Top 15 Reporting Religious Bodies Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY
Church, Christian, or Religious Body	Adherents (and rank)						Congregations
	in 2000			in 1990			in 2000	in 1990
Catholic Church, The	622,786	(1)		666,747	(1)		184	199
United Methodist Church, The	26,295	(2)		31,362	(2)		69	76
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	23,971	(3)		27,883	(3)		52	56
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod	21,343	(4)		23,649	(5)		43	45
Jewish Estimate	20,150	(5)		18,525	(7)		19	21
Presbyterian Church (USA)	16,935	(6)		22,120	(6)		52	53
Wesleyan Church, The	15,082	(7)		2,687	(14)		12	11
Episcopal Church	14,039	(8)		17,376	(8)		43	46
United Church of Christ	13,854	(9)		16,842	(9)		48	50
American Baptist Churches in the USA	11,563	(10)		13,896	(11)		34	42
Assemblies of God	11,357	(11)		12,525	(12)		29	30
Muslims Estimate	5,405	(12)		NA			7	NA
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The	2,375	(13)		2,255	(15)		7	9
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America	2,313	(14)		NR			1	1
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada	2,044	(15)		1,955	(16)		10	10

Metropolitan Population, 2000 Census:		1,170,111
Percent of Population Claimed by Reporting Groups:		71.0%

National Average: 50.2% claimed

Reporting Groups (149 possible):	59	(46 of 133 in 1990)
Total Reported Adherents:	830,500	(914,872 in 1990)
Total Reported Congregations:	752	(791 in 1990)

The metro area included 2 counties (or equivalent) at the time of the 2000 census:
	Erie County, NY; Niagara County, NY
	The newly published book Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000 includes a CD that allows users to determine such lists for any selected group of counties.
Source:	Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000 Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990
	Both studies, copyrighted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, are published by the Glenmary Research Center, Nashville, Tenn. More information is available at www.glenmary.org/grc.