Married, happy and rich: That's Hindus in US

Silicon Valley: Hindus in the US are better educated, most likely to be married and earn more than the members of most other faiths, reveals a new survey.

Nearly half (48 per cent) of Hindus in the country have obtained post-graduate education, compared with only 11 per cent of the adult population overall, according to the extensive survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Jews were the next highest with 35 per cent of the population with post-graduate degree.

The survey based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans aged 18 and more, also shows that Hindus and Jews are more likely than other groups to report high income levels, with 46 per cent of Jews earning more than $100,000 a year and 43 per cent of Hindus earning above $100,000.

In the overall US population, only 18 per cent of the adult population earn $100,000-plus a year.

The survey finds that Hindus and Mormons are the most likely to be married, with 78 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively, and to be married to someone of the same religion, with 90 per cent and 83 per cent, respectively.

Mormons and Muslims are the groups with the largest families; more than one-in-five Mormon and 15 per cent of Muslim adults in the US have three or more children living at home.

In comparison only 3 per cent of the Hindu population has more than three or more kids.

The national survey conducted in English and Spanish also shows that although the country is overwhelmingly Christian, just 51 percent of Americans are Protestant compared with two-thirds in 1980s.

In other words, America is on the verge of no longer being a majority Protestant country. It also showed that more than a quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood in favour of another religion or no religion, and that 16.1 percent of adults say they are not affiliated with any faith.

"People will be surprised by the amount of movement by Americans from one religious group to another – or to no religion at all," Director of the Pew Forum, Luis Lugo said.

"They'll also be surprised by the extent to which immigration is helping to reshape the US religious landscape,” he added.