Story at a glance
- The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah used data from the U.S. Religion Census to determine which state is the most religious.
- The number one state was Utah, with 76.1% of residents adhering to a religion.
- The next highest state was Alabama at 63.6%.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Which U.S. state is the most religious, do you think? Some new research from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah used data from the U.S. Religion Census to determine which state could be considered the most faithful.
Little surprise here: Utah was found to have the largest share of religious adherents out of every other state in the nation. Research found that 76.1% of Utahns adhere to a religious affiliation, which has been steadily increasing over the last decade. The next highest state was Alabama at 63.6%.
FYI: The report described an “adherent” as including all people attending a religious congregation during the time of the study.
It’s no shocker that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the highest amount of adherents, according to the Institute’s findings. The predominant faith reportedly grew by 11.3% from 1,910,504 adherents in 2010 to 2,126,216 in 2020.
Meanwhile, Traditional Temples Hindus, Muslims and the National Baptist Convention had the highest growth rates in Utah. As of 2020, at least 19 religions have 10 or more congregations in the state, according to the study.
“Within the state, Garfield, Rich and Box Elder counties lead in adherents as a percentage of the population,” the report reads. “The two largest counties in Utah by population — Salt Lake County and Utah County — have 67.4% and 89% adherents as a share of the population, respectively.”
The report noted that the timing of the count could have coincided with high travel seasons and tourist areas may include a large number of people who attended a worship service but live outside of the county.
Utah also has the eighth most congregations per 100,000 population of any state, which has steadily grown by 8.3% from 2010 to 2020.
The full report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute can be found here.
Despite earning the title of “most religious” from the University of Utah study, the state recently placed nearly dead last when it comes to being religiously diverse. That’s according to a recent review of U.S. Census data by the Washington Post, which attempted to find which states most closely represented the rest of the U.S. across a variety of categories.
Arizona was the most like the U.S. as a whole in its religious makeup, followed by the states of Pennsylvania (second) and Wisconsin (third). Coming up last in the religious diversity rankings are Utah and Alabama (51st and 50th, respectively), which are described by WaPo as “religiously homogeneous.”