Most U.S. Jews line in Metro areas

Even though Orthodox Jews account for just 10 percent of American Jewry, they make up 40 percent of all U.S. synagogues, according to the 2002 American Jewish Yearbook.

The Yearbook, produced by the American Jewish Committee, shows a total of 3,727 synagogues in the United States – the first comprehensive count since the 1936 Census of Religious Bodies, which found 2,851 synagogues.

The study found that the Reform movement represents 26 percent of synagogues and the Conservative movement 23 percent.

The Metro New York Area, including northern New Jersey and Long Island, accounts for one-third of all U.S. synagogues and almost half of all Orthodox synagogues. In the New York area, Orthodox are over-represented with 57 percent of all synagogues, while the Conservative movement has 24 percent, and Reform has 14 percent.

Roughly 40 percent of the country’s estimated 6 million Jews belong to the Reform and Conservative movements each, about 10 percent are Orthodox and the remaining 10 percent are either unaffiliated or belong to smaller movements.

The 2002 Yearbook shows 58 percent of all U.S. Jews live in seven metropolitan areas – New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco.

Reform synagogues dominate smaller and rural communities – as much as 90 percent – in areas such as Arkansas, Idaho and Mississippi, which all have small Jewish populations.

Conservative Synagogues are not the majority in any state, but make up the plurality of synagogues in two states – Connecticut (38 percent) and Pennsylvania (33 percent).

The much smaller reconstructionist movement is strongest in New York and Philadelphia, home to its central seminary.

The Northeast has 50 percent of all U.S. synagogues, while the South has about one-fifth, and the West and Midwest have fewer than one-fifth each.

The areas with the higher synagogue-to-Jew ratios are midsize cities with established Jewish communities, including Providence, R.I.; Albany, N.Y.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Milwaukee, Wis.

However, the states with the highest synagogue-to-Jew ratios are in places where communities built temples, but then left for various reasons. These include South Dakota, Mississippi, Montana and Arkansas.