# What percentage of American atheists are white?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-american-atheists-are-white/1022148>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 17, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-american-atheists-are-white/1022148 "2025-08-17T00:12:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-american-atheists-are-white/1022148/1 "2025-08-17T00:12:37Z")

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I’ve been able to suss out what percentage of Americans are white, and what percentage are atheist, but I want to know what percentage of American atheists are white. My Google Fu is weak today.

My knee-jerk guess was that it’s probably 98 or so percent. But I could be very wrong.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-american-atheists-are-white/1022148/2 "2025-08-17T00:15:06Z")

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From a Pew Research study (bolding mine):

> [@](#):
>
> In the U.S., atheists are mostly men and are relatively young, according to a [Center survey conducted in summer 2023](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/01/24/religious-nones-in-america-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/). Around six-in-ten U.S. atheists are men (64%). And seven-in-ten are ages 49 or younger, compared with about half of U.S. adults overall (52%).
> 
> **Atheists also are more likely than the general public to be White (77% vs. 62%)** and have a college degree (48% vs. 34%). Roughly eight-in-ten atheists identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party.

> **[8 facts about atheists](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/07/8-facts-about-atheists/)**
>
> Around six-in-ten U.S. atheists are men (64%). And seven-in-ten are ages 49 or younger, compared with about half of U.S. adults overall (52%).

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-american-atheists-are-white/1022148/3 "2025-08-17T00:18:23Z")

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Note that “White” in their study is really “White, non-Hispanic.” Here’s a link to their full report; demographics are on page 2. Note that they studied “religiously unaffiliated,” which includes atheists, agnostics, and those who say that their religion is “nothing in particular,” but they do break out the details by those three groups (so you can see data specific to atheists, for example).

28% of Americans are '“religiously unaffiliated;” of that group, 17% self identify as “agnostic,” which would indicate that roughly 5% of American adults are atheists.

> **[1. Who are the ‘nones’? How are they defined?](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/01/24/who-are-the-nones-how-are-they-defined/)**
>
> Religious “nones” are people who describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” when asked about their religious affiliation in our

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-american-atheists-are-white/1022148/4 "2025-08-17T01:04:25Z")

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Wow, 77 percent. Much less than I thought. Thank you for your excellent Google Fu.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-american-atheists-are-white/1022148/5 "2025-08-17T03:57:29Z")

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> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> Thank you for your excellent Google Fu.

You are welcome. I knew that Pew has done a number of studies on religion in the U.S., so I started my Googling by looking for Pew Research on the subject; it was pretty easy to find from there.