Religious Organizations (U.S.) — NAICS 8131

An investor's primer (rollup level). NAICS = North American Industry Classification System, the standard code the U.S. government uses to group businesses. This page covers the four-digit NAICS industry group 8131, which contains a single five-digit child, 81311 (itself a single six-digit national industry, 813110).

1. Overview

NAICS 8131 is the "industry group" tier of the code for religious organizations — churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, monasteries, and the denominational bodies that administer an organized religion.[3] Because this four-digit group contains only one five-digit child (81311), the two are effectively the same category: everything true of 81311 is true of 8131. This page gives the rollup's own federal figures and the short investor's version; for the full treatment — structure, unit economics, the investable vendor layer, regulation, and outlook — read the child primer, 81311 Religious Organizations.

The one-line thesis carries over unchanged: this is one of the largest employers in the country that almost no one can invest in directly. Every establishment is a tax-exempt nonprofit or house of worship — no shares, no profit distribution, no public listing. The money is made around the pew, not in it: giving-and-payments software, media, publishing, construction, insurance, specialty lending, and the redevelopment of surplus church property.

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

NAICS organizes businesses from broad to narrow: sector (2-digit) → subsector (3) → industry group (4) → industry (5) → national industry (6). Many four-digit groups split into several five-digit industries. Religious organizations do not split: the entire industry group 8131 rolls up to a single industry and, below it, a single national industry.[3]

Because there is exactly one child, 8131 is a pass-through: its scope, its exclusions, and its economics are identical to 81311 (and to 813110 beneath it). In scope are local congregations, parishes, dioceses, denominational offices, missions, shrines, monasteries, and convents.[3] Explicitly out of scope — and counted in other sectors — are the large secular enterprises faith institutions run: schools and seminaries (Educational Services), hospitals and social-service charities (Health Care and Social Assistance), religious broadcasters (Radio and Television Broadcasting), and religious publishers (Publishing).[3] The "faith economy" is far larger than this one code; the child primer walks through why.

3. How big it is

Our federal figures (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023):

These are identical to the child's figures because the child is the level. The average establishment employs about eight people, and average annual payroll per worker is only ~$29,000 — reflecting heavy part-time staffing and the fact that much clergy compensation arrives as a tax-favored housing allowance and benefits rather than reported wages.[1]

The undercount — read this carefully. County Business Patterns (CBP) counts only employer establishments (those running a payroll). It excludes the self-employed, volunteer labor, and organizations with little or no payroll, and can miss activity consolidated under a parent denomination.[4] Because small congregations with no paid staff dominate the tail, the true count of U.S. congregations runs far higher than the 186,801 employer establishments here: independent tallies range from ~356,600 (2020 U.S. Religion Census) to ~373,000 (Hartford Institute).[7][8] Roughly half of U.S. congregations don't appear in the federal business data at all. Our federal file for this level contains no total-receipts, donations, expenses, assets, or net-income figure, and churches are exempt from the IRS Form 990 that other nonprofits file, so those numbers should not be inferred.[11] For donor-flow context only (not this level's own revenue), Giving USA estimated 2024 U.S. giving to religion at $146.54 billion.[5]

4. Investable universe — where the value sits

There is no publicly traded pure-play religious-organization company; the level is entirely nonprofit. Because 8131 has one child, all investable value sits in the same adjacent supply chain the child primer maps in full — none of it inside the code:

• Public markets (thin, always "look-through"): small-cap Christian media (Salem Media Group, SALM) and the payments/software names that touch congregational giving (Blackbaud, BLKB; Fiserv, FI; PayPal, PYPL; Corpay, CPAY). Value each on its own cash flows, not on the size of the religion economy.
• Private equity / venture: the "faith-tech" (faith-technology) stack — church giving and payments, church-management software, and streaming — where recent capital has concentrated (Pushpay, Ministry Brands, ACS Technologies/Vanco).
• Private credit: church bonds and church-mortgage lending, secured by sanctuary real estate.
• Real estate: buying and converting closed or underused houses of worship.

See child Section 4 for company-by-company detail and the limitations of each name.

5. How the money works

Unchanged from the child, because the child is the level. Congregations are nonprofits, so "the money" is funding a mission and covering fixed costs, not returning capital. About 90% of a religious organization's revenue comes from individual donors — weekly tithes and offerings plus special appeals.[5] The cost base is people plus property: clergy compensation and the utilities, insurance, and maintenance on aging, often oversized buildings. For investors, the capturable economics live one step away — payment-processing fees, software subscriptions, media revenue, loan interest, and development margin. The metrics to underwrite there (recurring revenue, retention, payment volume and take rate, gross margin, customer concentration) are laid out in child Section 5.

6. Demand drivers

Also identical at this level. The master variable is religiosity and demographics: the share of U.S. adults identifying as Christian fell from 78% (2007) to 62% (2023–24), while the religiously unaffiliated ("nones") rose from 16% to 29% — though that decline appears to have stabilized since ~2019, with about 33% of adults still attending services monthly or more.[7] Generational replacement is the core risk (only ~46% of adults 18–24 identify as Christian), partly offset by immigration; economic conditions and digital participation round out the picture.[7][5] See child Section 6.

7. Regulation

The regulatory regime is a property of the child and applies wholesale to this level: automatic 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status for qualifying churches (no application, and a unique exemption from filing the annual Form 990),[11] the unrelated business income tax (UBIT) on unrelated commercial activity,[14] the clergy housing-allowance treatment under Internal Revenue Code §107,[13] the Johnson Amendment limits on political-campaign activity,[12][16] the ministerial exception and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA),[15] and — arguably the sector's largest ongoing subsidy — local property-tax exemption. Child Section 7 has the detail.

8. Consolidation

The consolidation story runs through the child, in two places. Among congregations: attendance and giving are concentrating in large, often nondenominational churches while median congregation size falls and an estimated ~3,700 churches close each year, feeding a steady supply of surplus real estate.[17] Among the vendors: private-equity roll-ups and integrations in faith-tech (Ministry Brands, the Pushpay take-private, the ACS Technologies/Vanco combination) are concentrating the software-and-payments plumbing thousands of churches depend on, where switching costs are high.[17][16][18] See child Section 8.

9. Risks

The risk set is the child's: structural secularization and aging membership;[7] ~$1 trillion of often flat-or-declining church real estate with rising utility, insurance, and repair costs;[17] litigation and reputational liability (abuse claims have driven multiple dioceses into bankruptcy); donor concentration and cyclicality on ~90% voluntary funding;[5] and political/regulatory shifts around Johnson Amendment enforcement or property-tax exemption.[16] For investors specifically, faith-tech rides a shrinking customer base and church-mortgage credit faces a thin resale market for specialized buildings. Child Section 9 expands each.

10. How to invest & outlook

There is no direct way to own a religious organization at this level or its child. Practical exposure is the same four routes: look-through public equities (Christian media and giving-adjacent payments/software), private equity/venture in faith-tech, private credit in church bonds and mortgages, and redevelopment of closed church real estate. Faith-values exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds offer ethically screened market exposure, not a bet on this industry.

Outlook (forward-looking judgment, not fact). A large, slowly shrinking, cash-generative nonprofit sector whose decline has recently decelerated rather than reversed. Dollar giving should stay roughly flat-to-modestly-up in nominal terms while losing ground to inflation.[5][6] The investable opportunities are counter-cyclical to the mission — consolidating the digital-giving/software layer, lending and insuring the surviving (often larger) congregations, and redeveloping the real estate the shrinking ones leave behind. The central swing factor is generational.[7] For the complete analysis, see the child primer, 81311 Religious Organizations.

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Sources

Drawn from the child primer (81311), which carries the full source list; numbering matches that primer.

1. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 813110 (establishments, employment, annual and Q1 payroll). Ingested federal ground-truth data. Figures for 8131 confirmed identical in our ingested stats file for NAICS 8131. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/data/datasets.html
2. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 NAICS Definition — 813110 Religious Organizations (scope and exclusions; single industry under 8131), 2022. https://www.census.gov/naics/?details=813110&year=2022
3. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns — Overview / What CBP Covers (employer establishments only; excludes self-employed and nonpayroll activity), 2024. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/about.html
4. Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, Giving USA: The Impact on Religion ($146.54B to religion in 2024; ~90% from individuals). https://lakeinstitute.org/resource-library/
5. Giving USA Foundation, Giving USA 2025 (total U.S. charitable giving $592.50 billion in 2024), 2025. https://givingusa.org/
6. Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study 2023–24: Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed (62% Christian, 29% nones; 33% monthly attendance; 18–24 cohort), 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off/
7. Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Fast Facts on American Religion (~373,000 congregations), 2024, and U.S. Religion Census 2020 (~356,600 congregations). https://hirr.hartfordinternational.edu/fast-facts-on-american-religion/
8. Internal Revenue Service, Tax Information for Churches and Religious Organizations (automatic 501(c)(3) status; Form 990 exemption). https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/churches-religious-organizations
9. Internal Revenue Service, Exemption Requirements — 501(c)(3) Organizations (no private inurement; political-campaign prohibition). https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-501c3-organizations
10. Internal Revenue Service, Topic No. 417, Earnings for Clergy (IRC §107 housing allowance; clergy tax status). https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc417
11. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 598, Tax on Unrelated Business Income of Exempt Organizations (UBIT). https://www.irs.gov/publications/p598
12. U.S. Department of Justice, Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA). https://www.justice.gov/crt/religious-land-use-and-institutionalized-persons-act-2000
13. Johnson Amendment overview and Simms Showers LLP, IRS Eases Johnson Amendment Enforcement for Church Political Speech (2025 IRS filing; 2026 dismissal). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Amendment
14. Religion News Service, Thousands of Churches Will Likely Close Down (~3,700 closures/year; ~$1T real estate equity; congregation-size decline), 2024. https://religionnews.com/2024/03/15/thousands-of-churches-will-likely-close-down-what-happens-to-all-those-buildings/
15. Vanco / ParishSoft, Church Income and Revenue Sources (giving mix; operating budgets), 2024–2025. https://www.vancopayments.com/egiving/blog/alternative-sources-of-income-for-churches
16. Willkie Farr & Gallagher / PE Insights, Sixth Street and BGH Capital acquire Pushpay (~US$895M; delisted 2023). https://www.willkie.com/news/2022/11/willkie-advises-sixth-street-and-bgh-capital-in-acquisition-of-pushpay
17. William Blair / Community Brands, Reverence Capital Partners majority investment in Ministry Brands (95,000+ churches/ministries; 2021). https://www.communitybrands.com/company/news/
18. ACS Technologies, Vanco and ACS Technologies Unite (2025 combination of church-management and payments businesses). https://www.acstechnologies.com/company/news/