Social Explorer users now have access to new and detailed religion demographics from infoGROUP's American Church List (ACL) data for 2009.  The ACL provides the most complete and accurate database of churches and religious associated businesses with approximately 350,000 houses of worship.

The data includes over 20 groups and 230 denominations, and are viewable by religious tradition or family.  The reports offer a detailed breakdown of each religion, such as this table for Jewish congregations and adherents in New York County (Manhattan).

2009 American Church List Data Table: Jewish Tradition

You can look at both county-level and Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA)-level data.  County-level data offers a high level of religion data detail in less-populated communities.  PUMA-level data (at least 100,000 per PUMA) enables users to see a much higher level of detail in big cities. For instance, New York has five counties (some with millions of people in them), but with the PUMA map, you can see religion data in 54 large neighborhoods.

2009 American Church List Data PUMA-level: A Zoomed-In View of Parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn

Also, each house of worship is viewable by name and location on the map.  (Additional details on each one will be included in future releases.)

2009 American Church List Data: A Zoomed-In View of Upper Manhattan

If you think a house of worship is missing, please report it by clicking on the "Report a missing congregation" link at the top right of the map screen.

Start exploring the new data and features through the maps or the reports (subscription required).