General Council of The Assemblies of God in The United States of America - Demographics

Demographics

From its beginning in 1914, the Assemblies of God in the United States has experienced growth. In 1925, there were just 50,386 members in 909 churches, but by the early 1970s membership had reached 1 million. Its most rapid growth occurred from 1971 to 1984, when the AG grew from a constituency of around 1 million to 2 million over a 13-year period. In 2010, average Sunday morning worship attendance for all AG churches in the U.S. was 1,886,785 people. In the same year, the AG's inclusive membership (includes persons of any age that identify with the AG) was 3,030,944 people attending 12,457 churches. That is an increase of 4 percent since 2009.

The ethnic diversity of the American AG is increasing; however, its constituency is still largely white. From 1990 to 2000, there was a slight decline in white AG churches while ethnic churches, mainly Hispanic, were responsible for much of the denomination's numerical growth. In 2010, the AG reported 61.1 percent of its adherents as white, 20.4 percent as Hispanic, 9.1 percent as black, 4.1 percent as Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1.6 percent as Native American. The remaining 3.7 percent were listed as other/mixed.

The AG has created various non-geographical language districts to serve immigrant communities whose primary language is not English. There are nine Spanish and two Korean language districts in addition to one each for Brazilian and German speakers. In 2009, the language districts oversaw 2,195 churches with a combined membership of 279,422.

Members are fairly well distributed across the United States. California has the largest number of members, followed by Texas and Florida. However, the states with the highest membership rates are Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alaska, Montana, and Hawaii. Growing AG congregations tend to be located in suburban areas, as opposed to urban and rural ones.