The 2013 Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Jews, reported in A Portrait of Jewish Americans: Findings from a Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Jews, was the most comprehensive national study of the American Jewish population isince NJPS 2000-01, the National Jewish Population Survey.
The Pew Portrait survey covers a wide range of topics, including population estimates, demographic characteristics, Jewish identity, religious beliefs and practices, intermarriage, connections with Israel, and social and political views.
US Jewish Population.
The Pew 2013 survey estimates the Jewish population in the United States at 6.7 million, including 5.3 million Jewish adults and 1.3 million Jewish children (rounded combined total to nearest hundred thousand is 6.7 million).
Of the 5.3 million adults counted as currently Jewish, 78% define themselves as Jewish by religion (4.2 million) and another 22% are classified as Jews of no religion, that is, Jews who say their religion is "none," but, who were raised Jewish or had a Jewish parent and still consider themselves to be Jewish aside from religion.
The 5.3 million Jewish adults represent 2.2% of all American adults; the 4.2 million Jews by religion represent 1.8% of U.S. adults, a finding consistent with the results of Gallup polls and the General Social Survey, as well as previous Pew Research Center studies.
The 22% of Jews with no religion is similar to the share of religious "nones" in the general population, which is 20%. The proportion of Jews with no religion is inversely related to the age of the survey respondent, climbing from just 7% of the Greatest Generation (born 1914-1927) to 32% of Jewish Millennials (ages 18-29, born after 1980).
The initial table in "Chapter 1: Population Estimates" has a detailed analysis of population estimates for Jews by religion and Jews of no religion, combined as the "net" Jewish adult population for survey analysis, as well as estimates for adults of Jewish background (but currently not Jewish) and adults of Jewish affinity. Page 18 has a useful summary of the definitions used for counting adults as Jews, as persons of Jewish background and as persons with Jewish affinity.
The estimated 1.3 million plus children being raised Jewish (900,000 exclusively Jewish by religion, 100,000 of no religion, and over 300,000 raised Jewish by religion and with another religion also) constitute approximately 77% of all children in a household with a current Jewish adult. Thus, 23% of all children living with a Jewish adult are not currently being raised as Jewish, or partially Jewish.
Intermarriage
Intermarriage: the Pew 2013 report indicates that 44% of all Jewish adults/persons are currently intermarried. Expressing the same data as a "couples rate," 61% of all current marriages involving a Jewish adult are intermarriages.
[DataBank calculation of "couples" rate: since inmarriages are based on Jewish respondents being married to other Jews, the individual Jewish intermarriage rate is always lower than the Jewish intermarried couples rate. The Berman Jewish DataBank FAQ publication on intermarriage (under Topical Reports, Intermarriage) compares the rates of intermarriage of over 50 local American Jewish communities, as well as the intermarriage rates found in NJPS 2001 and PEW Research Survey 2013, differentiating Jewish person intermarriage rates and Jewish couples intermarriage rates.]
The Pew 2013 survey internal data indicate that Jewish person intermarriage rates among the Pew Research survey respondents have increased over the past two decades, but appear to have leveled off recently; 17% of Jewish respondents married prior to 1970 are intermarried, compared to 35%-36% in the 1970s, 41%-42% in the 1980s, 46% from 1990-1994, 55% from 1995-1999 and 58% from both 2000 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2013.
Compared to the NJPS 2000-2001survey intermarriage results - while 31% of all Jewish persons in the NJPS 2001 study were intermarried, 44% are intermarried in the PEW Research Survey 2013 study. (For those who prefer couples data: the increase in the percent of married Jewish couples who are intermarried rose from 46%-48% in NJPS 2001 to 61% in Pew 2013.)
Raising Children as Jewish
Children - the Pew Research survey found that while almost every in-married household (96%) raised their children as Jewish by religion, while only 1% report they are not raising their child(ren) as Jews. Among the intermarried, only 20% of the households raised their children as Jewish by religion, 25% partly Jewish by religion, and 37% of intermarried households are not raising their child(ren) as Jewish (another 16% of the intermarried couples are raising their children as Jewish without religion or have multiple children in the household, where at least one is being raised partially Jewish). Note that the Pew analysis shifts to an intermarried Jewish household basis, not the individual child's Jewish identity.
Denomination
Denominational identification: 35% of Jewish respondents self identify as Reform, 18% Conservative and 10% Orthodox; 30% report no denominational/movement identification.
The report notes that the historical pattern of the "falloff from Orthodoxy" among older Jewish respondents from the way that they were raised appears to be much lower among Orthodox respondents ages 18-29 than in the older cohorts.
Jewish Connections.
Jewish connection variables and attitudes/beliefs/values are a central focus of the Pew Research Center 2013 Survey. A few highlights of the many fascinating and informative results of the study include:
39% of all respondents report living in a household where someone is a synagogue member - 59% of the in-married compared to only 14% of the intermarried.
Passover participation at 70% of Jewish respondents and some Yom Kippur fasting for 53% appear to reflect a decline from the NJPS 2001 estimates of 78% and 60% - - mostly fueled by the increasing percentages of Jews of no religion.
30% of all Jews report being very attached to Israel while another 39% are somewhat attached; over 55% of Jews of no religion are not very or not at all attached to Israel (compared to 23% of Jews by religion).
43% of all Jews report having been to Israel, including 49% of Jews by religion only 23% of Jews of no religion.
Only 38% say the current (2013) Israeli government is making a sincere effort to establish peace with the Palestinians (fewer, 12%, think the Palestinian leaders are sincerely seeking peace with Israel).
44% of all Jewish people thought that the impact of continued building of Jewish settlements "hurts" Israel's security - 40% of Jews by religion and 56% of Jews of no religion.
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The Pew Research Survey report also contains a wealth of demographic data on American Jews - age, political party affiliation, education, geographic concentration, employment status and income - but no poverty estimates.
Chapter 7 is a unique chapter among Jewish surveys since it focuses on persons of Jewish background who are not currently Jewish, as well as those persons described in the Pew Research Survey report as individuals of "Jewish affinity."