Pew Research Center

After years of decline, the Christian share of the U.S. population has been relatively stable since 2019. And the religiously unaffiliated population, after rising rapidly for decades, has leveled off – at least temporarily. These findings come from Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and other Center polling. Learn more about the study at pewresearch.org/rls 

Yesterday President Trump signed an executive order to close the U.S. Department of Education. Pew Research Center recently put out an explainer about the department, answering some common questions about it: - As of last September, 4,209 people worked there. About .2% of overall federal employment. The Ed Department has the fewest employees of any Cabinet-level agency - In fiscal 2024, the net cost of the department’s operations was $218.4 billion. Net outlays – a related metric that incorporates certain accounting adjustments – totaled $267.9 billion that year. That latter figure is about 3.9% of total federal outlays, according to archived data from the Office of Management and Budget. - In fiscal 2024, the department’s grant spending totaled $150.3 billion, according to its annual financial report. Its major grant programs included $18.8 billion for schools with large numbers of "educationally disadvantaged" students, $15.5 billion for special education programs for students with disabilities, and $5.5 billion for a wide variety of school improvement efforts, such as making teachers more effective. - Nationally, the federal government provided about 13.6% of total funding for public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal 2022. - Federal funding for local schools varies considerably from place to place. Mississippi's schools, for example, collectively get 23.3% of their funding from federal sources, while just 7.2% of school funding in New York State is federal. So much more here: https://lnkd.in/edEgsZM6 #research #data #analysis

My expert opinion on this tale of response options: hahahahahahahahahahaha https://pewrsr.ch/4isAu2s

When is the right time in life to get married or have a child? What is the best age to buy a home? Is there an ideal age for retirement? We asked adults in 18 mostly middle-income countries what they think is the best age to reach these life milestones. Overall, there is a lot of agreement around the world. https://pewrsr.ch/41FRACZ

You probably don't often turn to the survey methodology world for a good detective story, but here is one from my colleague Anna Brown

Large shares of Americans – from about a third to half – say there is no best age for getting married, having a first child, buying a home or retiring. On average, Americans say the ideal age for each life milestone is: - Getting married: 26.5 - Having a child: 27.3 - Buying a house: 28.8 - Retiring: 61.8 https://pewrsr.ch/43Uyqf6

Thought this was a fun question from recent Pew Research Center post. Remarkable how quickly norms around smoking 🚭 have changed in the country - tops this list of unacceptable public behaviors. (I'd like to see the crosstab on dog owners for 'bringing pets into indoor spaces like shops and grocery stores'). The broader post is about rudeness in public and whether we're ruder than we were five years ago as a society (47% say yes). I wonder if this is the type of attitude that's perennial, along the lines of 'kids these days'? Or whether it's driven by a response to specific ways life is (or feels) different today? Take a look at the post yourself, by authors Katherine Schaeffer and Beshay Sakla. Link ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eD8zr6Zs

As a parent of teens, I am fascinated by this Pew Research Center study that highlights significant gender gaps in the lives of teenagers. The research reveals that girls often experience higher stress levels related to academics and social expectations, whereas boys commonly face challenges with motivation in their school work (this is definitely reflected in my home!). Additionally, girls typically form friendships with deeper emotional bonds, while boys tend to engage in more activity-oriented friendships. Have you noticed similar patterns with your own teenagers? Nice work, Kim Parker and team!

The pandemic brought societal changes large and small. We've documented many of them at Pew Research Center these last five years. Did it also make society ruder? In a new survey, nearly half of Americans (47%) say people are behaving more rudely in public than before the pandemic. And around a third (34%) say they almost always or often see rude behavior when they go out into the world these days. https://lnkd.in/e2hc7nCc

PSA for parents of high schoolers: Public opinion data/news you can use. H/T/ Pew Research Center Kim Parker Kiley Hurst https://pewrsr.ch/4kKMHRC