List of U.S. states and territories by religiosity

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
  ≥50% attending weekly
  45-49% attending weekly
  40-44% attending weekly
  35-39% attending weekly
  30-34% attending weekly
  25-29% attending weekly
  20-24% attending weekly
  15-19% attending weekly

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]

U.S. states and D.C.
Percentage of respondents in the USA stating that religion is "very important" or "somewhat important" to their lives, 2014[9]

The table below displays the results of a 2017 survey by Pew Research:[10]

State
or District		 Overall Religiosity Rank Believe in God with Certainty Consider Religion Important Pray Daily Attend Weekly Worship Services
 California 35 54% 47% 51% 31%
 Texas 11 69% 63% 63% 42%
 Florida 22 64% 53% 56% 35%
 New York 43 56% 45% 48% 29%
 Illinois 33 61% 50% 51% 34%
 Pennsylvania 27 61% 51% 54% 34%
 Ohio 17 67% 56% 57% 38%
 Georgia 8 74% 64% 64% 42%
 Michigan 27 63% 50% 53% 33%
 North Carolina 10 73% 62% 66% 39%
 New Jersey 19 60% 50% 53% 35%
 Virginia 14 67% 60% 60% 44%
 Washington 44 55% 44% 46% 30%
 Massachusetts 50 40% 33% 37% 23%
 Arizona 27 62% 51% 55% 34%
 Indiana 22 63% 53% 52% 37%
 Tennessee 3 78% 71% 70% 51%
 Missouri 15 70% 56% 59% 37%
 Maryland 22 64% 50% 51% 31%
 Wisconsin 44 56% 44% 46% 27%
 Minnesota 35 56% 46% 47% 34%
 Colorado 41 55% 47% 50% 30%
 South Carolina 5 74% 69% 66% 47%
 Alabama 1 82% 77% 73% 51%
 Louisiana 4 75% 71% 68% 46%
 Kentucky 13 75% 63% 63% 39%
 Oregon 39 57% 45% 45% 29%
 Oklahoma 8 71% 64% 65% 43%
 Connecticut 47 54% 42% 47% 28%
 Iowa 19 66% 53% 50% 36%
 Mississippi 1 82% 74% 75% 49%
 Arkansas 5 77% 70% 65% 41%
 Utah 11 61% 58% 61% 53%
 Kansas 19 66% 50% 53% 37%
 Nevada 35 59% 44% 48% 31%
 New Mexico 18 63% 59% 55% 36%
 Nebraska 22 66% 54% 52% 39%
 West Virginia 7 77% 64% 68% 46%
 Idaho 33 62% 51% 50% 35%
 Hawaii 41 62% 44% 52% 28%
 Maine 48 48% 34% 35% 22%
 New Hampshire 50 43% 33% 36% 22%
 Rhode Island 35 60% 48% 48% 36%
 Montana 39 64% 44% 51% 31%
 Delaware 32 61% 46% 49% 34%
 South Dakota 16 69% 57% 56% 36%
 Alaska 44 55% 41% 49% 30%
 North Dakota 27 64% 53% 51% 33%
 District of Columbia 27 55% 50% 51% 28%
 Vermont 48 41% 32% 33% 21%
 Wyoming 22 66% 49% 53% 38%

U.S. territories

Below is the status of religious adherents in the U.S. territories in 2015.[11]

Territory Percent religious
(all religions)		 Percent Christian Percent non-Christian
religious		 Percent non-religious
 American Samoa 99.1% 87.4% 11.7% 0.9%
 Guam 95.4% 91.1% 4.3% 1.8%
 Northern Mariana Islands 98.8% 81.1% 17.7% 1.1%
 Puerto Rico 92.2% 91.2% 0.3% 3.2%
 U.S. Virgin Islands 83.3% 81.8% 1.5% 4%

See also

References
  1. 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. 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. 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. 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. Archived from the original on 2012-05-23. 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. Importance of religion by state Pew forum
  10. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/29/how-religious-is-your-state/
  11. http://thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_5_2.asp
    http://thearda.com/internationalData/compare2.asp?c=97
    http://thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_169_2.asp
    http://thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_182_2.asp
    http://thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_240_2.asp
    thearda.com. The ARDA (Association of Religion Data Archives). American Samoa / Guam / Northern Mariana Islands / Puerto Rico / Virgin Islands (U.S.) Retrieved July 6, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.