Jews in America:
Demographic Profile

(September 2016)

Jews in America: Table of Contents | Population | Virtual Jewish History

The total Jewish population in the United States of America stands at 7,160,000, as of September 2016. This number is the inflated population, and includes Jewish adults and children as well as those who identify with their Judaism through a way other than religion. Jewish women outnumber Jewish men in the United States, 53% to 47%.

Twenty-six percent of U.S. Jews are over the age of 65, making them the largest Jewish population segment in the country. Millenials (aged 18-34) make up another quarter of the population.

Age breakdown of American Jews

18-24	10%
25-34	16%
35-44	13%
45-54	17%
55-64	20%
65+	26%

Jewish Millenials are the most diverse segment of American Jews, with 19% identifying as “other than white.”

American Jews are one of the most educated populations in the country. Compared with a national average of 39.4% of adults, 61% of Jewish adults in the United States have attained a bachelors degree education or higher. Twice as many Jewish millenials aged 25-34 have earned a college degree than their peers (67% compared to 31%).

• The majority of American Jews (54%) identify politically as Democrats, while 14% identify as Republicans, and 32% as other.
• Of Jews who live in Washington, DC, 68% are Democrats.
• There is not a single state where less than one-third of the Jewish population identify as Democrats; similarly there is not a single state where more than one-third of the Jewish population identify as Republicans.
• In 26 states more than half of the Jewish population identify as Democrats.
• American Jews are twice as likely to hold liberal views rather than conservative views.
• Orthodox Jews tend to make up most of the Republican Jewish population.

Jews live in all 50 states, but 65% of the total population is concentrated in New York, California, Florida, New Jersey, and Illinois. Twenty-three percent of the national Jewish population lives in New York, making it the state with the highest concentration of Jewish individuals in the country. The vast majority of Jews (97%) live in urban metro areas surrounding cities.

According to the 2013 Pew survey “A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” 35% of Jewish Americans consider themselves to be Reform, while 18% self-identify as Conservative, 10% as Orthodox, 6% as other, and 30% as no denomination in particular.

Source: Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies American Jewish Population Project: Jewish Millenials;
Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies American Jewish Population Project: Jewish Population in the U.S;
“A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” Pew Research, (2013);