How many atheists are there in the USA?

Question

Curious..

Answer 1

Close to 30 million. Most are on the west coast if that seems high to bible belters. Washington state leads the way with about 27%

Population:
298,444,215 (July 2006 est.)

Religions:
Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 est.)

Answer 2

For the record, those who do not specify any religious preference constitute about 7% of the population, and this is the number that is most often cited in atheist circles. Those who explicitly label themselves as atheists or even agnostics are a much smaller group, on the order of about 3%.
from:
http://www.secweb.org/index.aspx?action=viewAsset&id=692

85% of Americans self-identify as Christians. (2002)
7% of US adults classify as evangelicals (2004) (see Evangelical category for more information)
38% of US adults classify as born again, but not evangelical. (2004)
37% are self-described Christians but are neither evangelical nor born again
Atheists and agnostics comprise 12% of adults nationwide. (2004)
11% of the US population identify with a faith other than Christianity (2004)
from:
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/129492.htm

According to the latest polls, 90% of Americans believe in God
from:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr05/Whitney0425.htm

The general consesus seems to be around 10%-ish...

Answer 3

It's difficult to say with any certainty.

There are 38.8 million who call themselves 'non-religious/secular'.
There are 1.5 mil Buddhists.
1.4 mil self-identified Agnostics.
1.3 mil self-identified Atheists.
887 thou Unitarian Universalist.
164 thou Spiritualist.
96 thou New Age.
69 thou self-identified Humanist.
56 thou Taoist.

As any on this list (except self-declared Atheists) may be either atheist or theist, the numbers can range from 1.3 million to 44 million, depending on who's doing the counting. Let's split the difference and say 20-some-odd million?

Answer 4

It's roughly equivalent to the number of registered Democrats in the USA. A lot of overlap there.

Answer 5

About 10% are atheist or agnostic

Answer 6

14% of the world is Atheist, Agnostic or non-Religious, but it's probably higher in the U.S., but there's a lot of closet atheists who go through the motions of being a "good" christian because of family or their professional circle, but deep down are really atheist or agnostic.

Answer 7

I found this survey result from 2001 online and it says 15% responded NoReligion/atheist/agnostic.

Answer 8

Last number I heard was 15%, but they lump agnostic and just generally non-religious in with that, so it's hard to get an accurate count.

Answer 9

There are so many here on Answers. I would hate to know how many are in the USA. :(

Answer 10

At the last count, 14%, I believe - which is much higher than it was 20 years ago!