Jewish Community Studies, Mapped

What the studies show

• Two Ways to Count: Five communities commissioned full demographic studies, four of them from Brandeis’s Cohen Center. Seven more released local results from JFNA’s 2025 Community Pulse survey, one shared questionnaire fielded in about 26 communities. Several cohort members, including Atlanta, Detroit and Palm Beach, have not posted results publicly.
• Wanting In: Only 29% of Austin’s Jewish adults feel they belong to a local Jewish community, and 33% in Southern Arizona feel connected. In Washington, 18% are very engaged while 54% want to be more engaged; in Seattle, about half want more.
• Households Outgrow Jews: Boston’s Jewish households hold 333,100 people, about 8% more than in 2015, but about 228,500 of them are Jewish, and 51% of households include someone who isn’t. In Austin, 44% of adults arrived within the past decade.
• Attached, Uneasy: Where asked, 68% to 75% feel attached to Israel, from Pittsburgh and Washington to Milwaukee, Austin and Baltimore. Majorities in Pittsburgh (79%) and Washington (69%) also struggle with the Israeli government’s actions, and the Zionist label splits: 43% to 42% in Milwaukee, and 38% anti-Zionist to 32% Zionist among Bostonians under 30.
• Old and Young: The median Jewish adult is 61 in Milwaukee and 44 in Austin, against 49 nationally. In Southern Arizona, 49% of Jews are 65 or older and 9% are under 35.

National studies

No Canadian city released a local study in this window. These national surveys, including Canada’s, filled in the picture.

• Feb 2026
  U.S. survey on Israel and Zionism
  Jewish Federations of North America

  89% back Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; 35% of Jews aged 18–34 call themselves Zionists.

• Jun 2026
  Jews in smaller communities
  Jewish Federations of North America

  39% in small communities say local police take antisemitism seriously, against 47% in larger ones.

• Jul 2026
  Survey of 1,022 Jewish adults
  AP-NORC

  30% have stopped talking to someone over Israel; 37% of Jews under 45 say Israel has committed genocide.

• Jul 2026
  Canadian Jewish Barometer 2026
  Brym and Lenton, Canadian Jewish Studies

  88% of Canadian Jews feel less safe than five years ago; 26% have seriously considered leaving Canada.

• Aug 2026
  Jewish students on Canadian campuses
  Government of Canada (CASE)

  95.7% experienced or witnessed an antisemitic incident in the past year; 72% limit what they say in class.

All local studies