Presbyterian statistics for 2024 show a denomination with 8,432 churches, 1,045,848 active members, and 17,742 ministers. The figures also describe a broad network of presbyteries and synods, a membership concentrated in older age groups, varied congregation sizes, and substantial income and expenditure across local churches.
Contents
- Denominational structure
- Churches and congregational change
- Membership and participation
- Age, gender, and racial composition
- Ministers, elders, and baptism
- Church size and financial activity
Denominational structure
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), commonly abbreviated PC(USA), reported 16 synods and 166 presbyteries in 2024. These two levels provide a useful picture of how the denomination is organized geographically and institutionally. At the congregational level, the same report counted 8,432 churches.
The network also included 1,173 commissioned ruling elders. In addition, PC(USA) reported 51,433 elders in 2024. These figures describe different roles in the denomination’s leadership structure: one is a count of commissioned ruling elders, while the other is the broader reported number of elders.
The denominational statistics place local congregations within a larger system of regional bodies, ministers, elders, and emerging worship communities. That structure matters when interpreting other figures: the membership total belongs to PC(USA) as a denomination, while church counts describe congregations within that system.
Churches and congregational change
PC(USA) reported four organized churches in 2024. It also recorded 123 dissolved churches and 14 churches dismissed to other denominations. These counts describe different forms of congregational change and should not be combined into a single measure of growth or decline.
Alongside established congregations, the report listed 113 new church developments or fellowships and 327 new worshiping communities. Those categories show that Presbyterian ministry activity was not limited to conventional churches. New worshiping communities were more numerous than new church developments or fellowships in the reported 2024 figures.
The PC(USA) Church Trends source reported 8,380 churches reporting on its overview page in a 2026 print view, while the PC(USA) Comparative Summaries of Statistics 2024 reported 8,432 churches. Because the sources and labels differ, these counts should be kept distinct rather than treated as contradictory measurements of exactly the same field.
Church reporting also varied by topic. In 2024, 2,979 churches reported one or more baptisms. The Church Trends figures recorded 6,269 churches reporting one or more ages and 2,111 reporting no ages. These are reporting counts, not estimates of how many churches exist in each category.
Membership and participation
Active membership in PC(USA) was 1,045,848 in 2024. The denomination reported 2,197 membership adjustments, 11,608 certificate gains, and 8,710 certificate losses. It also recorded 20,420 deaths among members and deleted 49,544 members from the roll for any reason.
The membership figures include several measures of joining or affirming faith. PC(USA) recorded 6,020 youth professions of faith and 18,329 professions of faith and reaffirmations in 2024. The latter is a broader category and should not be read as the sum of the youth figure and another separately supplied count.
The Church Trends source reported 208,960 friends and attendance of 446,536 in 2024. “Friends” and attendance are reported as separate measures from active membership. They therefore provide additional context about connection with congregations, but they should not be added to the active-member total.
The following selected membership figures use the labels supplied by the PC(USA) sources:
| Measure | 2024 figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Active membership | 1,045,848 | PC(USA) Comparative Summaries of Statistics 2024 |
| Friends | 208,960 | PC(USA) Church Trends |
| Attendance | 446,536 | PC(USA) Church Trends |
| Youth professions of faith | 6,020 | PC(USA) Comparative Summaries of Statistics 2024 |
| Deaths among members | 20,420 | PC(USA) Comparative Summaries of Statistics 2024 |
The table is a compact comparison of differently defined measures, not a calculation of participation rates. The supplied statistics do not provide a common denominator or methodology for converting these counts into attendance or retention percentages.
Age, gender, and racial composition
PC(USA) reported age information for 82% of membership in 2024. Within the age data, 36,723 members were age 17 and under, 60,147 were ages 18–25, and 113,456 were ages 26–40. The report counted 140,892 members ages 41–55, 215,719 ages 56–70, and 295,077 age 71 and over.
These categories are reported counts, and the age-composition coverage was 82%, so the figures should not be presented as a complete age census of all active members. The largest supplied age group was members age 71 and over, followed by members ages 56–70. The youngest supplied group, age 17 and under, had 36,723 members.
Gender identification was reported for 83% of membership. PC(USA) listed 515,748 female members, 353,687 male members, and 1,728 non-binary or genderqueer members in the supplied 2024 figures. The coverage percentage is important context because the reported categories do not represent 100% of active membership.
Racial composition was reported for 79% of membership. The supplied counts were 727,425 White members; 38,687 Black, African American, or African members; 31,872 Asian, Pacific Islander, or South Asian members; 14,927 Hispanic or Latinx members; 11,737 multiracial members; 3,102 Middle Eastern or North African members; and 2,481 Native American, Alaska Native, or Indigenous members.
The racial, age, and gender figures measure reported composition, each with its own coverage percentage. They should therefore be read as reported distributions rather than as complete totals for every active member. The category labels are retained from the PC(USA) sources.
Ministers, elders, and baptism
PC(USA) listed 17,742 ministers in 2024. During that year, the supplied statistics recorded 638 candidates and 149 ordinations. The denomination received 31 ministers from other denominations and dismissed 13 ministers to other denominations.
The minister figures also recorded four ministers restored to the roll, 35 removed from office, 372 deceased ministers, and 249 retiring ministers. These are separate reported events or status counts. They should not be used as a substitute for a net change in the minister total because the supplied data do not specify a complete reconciliation of the categories.
Baptism reporting included 7,826 baptisms presented by others, 1,351 baptisms at confirmation, and 1,824 other baptisms in 2024. These labels distinguish the reported baptism categories. PC(USA) Church Trends also reported 2,979 churches with one or more baptisms, which is a church count rather than a baptism count.
The distinction between people, events, and congregations is especially useful here. A minister count describes people in a status category; an ordination count describes an event; and the number of churches reporting baptisms describes congregations. Keeping those units separate prevents the figures from being interpreted as if they were interchangeable.
Church size and financial activity
The 2024 church-size distribution covered a wide range of congregations. PC(USA) reported 1,918 churches with 0–25 members, representing 22.7% of churches; 1,898 churches with 26–50 members, representing 22.5%; and 1,978 churches with 51–100 members, representing 23.4%.
The remaining supplied size bands were 916 churches with 101–150 members, 1,007 with 151–300, 569 with 301–800, 333 with 801–1,600, and 34 with 1,601 or more members.
| Church size band | Churches | Reported share when supplied |
|---|---|---|
| 0–25 members | 1,918 | 22.7% |
| 26–50 members | 1,898 | 22.5% |
| 51–100 members | 1,978 | 23.4% |
| 101–150 members | 916 | — |
| 151–300 members | 1,007 | — |
| 301–800 members | 569 | — |
| 801–1,600 members | 333 | — |
| 1,601 or more members | 34 | — |
Financial reporting for 2024 included $2,260,400,608 in regular contributions, $462,403,672 in investment income, $243,283,338 in capital and building funds, and $226,500,755 in bequests. Other income reached $315,015,810, while subsidy or aid income reached $17,224,336.
Reported expenditures included $2,045,546,497 for local programs, $178,305,210 for local mission, $890,412,067 for capital, and $271,219,085 for investments. PC(USA) also reported $70,768,920 in per capita expenditures and $64,112,865 in other mission expenditures.
These financial figures are reported dollar amounts for 2024. The supplied statistics do not state whether every income and expenditure category is presented on an identical accounting basis, so they are best used as labeled measures rather than combined into an unsupported surplus, deficit, or per-member calculation.