ABSTRACT
Since 1990, the organized American Jewish community has completed two National Jewish Population Studies (NJPS 1990 and NJPS 2000) and more than 50 local Jewish community studies. The major purpose of these studies is to provide guidance nationally and locally to Jewish federations, synagogues, and other Jewish organizations about the size and geographic distribution of the Jewish population, its demography and religiosity, membership patterns, levels of Jewish education, social service needs, media usage, levels of philanthropic donations, and other topics. These local Jewish community studies, taken as a group, report that American Jews are aging, well educated, generally of high income, and highly assimilated, with large percentages not being affiliated with the community in any way.1
