What is the total revenue of churches in the US?
According to the report “Giving USA”, American donors gave more than $260 billion to charitable causes in 2005. Of that, about 36% of that, or $93.18 billion, went to religious organizations. I believe that would be a good estimate for church ‘revenue’. That $93 billion, incidentally, is about 0.75% of the US GDP for 2005, or 1/134th part. Uncounted in this estimate (and also uncountable) is the value of volunteer labor. Any number of services, from investment and legal advice, real estate consulting, all the way down to preschool instruction, building maintenance and “handyman” work could be provided by volunteers, at no cost or little cost to the church organization. Generally, churches in wealthier areas use more paid workers and fewer volunteers for their ministries, while churches in poorer areas have more daily maintenance and mission work done by volunteers. Hope this helps! Great question!
