Most Religious States

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom to practice any religion or none at all, and this fundamental right remains a cornerstone of American values. Nationally, 68% of adults consider religion to be either moderately or very important in their lives. Given its importance, understanding the best places for religious inclusivity can be key to finding your community.

To highlight the states that care the most about religion and the ones where it is less important, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states based on 11 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of adults who consider religion very important in their lives to the places of worship per capita to the religion-related careers per capita.

If religion is important to you, but you do not have a religious community or organization to donate to, consider checking out our picks for the Best Charities for Faith & Religious Support in 2024.

• Main Findings
• Methodology

Main Findings

Most Religious States

Overall Rank*	State	Total Score	Religious Interest & Places of Worship Rank	Religious Education & Careers Rank	Religion-Affiliated Organizations Rank
1	Alabama	64.50	1	5	13
2	Virginia	61.97	16	1	11
3	Texas	61.44	2	42	1
4	Tennessee	58.95	6	20	7
5	North Carolina	58.74	9	21	3
6	South Carolina	56.97	7	12	16
7	Indiana	53.09	17	7	12
8	Pennsylvania	53.02	22	11	6
9	Georgia	52.76	8	37	8
10	New York	51.33	27	13	4
11	Missouri	51.24	13	18	14
12	California	51.24	18	29	2
13	Arkansas	50.54	5	25	24
14	Minnesota	50.49	30	3	17
15	Illinois	50.36	21	17	10
16	Oklahoma	50.27	10	26	18
17	Mississippi	49.97	4	28	28
18	Ohio	49.70	20	19	9
19	Florida	48.91	15	30	5
20	Kentucky	48.73	14	15	23
21	Louisiana	44.18	12	40	29
22	Michigan	44.10	28	23	15
23	South Dakota	43.04	11	32	35
24	Iowa	42.82	29	16	26
25	Nebraska	41.18	24	22	31
26	Maryland	40.17	25	35	21
27	Utah	38.46	3	50	50
28	Wisconsin	36.49	33	27	25
29	Kansas	35.87	23	46	27
30	New Jersey	35.72	34	34	19
31	West Virginia	35.10	32	24	34
32	Idaho	32.87	19	44	40
33	Colorado	32.72	38	36	20
34	Oregon	31.99	42	14	30
35	Washington	31.41	39	31	22
36	Montana	31.32	40	10	36
37	North Dakota	31.05	26	43	39
38	New Mexico	30.11	31	45	38
39	Arizona	29.12	36	38	32
40	Hawaii	27.83	45	4	43
41	Connecticut	27.25	41	6	37
42	Wyoming	26.77	35	39	44
43	Rhode Island	24.72	47	2	48
44	Delaware	24.64	37	49	41
45	Massachusetts	23.33	43	33	33
46	Alaska	22.22	44	8	42
47	Vermont	20.63	49	9	49
48	Nevada	15.41	46	47	45
49	New Hampshire	12.39	48	48	46
50	Maine	9.61	50	41	47

Notes: *No. 1 = Best

With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

 

Methodology

In order to determine the most religious states, SmileHub compared the 50 states across three key dimensions: 1) Religious Interest & Places of Worship, 2) Religious Education & Careers and 3) Religion-Affiliated Organizations.

We evaluated those dimensions using 11 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of religiousness. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for population differences across states.

We then determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

Religious Interest & Places of Worship - Total Points: 50

• Share of Adults Who Consider Religion Very Important in Their Lives: Triple Weight (~15.00 Points)
• Share of Adherents: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: Adherents may include all those with an affiliation to a congregation (children, members, and attendees who are not members).
• Share of People Who Attend Religious Services at Least Once a Week: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)
• Congregations per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: Congregations may be churches, mosques, temples, or other meeting places. A congregation may generally be defined as a group of people who meet regularly (typically weekly or monthly) at a pre-announced time and location.
• Places of Worship per Capita*: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)
• Google Search Interest Index for Faith and Religion Terms: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This composed metric includes the search interest index for the terms: "religion", "prayer", "faith", "church", "mosque" and "temple".

Religious Education & Careers - Total Points: 30

• Religious Studies Degrees Awarded per Capita: Full Weight (~10.00 Points)
  Note: A program that focuses on the nature of religious belief and specific religious and quasi-religious systems. Includes instruction in phenomenology; the sociology, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, literature and art of religion; mythology; scriptural and textual studies; religious history and politics; and specific studies of particular faith communities and their behavior.
• Religious and Sacred Music Degrees Awarded per Capita: Full Weight (~10.00 Points)
  Note: A program that focuses on the history, theory, composition, and performance of music for religious or sacred purposes, and that prepares individuals for religious musical vocations such as choir directors, cantors, organists, and chanters.
• Share of Religion-Related Careers: Full Weight (~10.00 Points)

Religion-Affiliated Organizations - Total Points: 20

• Faith and Religious Support Charities per Capita*: Full Weight (~10.00 Points)
• Religious Establishments per Capita*: Full Weight (~10.00 Points)
  Note: This metric includes: churches, religious temples, monasteries and other establishments primarily engaged in administering or promoting religious activities (schools, radio and television stations, publishing houses and used merchandise stores that are operated by religious organizations).

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from U.S. Census Bureau, Gallup, U.S. Religion Census, The Public Religion Research Institute American Values Atlas, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Geospatial Management Office, Google Trends, DataUSA, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Internal Revenue Service.