Leader Insights

Church Closure and Decline Statistics 2027: Latest 2026 Data and Trends

How many churches close each year, and how many open? The latest sourced figures on closures, new church starts, attendance decline and recovery from Lifeway Research. Every figure links to its original study. Updated October 2026.

Closures statistics at a glance

StatisticFigureYearSource
Estimated U.S. Protestant church closures and starts in 20244,000 closed, 3,800 started2025Lifeway Research
Protestant churches closing each week in 2024 (about 73 starting)77 a week2024Leader Insights
Net change in Protestant churches per week in 2024-3.8 a week2024Leader Insights
Closures as a share of new church starts, 2019 vs. 2024150% to 105%2024Leader Insights
Protestant churches that closed in 20194,5002019Lifeway Research
Protestant churches started in 20193,0002019Lifeway Research
Churches by attendance change over two years (2025)52% up, 15% down2025Lifeway Research
Pastors who say attendance fell 10% or more from fall 2019 to fall 202451%2025Lifeway Research
Churches with more people than in early 2020 (2023)23%2023Lifeway Research
Churches growing: under 50 attending vs. over 25023% vs. 62%2025Lifeway Research
Median attendance, 2020 to 2025+7.7%2025Leader Insights
Median congregation size since 2000-49%2025Leader Insights

How many churches close and how many start?

How many churches are declining?

Who is growing and who is shrinking?

Looking ahead to 2027: what the latest data points to

No 2027 statistics have been published yet. Here is what the newest readings suggest. We update this page as new research arrives.

Closures statistics: common questions

How many churches close each year?

Lifeway Research estimates about 4,000 Protestant churches closed in the U.S. in 2024, compared with 4,500 in 2019. That is about 77 a week. The estimate covers 35 denominations representing 58% of Protestant churches, so it is a projection rather than a full count.

Are more churches closing than opening?

Slightly. About 3,800 Protestant churches started in 2024 against 4,000 closures, a net loss of 200. In 2019 closures outnumbered starts by 1,500, with 4,500 closures and 3,000 starts (Lifeway Research).

What share of churches close each year?

Roughly 1.4% of all Protestant churches closed in 2024, based on about 4,000 closures out of roughly 293,000 congregations (Lifeway Research).

How many churches are declining?

In 2025, 15% of Protestant churches reported attendance down at least 4% over two years, 33% were flat and 52% were growing (Lifeway Research). Over a longer window, 51% of pastors said attendance was down 10% or more from fall 2019 to fall 2024, while 32% said it grew at least 10%.

Which churches are most likely to grow?

Larger ones. In 2025, 62% of churches over 250 attendees were growing, against 23% of churches under 50 (Lifeway Research).

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About this data

Leader Insights collects statistics about U.S. churches from published research. Every number is checked against the wording of the original source before it is published, and each statistic links back to the study it came from. Different studies define the same topic differently, so figures from different sources are not directly comparable; each is labeled with its publisher and year.