List of U.S. states and territories by religiosity

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The degree of religiosity in the population of the United States can be compared to that in other countries and compared state-by-state, based on individual self-assessment and polling data.

Methodologies

The Gallup Poll assesses religiosity around the world,[1] asking "Is religion important in your daily life?" and in the United States by state, asking the degree to which respondents consider themselves to be religious. The Pew Research Center and Public Religion Research Institute have conducted studies of reported frequency of attendance to religious service.[2] The Harris Poll has conducted surveys of the percentage of people who believe in God.[3]

Results

Church or synagogue attendance by state in 2009.

In a 2009 Gallup International survey, 41.6% of American citizens said that they attended church or synagogue once a week or almost every week. This percentage is higher than other surveyed Western countries.[4][5] In answering, "Is religion important in your daily life," the Gallup organization reported a U.S. response of 65% reporting yes, compared to the United Kingdom with a 27% affirmative response.[1] Church attendance varies considerably by state and region. The figures ranged from 63% in Mississippi to 23% in Vermont. The most religious region of the United States is American Samoa (99.3% religious).[6]

Gallup measure of religiosity by country in 2009[1]
Country Religiosity
Philippines Very High
South Africa High
United States Medium High
Canada Medium
Germany Medium
Australia Medium
France Low
United Kingdom Low
Hong Kong Low
Japan Low
Sweden Low

A 2013 survey reported that 31% Americans attend religious services at least weekly. It was conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute with a margin of error of 2.5.[2] In 2006, a world-wide online Harris Poll surveyed 2,010 U.S. adults[7] and found that 26% of those surveyed attended religious services "every week or more often", 9% went "once or twice a month", 21% went "a few times a year", 3% went "once a year", 22% went "less than once a year", and 18% never attend religious services. A 2013 Harris Poll reported an 8% decline in a belief in God, since a prior 2009 poll.[3]

According to a 2011 Gallup poll, the state with the greatest percentage of respondents identifying as "very religious" was Mississippi (59%), and the state with the smallest percentage were Vermont and New Hampshire (23%), while Florida (39%) and Minnesota (40%) were near the median.[8] A 2014 Pew Research poll found that the states with the greatest percentage of respondents who stated that religion was "very important" or "somewhat important" to their lives were Alabama (90%) and Louisiana (90%), which the state with smallest percentage was Vermont (57%).[9]

The third column below is the percentage reporting that religion is "very important" or "somewhat important" to their lives by U.S. state in 2014.[9] The fourth and fifth columns below are 2014 results from a separate study[10] Data for territories is from 2010.[11][12][6][13][14][15]

Percentage of respondents in the USA stating that religion is "very important" or "somewhat important" to their lives, 2014[9]
State, Territory,
or District 		Rank by population
 Percentage stating that religion is "very important" or "somewhat important" Rank by religiosity (2014)[A] Percent Religious, 2014[10][A]
 California 1 73% 45 73%
 Texas 2 86% 13 82%
 Florida 3 78% 36 76%
 New York 4 72% 43 73%
 Illinois 5 77% 30 78%
 Pennsylvania 6 77% 26 79%
 Ohio 7 81% 32 78%
 Georgia 8 84% 11 82%
 Michigan 9 77% 37 76%
 North Carolina 10 84% 19 80%
 New Jersey 11 78% 16 82%
 Virginia 12 81% 23 80%
 Washington 13 67% 54 68%
 Massachusetts 14 63% 53 68%
 Arizona 15 75% 44 73%
 Indiana 16 78% 40 74%
 Tennessee 17 89% 9 86%
 Missouri 18 82% 22 80%
 Maryland 19 75% 33 77%
 Wisconsin 20 75% 39 75%
 Minnesota 21 74% 21 80%
 Colorado 22 75% 48 71%
 Alabama 23 90% 6 88%
 South Carolina 24 85% 17 81%
 Louisiana 25 90% 7 87%
 Kentucky 26 86% 29 78%
 Oregon 27 70% 50 69%
 Oklahoma 28 87% 12 82%
 Connecticut 29 69% 34 77%
 Puerto Rico 30 — 4 98.1%[14]
 Iowa 31 79% 27 79%
 Mississippi 32 89% 8 86%
 Arkansas 33 86% 10 82%
 Utah 34 73% 31 78%
 Kansas 35 79% 20 80%
 Nevada 36 73% 47 72%
 New Mexico 37 79% 28 79%
 Nebraska 38 79% 24 80%
 West Virginia 39 86% 15 82%
 Idaho 40 76% 46 73%
 Hawaii 41 76% 41 74%
 Maine 42 63% 51 69%
 New Hampshire 43 60% 55 64%
 Rhode Island 44 73% 25 80%
 Montana 45 69% 49 70%
 Delaware 46 77% 35 77%
 South Dakota 47 81% 14 82%
 Alaska 48 70% 52 69%
 North Dakota 49 76% 18 80%
 District of Columbia 50 — 38 76%
 Vermont 51 57% 56 63%
 Wyoming 52 77% 42 74%
 Guam 53 — 3 98.3%[12]
 US Virgin Islands 54 — 5 96.3%[11]
 Northern Mariana Islands 55 — 2 99%[15]
 American Samoa 56 — 1 99.3%[6][13]

Notes

A. ^ Data for territories of the United States is from 2010.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Truss, Catherine; Alfes, Kerstin; Delbridge, Rick; Shantz, Amanda; Routledge, Emma Soane (October 2013), "Employee engagement across cultures", Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Business & Economics, p. 336
  2. ^ a b Kaleem, Jaweed (May 20, 2014). "Americans Exaggerate How Much They Go To Religious Services, According To Study". Religion. The Huffington Pos. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
  3. ^ a b Willett, Megan (December 17, 2013). "A Fascinating New Poll Shows That Americans Are Losing Faith In God". Business Insider Inc. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
  4. ^ "'One in 10' attends church weekly". BBC News. April 3, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  5. ^ Public Affairs (February 28, 2004). "NCLS releases latest estimates of church attendance". Media release. National Church Life Survey. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
  6. ^ a b c CIA World Factbook. American Samoa. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Religious Views and Beliefs Vary Greatly by Country, According to the Latest Financial Times/Harris Poll". Harrisinteractive.com. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
  8. ^ Newport, Frank. "Mississippi Is Most Religious U.S. State Vermont and New Hampshire are the least religious states". gallup.com/poll. Gallup. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. ^ a b c Importance of religion by state Pew forum
  10. ^ a b (America's Changing Religious Landscape). May 12, 2015.
    America's Changing Religious Landscape. Pewforum.org and Pewresearch.org. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  11. ^ a b Globalreligiousfutures.org. U.S. Virgin Islands (2010). Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  12. ^ a b Globalreligiousfutures.org. Guam (2010).
  13. ^ a b Globalreligiousfutures.org. American Samoa (2010). Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  14. ^ a b Global Religious Futures. Puerto Rico (2010). Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  15. ^ a b Globalreligiousfutures.org. Northern Mariana Islands (2010). Retrieved 9 January 2018.

External links

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