
Religion is always a topic brought up when asking about someone's background. Some people are Christian, some are Jewish, some are Muslim, some are Buddhist, and the list goes on. At USC alone there are students from all walks of life, representing all different religions and backgrounds. I come from a two sided family, my mother's side being Jewish, while my father's side is Catholic. I was raised Jewish however, and whenever I am asked I never hesitate to say that I am Jewish. I even joined the Jewish Fraternity, AEPi, here on campus, so Judaism is a topic still very prevalent in my life. I always hear that Jews make lots of money and are very successful, but what I would like to know is; are Jews the most successful religious group in the US?

In the US today there is a huge variety of religions and denominations. Christianity still widely encompasses the nation, with just over 70% of the population identifying as Christian, or one of its many large denominations. The second highest religious affiliation is Jewish, with just below 2% of Americans identifying as being of that faith. The last few are Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu, each making up less than 1% of the total US population. Those that fell under the unaffiliated with a religion category make up almost 23% of the population (PEW). While Christians make up a vast majority of the nation, religions with smaller numbers here are also around and prevalent in today's society. There's only 2% of the population with the next highest religion, Judaism, yet everywhere I look I can see a synagogue or organization run by or for Jewish people. There are Mosques, Buddhist Temples, and all sorts of other religious buildings at every corner. These small but significant groups make huge impacts every day, even if it may sometimes be from behind the scenes. People of each and every faith have jobs in all fields of work, and everyone has a fair chance of being successful. 

Average income distribution varies greatly between religions. What I find surprising is that Hindus have the highest average income, with less than 10% making under $30,000 a year, and 43% making over $100,000 per year. The next highest religion is those identifying as Jewish, with under 15% making less than $30,000, and 46% making over $100,000. The average number of people making over $100,000 drops greatly after Jewish into the Orthodox Christians category with around 28% making over $100,000. The averages start to steadily lower in the order after those of Buddhists, Mainline Protestants, Mormons, religiously unaffiliated, Catholics, Evangelicals, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, and finally Historically Black Protestants with the lowest average of 47% making less than $30,000, and only 8% making over $100,000. The average income per religion stems from what jobs they have. It is a fact that many Hindu people may be high paid doctors, and that many Jews may be bankers or accountants. This would explain why the average is much higher for these groups rather than others, as it would be more typical for people to get these more highly paying jobs. In the last few decades American Jews have lead the economy and accumulated the most wealth relative to any other religious group. Making up less than 2% of the population in the US, Jews account for over 25% of the wealthiest 1% of people in America. Over 46% of Jewish households make more than $100,000 per year, more than any other religious group in the US (Sichel). It's not simply coincidence that the Jewish people are the wealthiest group in America, this comes out of one's upbringing and culture.

A vast majority of the nation is Christian, which means that any other religious denomination would be the minority. Stereotypes are much more prevalent about people that are in the minority, and through my research I pretty surprisingly found that stereotypes seem to play a large factor in how much money a person makes. Stereotypes are all around us, and everyone stereotypes whether you believe so or not. "We can't possibly get through life without stereotyping, which is actually just making assumptions based on our past experiences" (Lucas). Everyone hears about religious stereotypes in the workplace, how certain religions may dominate a certain field, or one would expect a person of a certain religion to be working a job. Just because there is a stereotype doesn't necessarily mean it's a negative one however. In a recent study, many fake resumes were created and sent to different employers looking to hire. Each resume had a different religious affiliations listed on it to measure the amount of responses from employers. In nearly every case the likelihood of getting called back to interview dropped greatly because they listed their religion. The only example that there was a greater number of responses was the resumes listing a candidate as Jewish. Today Jews are seen as competent, hardworking, driven people. "Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds" (Gladwell). Because of this assumption about Jewish employees, certain employers might see this fact and be more highly to hire a Jewish over another candidate with the same qualifications. We would all like to say that stereotypes don't affect us, but we do this with everyone we meet in our own way. Every assumption you make about a person without concrete knowledge about them is stereotyping, and there's really nothing wrong with that. Whether that stereotype would be for someone to pursue a certain type of job, or to not get another job they were trying to get, it always came back to the stereotypes we have heard for a long time. 

Stereotypes tend to perpetuate themselves in society. In recent years there's been a saying that Jews "control the Media," or that they "run Wall Street" (Sichel). However untrue these are, there is some reason behind them as many of the top positions in both areas filled by Jews. Because of these stereotypes, many employers have somewhat of an unfair view of potential hires based on their religion. Some people could be negatively judged simply because of their religion, even if they would be completely qualified for a job. The positive stereotype of the "hardworking, smart Jewish employee" is something that has perpetuated itself in society, and may be part of the reason for the success of Jews in modern day America.

Every individual defines success in a different way. Some people want wealth, some want family, and some just want peace as their own personal form of success. However, different cultures stress different areas of success. Everyone can succeed in their own way, so saying one group is more successful than another is hard to measure. In the US, a major "key to success" as DJ Khaled calls it, is money. Money can buy you nearly anything, so having a lot of it is one of the greatest accomplishments one could hope for. Jews are the wealthiest religious group in the US on average, controlling a larger proportional share of the economy than any other religious group. This means that they make the most money and have the highest rate of success for gaining wealth. Other people may not be looking for wealth however. Some people hope to gain personal happiness, or even may value helping others above themselves. Because of this, measuring ones success cannot be concluded from just how much money they earn, but also other things that they hope to obtain like happiness. 

Religious practice came about because of a need to explain why and how everything works, and as a way to blame bad events on an uncontrollable force. Practicing religion is a sort of soothing, anti-anxiety act. People in high stress, impoverished nations like Afghanistan and Somalia practice religion to distance themselves from the reality of their lives and hope for something better even in the afterlife (Barber). People living in areas like this would describe themselves as happier than non-religious people because they can look to something greater like God to explain their distress. It is human nature to look for a higher power to explain things, and religion is what came of this.

In most nations in the world there is a majority religious population. In these countries, religious people describe themselves with a relatively higher rate of happiness compared to their non-religious countrymen. However, the top three "happiest" countries are Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which are all in the top five countries with the least religious population (Barber). Even here in the US the least happy states are also the most religious. This statistic seems to show a correlation between lack of religion and obtained happiness, but religious people describe themselves as happier than non-religious people. Empirical evidence suggests that religion could be the problem that makes people less happy. If non-religious people are happier, than you can wonder why people are religious if it doesn't make them happy. Well, these non-religious nations like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands are all highly developed nations with little need to use religion as an outlet to blame the difficulties in one's life on (Barber). Many of the most religious nations are also plagued by poverty and an expectation for a tougher life and a shorter life span, which could explain their high rate of religious citizens.

People around the world raise their children in very different ways with very different ideals. In many Asian cultures, parents raise their children to get good grades, and value education and degrees in the fields of business, medicine, law, or science (Kwong). To these people, their success comes from personal talent and achievement taught to them their whole lives. It is so engrained in their culture that their lives are, "from a very early age, focused highly on academics and college acceptance" (Choi). Many ideals people have come from basic ideals engrained into them by their culture. These common ideas shared by groups of different people come from long lasting morals passed down for generations. Different cultures have stressed these values for hundreds, even thousands of years. Certain groups like Catholics and Afghani families value things like raising large families, while Jews tend to stress getting a good high paying job and making lots of money "The writers of the Bible anticipated the problems we would have with money and possessions; there are more than 2,000 reference. Our whole culture now is built on the premise that we have to have more money and more stuff to feel happy and secure" (Nance-Nash). The values in the Christian Bible teach people not to gain much wealth and positions over others, while in writings like the Torah there aren't the negative references to money and wealth. Because of this, Jewish people may tend to strive for more money and possessions, while Christians and other peoples that don't value earning lots of money would not work as hard towards it.

In modern American Jewish culture, it is looked at highly to have a high payed business job and to make lots of money. Other cultures do not stress the same idea as much, so Jews have worked hard to get well-paying jobs and be more successful than other groups of people. "The conventional explanation for Jewish success, of course, is that Jews come from a literate, intellectual culture. They are famously "the people of the book." There is surely something to that. But it wasn't just the children of rabbis who went to law school. It was the children of garment workers. And their critical advantage in climbing the professional ladder wasn't the intellectual rigor you get from studying the Talmud. It was the practical intelligence and savvy you get from watching your father sell aprons on Hester Street" (Gladwell). Because of this trend of success, Jews in America often live more stress free, well-off lives without the worry of financial instability. "On average, Jews have higher levels of well-being than their counterparts of every other major faith in America" (Rampell). 

Only a small population of the US is Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu, compared to the much larger number of Christians. Because of the much smaller proportion of people, there is a more statistically significant result when measuring average income compared to measuring the larger denominations of Christianity that encompass millions of people. With less people, it is more accurate to get a good measurement of what the actual trend in salary and workplace success a certain religion has. The reason for such a dramatic difference in salary for each religion could be because of a number of things from ancient teachings to a hardworking attitude, but today American Jews are the most wealthy and happy group.

I was researching was the overall trend for success by religious groups in the US, and what I found was that Jews are the most successful religious group in the US. As defined, "success is doing anything well, excelling at something" (The School of Life). Jews in America are the most successful out of any religious group at earning money and happiness. Monetary possessions are highly valued in today's society, and you can buy nearly anything with money, while happiness is something everyone in the world hopes to obtain. Since Jews have both the greatest amount of money and happiness, they are the most successful religion today.

