Janet Aronson

The Combined Dataset (CDS) combines data from 29 socio-demographic studies of federated Jewish communities, conducted between 2015-2024 by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University. This CDS includes survey responses from more than 60,000 respondents including information about demographics and household composition; Jewish identity, behaviors, and attitudes; and financial and social service needs.

Although the CDS underlying dataset is not yet publicly available, the authors have created an excel file that reports on key metrics for the dataset as a whole, as well as differences across demographic groups and by community characteristics such as size and region. Individual communities may wish to compare results from their own studies to these national benchmarks. Direct comparisons, that account for recoding to match the variables and subgroups used in this analysis, can be provided to participating communities upon request. CMJS will not share individual community data with other communities.

For inquiries about additional analyses, contact the authors.

The 2024 Northeast Florida Jewish Community Study creates a portrait of the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of the Jewish community in Northeast Florida.  The study is based on an analysis of data collected from 846 eligible households between April and June 2024. We found the community has grown rapidly, with one quarter of all Jewish adults having moved to the area within the previous five years.

Jewish Maine: The 2024 Community Study is the first ever in-depth assessment of the size and characteristics of the Jewish community throughout Maine, and the first study to cover Southern Maine since 2007. The study provides a comprehensive portrait of the state's 19,000 Jews; their families; their Jewish attitudes, affiliations, and behaviors; their health and financial well-being; and other measures of their engagement in Jewish life.

Jewish Miami: A 2024 Community Study provides a snapshot of today’s Jewish population in Miami and considers trends and developments in Jewish life and engagement. This study is based on an analysis of data collected from 2,686 eligible households between February 5 and June 14, 2024. The study found that there are 69,700 Jewish households in the Miami Jewish community. These households include 151,400 individuals, of whom 130,100 are Jewish. The Jewish population comprises 5% of the total Miami-Dade population, and Jewish households make up 8% of all households in Miami-Dade County. Nearly one quarter of Miami Jewish adults have moved to the area in the past decade, and one third of Jewish adults were born outside of the United States. The share of Miami Jews who are Orthodox is 13%, and nearly half of Miami Jewish children (46%) reside in Orthodox households.

The 2024 Greater St. Louis Jewish Community Study creates a portrait of the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of the Jewish community in Greater St. Louis. The study is based on an analysis of data collected from 1,771 eligible households between January and April 2024. We found the community is undergoing both reurbanization and exurbanization, with more than one third of households living in the City of St. Louis or outlying areas, farther away from the longstanding suburban center of institutional life.

The goal of the current study is to develop a typology of engagement among Jewish day school students that reflects the multidimensional nature of Jewish engagement and identity (Hartman, 2014; Horowitz, 2003; Himmelfarb, 1982). This study builds on the Jewish engagement typology (the Index of Jewish Engagement) developed for local Jewish community studies (Aronson et al., 2018) and applies this method to a dataset of over 4,000 Jewish day school students collected as part of the Hearts and Minds study of Israel education (Pomson et al., 2014). Although the focus of Hearts and Minds was on Israel education, the study collected data about many aspects of Jewish life. The present study uses that data to examine Jewish engagement among day school students more broadly. The purpose of this typology is twofold: 1. To identify the characteristics of individual students and of schools that are associated with various patterns of Jewish engagement; 2. To understand the patterns of interests and attitudes among students in order to enable educators to better tailor educational activities for their students.

The 2022-23 Washtenaw County Area Jewish Community Study provides a snapshot of today’s Jewish population in Washtenaw County and considers trends and developments in Jewish life and engagement.  This study is based on an analysis of a rich set of data collected from 955 eligible households between November 2022 and January 2023.  In interpreting the data, it is important to bear in mind the study represents the characteristics and views of community members at that time. During that period, the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic were gradually being lifted. Data were also collected well before the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023 and the ensuing rise in antisemitism in the United States. It is likely that attitudes about Israel, concerns over antisemitism, and other markers of Jewish identity shifted from the time of data collection to the time that this report is being written.

The 2024 Jewish Population Study of Northeastern Pennsylvania is the first ever in-depth assessment of the size and characteristics of the Jewish community of Lackawanna, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne Counties in Pennsylvania. This study offers a comprehensive depiction of the 5,500 Jews in Northeastern Pennsylvania, delving into their families; their Jewish attitudes, behaviors, and affiliations; their health and financial well-being; and measures of their engagement in Jewish life.

Starting in 2020, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation has provided financial support to Federations to collect a standard set of financial related information as part of their community studies. The purpose of standardizing these measures is to facilitate the development of aggregated data across participating communities as well as to support comparisons across individual communities. By aggregating data, the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) can also analyze small groups (such as households experiencing poverty) in cases for which there are insufficient responses in individual studies to support detailed analysis.

The current report presents an analysis of the aggregated data that have been collected as part of this effort. This report includes data from 10 completed CMJS Jewish community studies that collected information as part of the Weinberg grant along with data from two additional community studies that included the Weinberg questions but did not receive the grant. 

Jewish denominations have long been one of the primary lenses used by researchers and communal leaders to view and analyze American Jewish identity and behavior. There are, however, a number of problems with the use of denominational affiliation as an independent variable for understanding contemporary Jewish life. Within denominational groups, there is substantial diversity in individuals’ Jewish behaviors and beliefs. In addition, a growing number of individuals do not identify with a specific denomination. Although, on average, Jewish adults without a denomination are less engaged in Jewish life than those who identify with one of the largest denominations, there is diversity within the no-denomination group as well.
This chapter acknowledges the complexity of denominational identity and provides a data-informed assessment of the degree to which denominational identification continues to be a useful construct to understand the American Jewish experience since 1990. The review is based on reanalysis of national studies and of 25 local Jewish community studies conducted since 2015 by the authors and colleagues at Brandeis University and our research partners. The review begins with a discussion of the denominational identity construct by considering trends in denominational affiliation over time. We then consider the degree to which denominational labels effectively describe Jewish engagement. An alternative, data-driven typology based on self-reported behavior is then applied to identify different groups of Jews to describe engagement. We propose a set of explanations for choosing particular denominational labels. The review concludes with an assessment of the implications of our analyses for understanding how US Jewry identifies and engages with Jewish life.