchers stress that the growth is self-reported by congregations and is not enough to reverse years of decline.

More Than Just Attendance

The shift goes beyond people filling pews again. The study found that volunteering is increasing and more congregations report financial stability.

“There is something happening,” said Allison Norton, co-director of the Hartford Institute study. She pointed to higher attendance, more church volunteers, stronger finances, and even better clergy health and well-being.

Researchers tracked more than 7,000 congregations across dozens of denominations. The survey reached leaders at 7,453 congregations between September and December of 2025.

Fewer clergy are now thinking about leaving the ministry. “It’s not too surprising if the congregations are feeling better and more volunteers are showing up, the clergy are going to start feeling better,” Thumma said.

Not a Revival, but a Recalibration

Researchers are firm on one point. They do not call this a religious revival.

“What we’re seeing is not a revival — it’s a recalibration,” Norton said. The longer trajectory of decline remains in place, the report’s authors noted.

The recovery is also uneven. Just under half of congregations (43%) said they grew by at least 5%, while a similar number (46%) reported declining by at least 5%, the report found.

Larger congregations are more likely to grow, while smaller churches are more likely to decline. “After years of constraint, even modest gains can feel like recovery for these congregations,” Thumma said.

Much of the recent growth may reflect people switching churches rather than more Americans attending overall. Roughly 70% of new attendees came from another congregation, Norton said.

The gains were not shared equally across faith traditions. “The net growth occurred mostly in evangelical or conservative Protestant churches,” Norton explained.

The numbers vary widely by tradition. Catholic and Orthodox congregations reported the highest median attendance at 200, partly because those traditions have fewer parishes than Protestants. Among Protestants, the median evangelical congregation reported 75 worshippers. The median Mainline church reported 50.

About 38% of churchgoers joined their current congregation after the pandemic began. That group includes people who switched churches, returned after a lapse, or began attending for the first time.

The Lasting Role of Online Worship

One of the biggest changes from the pandemic is the rise of online worship. What began as an emergency response during lockdowns became a permanent part of church outreach, the CBN News report noted.

In-person worship still dominates, though. About 26% of respondents said they regularly join online worship, while three-quarters still prefer attending in person.

Pastors say digital tools now reach far beyond their towns. One rural Tennessee church livestreams services that pastors in Kenya watch, which helped the congregation provide Bibles overseas.

For some smaller churches, attendance is still well below pre-pandemic levels. One Tennessee pastor said his church dropped from 40 to 50 people on Sundays to closer to 15 to 25, yet still saw baptisms and new believers.

Church Giving Climbs Too

Church giving is another bright spot in the report. Giving is up, in large part because of growth in online donations.

“People no longer need to be physically present or even remember to give in the moment,” Thumma said. Median congregational income grew from $120,000 in 2020 to $205,000 in 2025.

Online giving options expanded sharply. The share of churches offering online giving rose from 58% in 2020 to 76% in 2025, and about 40% of revenue now comes from online giving.

Researchers say it will take time to know whether this growth holds. The center is planning a major survey of congregations in 2030 to learn more. For now, the data points to churches moving past survival mode and planning for the future. Many congregations, Norton said, have come out of the disruption with greater clarity about who they are and what they are called to do.

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