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Rankings · Place
Share of residents on a religious body’s rolls.
This measure has no better end. The order describes the states, it does not rank them — see the other direction.
Adherents reported by the 372 religious bodies that took part in the 2020 US Religion Census, as a share of population. Adherents means members, their children and others who participate — broader than membership, narrower than belief. Read the gap carefully: those bodies account for 48.6% of the US population nationally, so the remainder are not counted as irreligious. They are people whose tradition did not take part, who attend somewhere that keeps no rolls, or who believe without belonging. A county at 35% has 35% on a participating body’s rolls and this says nothing at all about the other 65%. The profile also lists the five largest reported bodies, not a measure of belief or attendance. Some totals are estimated where a body could not supply county detail, and a few counties exceed 100% because bodies report where a congregation sits rather than where its members sleep; those are capped.
Utah has the highest published religious adherence in this comparison, at 73.2%. The next states shown are Alabama (63.4%) and Louisiana (63.2%).
The table orders 50 states by share of residents on a religious body’s rolls. It describes one published measure, not an overall judgment about where to live.
Use the result as a starting point, then compare the underlying source, dates, and local county figures before making a decision. Adherents reported by the 372 religious bodies that took part in the 2020 US Religion Census, as a share of population. Adherents means members, their children and others who participate — broader than membership, narrower than belief. Read the gap carefully: those bodies account for 48.6% of the US population nationally, so the remainder are not counted as irreligious. They are people whose tradition did not take part, who attend somewhere that keeps no rolls, or who believe without belonging. A county at 35% has 35% on a participating body’s rolls and this says nothing at all about the other 65%. The profile also lists the five largest reported bodies, not a measure of belief or attendance. Some totals are estimated where a body could not supply county detail, and a few counties exceed 100% because bodies report where a congregation sits rather than where its members sleep; those are capped.
Not ranked, because this measure is not published for them: Connecticut.
Free to use. The chart names its source and links back, so it stays honest wherever it ends up.
<iframe src="https://movermath.com/embed/religious-adherence" width="100%" height="420" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Share of residents on a religious body’s rolls by state"></iframe>Source: 2020 US Religion Census (ASARB). · How this is built