--- title: You'll Be Surprised at Which Religions Have the Most Members with $100K+ Incomes description: A new analysis from the Pew Research Center shows that Jews and Hindus tend to have the highest percentages of members with incomes of $100,000 or more. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2016-10-11T16:55:26.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T04:07:05.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - College - College degree - faith - Higher Education - Hindu - income - Jewish - pubdesk - Religion word_count: 517 canonical: https://money.com/religion-wealth-income-jewish-hindu-atheist-episcopalian/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![161110_EM_RELIGIONMONEY](https://img.money.com/2016/10/161110_em_religionmoney.jpg) A new analysis from the [Pew Research Center](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/10/11/how-income-varies-among-u-s-religious-groups/) focuses on how much money various religious groups earn, and clearly, members of certain religions are much more likely than others to be wealthy. But don't assume that converting to a new religion is going to somehow boost your income. The real takeaway from the data is probably a message you've heard many times over: [Higher education](https://money.com/liberal-arts-colleges-highest-salaries/) is the path to higher earnings. According to data collected in a huge 2014 Pew study, 44% of American Jews live in a household with total income of $100,000 or more. That's the highest rate in the nation, followed by Hindus (36%) and Episcopalians (35%). These three groups also had high representations in the $50,000 to $99,000 income bracket. Altogether, roughly 70% of members of the Jewish, Hindu, and Episcopalian faith have household incomes of $50,000 or above. Before you reach any conclusions about theological beliefs correlating with income levels, bear in mind that educational achievement seems to play the key role in how much money people earn. Presbyterians, Evangelicals, and Methodists are also among the groups with high percentages of households with $100,000+ incomes, but so are Atheists and Agnostics. One-quarter or more of each of these groups boasts six-figure incomes, and "members of all these groups also are more likely to be highly educated than the general population," Pew researchers explain. ***Read Next:* [When Faith and Finances Collide](https://money.com/faith-finances-jewish-muslim-christian-families/)** Meanwhile, about 20% of Mormons, Muslims, and Catholics have $100,000+ household incomes, which is roughly the same rate across all U.S. adults. Jehovah's Witnesses appear to have the lowest incomes of any religious group, with only 4% earning six figures and nearly 50% earning less than $30,000 annually. Two historically black church groups, the National Baptist Convention and the Church of God in Christ, are also at the low end of the income spectrum, with nearly half of households earning under $30,000. In a way it should come as little surprise that Jews and Hindus tend to have the highest earners. After all, they also tend to be exceptionally well educated. A [previous Pew study](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/) revealed that 58% of American Jews are college graduates, and 28% have post-grad degrees—compared to rates of 29% and 10%, respectively, for all U.S. adults. Hindus have even higher rates of higher education, with 85% holding college degrees and 57% with some post-graduate education, according to a [2012 study](http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/06/19/chapter-7-religious-affiliation-beliefs-and-practices/). Atheists tend to be better educated than the general population as well, with [43% holding college degrees](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/01/10-facts-about-atheists/). Roughly the same percentage of agnostics ([42%](http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/chapter-3-demographic-profiles-of-religious-groups/)) has attained college degrees, compared to one-quarter of Catholics and Protestants. ***Read Next:* [Why Buying the Latest Apple Gadget Can Feel Like a Religious Experience](https://money.com/psychology-why-want-gadgets-iphone/)** As for Jehovah's Witnesses, one of its most prominent members—the late [Prince](https://money.com/prince-dies-without-will/)—is the exception in that he was extraordinarily wealthy. Still, Prince was typical of Jehovah's Witnesses in that he had no college degree; [63% of members](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/26/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s/) have no more than a high school education. At least Prince had a pretty good excuse: He [signed a record deal](http://www.biography.com/people/prince-9447278#career-highlights) and [released his debut album](http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/04/21/things-you-should-know-about-prince) by the time he was 19. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/religion-wealth-income-jewish-hindu-atheist-episcopalian/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Wealth Management", "item": "https://money.com/wealth-management/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "You'll Be Surprised at Which Religions Have the Most Members with $100K+ Incomes" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/religion-wealth-income-jewish-hindu-atheist-episcopalian/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/religion-wealth-income-jewish-hindu-atheist-episcopalian/", "name": "You'll Be Surprised at Which Religions Have the Most Members with $100K+ Incomes", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-10-11T16:55:26.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/religion-wealth-income-jewish-hindu-atheist-episcopalian/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/religion-wealth-income-jewish-hindu-atheist-episcopalian/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T04:07:05.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "You'll Be Surprised at Which Religions Have the Most Members with $100K+ Incomes", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/10/161110_em_religionmoney.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1440, "caption": "161110_EM_RELIGIONMoney" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-10-11T16:55:26.000Z", "description": "A new analysis from the Pew Research Center shows that Jews and Hindus tend to have the highest percentages of members with incomes of $100,000 or more.", "abstract": "A new analysis from the Pew Research Center shows that Jews and Hindus tend to have the highest percentages of members with incomes of $100,000 or more.", "@id": "https://money.com/religion-wealth-income-jewish-hindu-atheist-episcopalian/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T04:07:05.000Z", "wordCount": 517, "keywords": [ "College", "College degree", "faith", "Higher Education", "Hindu", "income", "Jewish", "pubdesk", "Religion" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Wealth management", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_management" ] } ] } ] } ```