Metro-Area Religious Demographics

Miami Metro Area

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) • Florida

👥 Population: 6,391,072 (2025 MSA estimate)📉 Unaffiliated: 28% (2023-24)

Metropolitan Religious Landscape

The Miami metropolitan area has one of the most distinctive religious profiles among large U.S. metropolitan areas. Catholicism is the largest single religious affiliation, while Miami also has an unusually large Jewish population and established Protestant, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and other communities. The area's religious life reflects major migration from Cuba, Haiti, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, South Asia and other regions. Afro-Cuban and Haitian religious traditions also contribute to South Florida's broader cultural and spiritual landscape. Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study estimates that 59% of adults in the Miami metro area identify as Christian, 11% identify with other religions, 28% are religiously unaffiliated, and 2% did not answer the religious-identification question.

Religious-Affiliation Breakdown

Pew RLS 2023-24

Percentages represent adult population survey estimates for the metropolitan area.

Religious Group	Share (%)	Subgroups & Community Context
Evangelical Protestant	11%	Baptist family (3%) Nondenominational family (3%) Lutheran family (1%) Pentecostal family (1%) Restorationist family (1%) Nonspecific evangelical Protestant family (3%)
Mainline Protestant	5%	United Methodist and other Methodist traditions (1%) Presbyterian family (1%) Episcopal/Anglican family (1%) Nonspecific mainline Protestant family (1%) Other mainline traditions (generally below 1% each)
Historically Black Protestant	11%	Baptist family (4%) Pentecostal family (5%) Nonspecific historically Black Protestant family (2%)
Roman Catholic	30%	Catholicism is the largest single religious affiliation in the current Pew Miami metro profile The local Catholic population includes Cuban, other Latin American, Haitian, Brazilian, Caribbean, Filipino and other communities The Archdiocese of Miami reports more than 1 million Catholics across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties
Latter-day Saint	1%	Pew separately reports Latter-day Saint identification at 1%
Orthodox Christian	1%	Includes Eastern Orthodox and other Orthodox Christian traditions
Other Christian	1%	Pew reports 1% under other Christian traditions Some smaller Christian categories are individually below 1%
Jewish	6%	Pew estimates 6% of Miami metro adults identify as Jewish Miami-Dade has large Jewish communities in North Dade, South Dade, Miami Beach and surrounding areas
Muslim	0.5%	Pew reports Muslim identification as less than 1% in the Miami metro profile The 0.5% figure is a display convention only and is not an exact Pew estimate Miami-area Muslim communities include South Asian, Arab, African, Caribbean and other backgrounds
Buddhist	2%	Includes Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Cambodian and other Buddhist traditions Pew estimates 2% of Miami metro adults identify as Buddhist
Hindu	0.5%	Pew reports Hindu identification as less than 1% in the Miami metro profile The 0.5% figure is a display convention only and is not an exact Pew estimate
Other World Religions	0.5%	Pew reports other world religions as less than 1% The 0.5% figure is a display convention only and is not an exact Pew estimate
Other Religious Identifications	3%	Unitarians and other liberal faiths (2%) Spiritual but not religious (2%) appears within the detailed 'something else' classification and should not be added separately New Age identifications are less than 1%
Religiously Unaffiliated	28%	Atheist (4%) Agnostic (4%) Nothing in particular (20%)
Did Not Answer	2%	Pew reports 2% did not answer the religious-identification question

📈 10-Year Demographic Trend (2014 vs. 2023-24)

Religiously unaffiliated adults increased from 21% of the Miami metro area in Pew's 2014 Religious Landscape Study to 28% in the 2023-24 study. Pew's 2023-24 survey used a different methodology from the 2014 survey, so the change should be interpreted cautiously.

Regional & Geographic Distribution

Miami and Little Havana

Miami has a particularly strong Cuban and broader Latin American cultural influence. Catholic churches, Cuban community institutions and traditions associated with Cuban religious life are especially visible in and around Little Havana and central Miami.

Miami Beach

Miami Beach is an important Jewish community center with synagogues serving Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and other Jewish traditions. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation maintains a dedicated Miami Beach community presence.

North Miami-Dade and Aventura

Aventura, North Miami Beach and nearby North Dade communities have numerous Jewish congregations and community organizations, including Orthodox and Sephardic institutions.

Southwest Miami-Dade

Southwest Miami-Dade contains diverse Latin American, Caribbean and other immigrant communities, with Catholic and Protestant churches as well as smaller religious communities.

South Florida Catholic Community

The Archdiocese of Miami covers Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties and maintains a highly multilingual Catholic community. Archdiocesan materials identify English and Spanish alongside Haitian Creole, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Igbo, Malayalam, Tagalog and Visayan among languages used in local Catholic life.

Notable Houses of Worship & Faith Centers

Major active community institutions, historic landmarks, and diaspora centers across the metropolitan area:

🛕 Hindu Temples

Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida – Broward/South Florida area
South Florida Hindu Temple – South Florida
ISKCON Miami – Miami area

🕌 Mosques

Islamic Center of Greater Miami – South Florida
Masjid Miami – Miami
Islamic Foundation of South Florida – South Florida

✡️ Synagogues

Temple Emanu-El – Miami Beach
Aventura Chabad – Aventura
Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center – Aventura

⛪ Churches

Gesu Catholic Church – Downtown Miami
Cathedral of St. Mary – Miami
Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea – Key West

Verified Address & Facility Notes

• Gesu Catholic Church is located at 118 NE 2nd Street in downtown Miami. The Archdiocese of Miami records its founding in 1896 and identifies it as Miami's oldest Catholic church. The church has longstanding connections to Miami's Cuban refugee and Hispanic Catholic history.

• The Archdiocese of Miami covers Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. Its official information currently states that more than 1 million Catholics worship in 105 parish communities and that more than 34,000 students attend its Catholic schools.

• Aventura Chabad is an Orthodox Chabad congregation at 2801 NE 210th Street in Aventura. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation lists English-Spanish services and Ashkenazi and Sephardi offerings.

• Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center is a Conservative congregation at 20400 NE 30th Avenue in Aventura. It is listed in the Greater Miami Jewish Federation's current synagogue directory.

• Temple Emanu-El in Miami Beach is a major Jewish institution serving the local community. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation currently lists Temple Emanu-El among Miami-Dade's participating congregations.

Key Demographic & Cultural Facts

Pew's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study estimates that 28% of adults in the Miami metro area are religiously unaffiliated: 4% atheist, 4% agnostic and 20% with no religion in particular.
Catholicism is the largest single religious affiliation in the Miami metro area, with 30% of adults identifying as Catholic in Pew's current estimate.
Pew estimates that Jewish adults account for 6% of the Miami metro adult population, a substantially higher share than the 2% national estimate.
Pew estimates Buddhist identification at 2% in the Miami metro area, while Muslim and Hindu identification are each reported as less than 1%.
The 2025 Census-derived population estimate for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach MSA is 6,391,072.
Jewish Miami's 2024 Community Study found 69,700 Jewish households in Miami-Dade County, containing 151,400 individuals, of whom 130,100 were Jewish. The Jewish population represented approximately 5% of Miami-Dade's total population.
The same 2024 Miami Jewish study found that Jewish households in Miami-Dade increased by 25% over the previous decade.
The Archdiocese of Miami currently describes itself as serving more than 1 million Catholics in 105 parish communities across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.
Gesu Catholic Church was founded in 1896 and is recognized by the Archdiocese of Miami as the oldest Catholic church in the city of Miami.
Miami's religious culture includes Afro-Caribbean traditions such as Santería/Lucumí and Haitian Vodou, but reliable current population counts for these traditions are not available at the precision implied by a one-million-practitioner estimate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Catholicism is the largest single religious affiliation in Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Miami metro profile, with 30% of adults identifying as Catholic. Evangelical Protestants account for 11%, mainline Protestants 5% and historically Black Protestants 11%.

Pew estimates that 28% of adults in the Miami metropolitan area are religiously unaffiliated: 4% atheist, 4% agnostic and 20% with no religion in particular.

Pew estimates that 6% of adults in the Miami metro area identify as Jewish. A separate 2024 Miami-Dade community study found 69,700 Jewish households containing 151,400 individuals, including 130,100 Jewish people.

Jewish and Buddhist communities are particularly notable in the current Pew data. Jewish adults represent 6% and Buddhists 2% of the metro area's adult population. Muslim and Hindu identification are each reported by Pew as less than 1%.

The Archdiocese of Miami reports Catholic ministry in many languages, including English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Igbo, Malayalam, Tagalog and Visayan.

Gesu Catholic Church was founded in 1896 and is recognized by the Archdiocese of Miami as the city's oldest Catholic church. It became an important institution in Miami's early Catholic development and later played a major role in serving Cuban refugees.

Academic & Survey Sources

• Primary Religion Survey: Pew Research Center, 2023-24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study, Miami metro area

• Population Benchmark: U.S. Census Bureau annual metropolitan population estimates for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach MSA

Methodology & Survey Notes:

Pew's 2023-24 Miami metro estimates have a margin of error of approximately ±6.7 percentage points.
The percentages describe adults in the metropolitan area, not all residents including children.
Pew reports Muslim and Hindu identification as less than 1% in Miami; no exact whole-number estimate should be substituted for those categories.
The 0.5% values used for less-than-1% categories in this display are visualization conventions and are not exact survey results.
Pew reports that figures may not sum to exactly 100% because of rounding.
The 2023-24 survey used a different collection method from the 2014 study, so historical comparisons should be interpreted cautiously.
The U.S. Census Bureau does not collect religious affiliation in the decennial census.

Verified Reference Links: