Expand / Collapse search
☰

Map: The most religious US states in 2024, according to report

By Kelly Hayes
Published  August 6, 2024 7:06am PDT
Religion
KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco
article

FILE - The morning sun rises behind a stone cross atop The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, commonly known as Saint Francis Cathedral, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Expand

Depending on where you live, faith might play a larger or lesser role in the community. A new report ranks the U.S. states that care the most about religion, and the ones where it’s less important. 

Previous research has found that about three in four Americans identify with a specific religious faith, and 45% of Americans say religion is "very important" in their life – with another 26% saying it’s "fairly important" and 28% saying it's "not very important."

The new ranking of all 50 states, published on Tuesday by SmileHub, considered several key factors – including the share of adults who consider religion very important in their lives to the places of worship per capita and religion-related careers per capita.

SmileHub, a nonprofit that uses data to rate charities online, also evaluated the number of people who said they attend religious services at least once a week, Google search interest for faith and religious terms, and religious studies degrees per capita.

Each metric was graded with different weights, and the population differences were also considered across states in the ranking, according to SmileHub. 

Among the sources for the data were the U.S. Census Bureau, Gallup, the U.S. Religion Census, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the IRS, the report said.

Most religious states, ranked

Many states in the South earned higher rankings on the religion scale, while several states in the Northeast landed at the bottom.

Alabama was deemed to be the most religious state, earning the No. 1 spot, followed by Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. 

RELATED: 'In God We Trust': A history of our national motto

On the other end, Maine was ranked No. 50 as the least religious state. Vermont, Nevada, and New Hampshire also landed at the bottom, according to SmileHub’s report.

Here's the full ranking from the report:

  1. Alabama
  2. Virginia
  3. Texas
  4. Tennessee
  5. North Carolina
  6. South Carolina
  7. Indiana
  8. Pennsylvania
  9. Georgia
  10. New York
  11. Missouri
  12. California
  13. Arkansas
  14. Minnesota
  15. Illinois
  16. Oklahoma
  17. Mississippi
  18. Ohio
  19. Florida
  20. Kentucky
  21. Louisiana
  22. Michigan
  23. South Dakota
  24. Iowa
  25. Nebraska
  26. Maryland
  27. Utah
  28. Wisconsin
  29. Kansas
  30. New Jersey
  31. West Virginia
  32. Idaho
  33. Colorado
  34. Oregon
  35. Washington
  36. Montana
  37. North Dakota
  38. New Mexico
  39. Arizona
  40. Hawaii
  41. Connecticut
  42. Wyoming
  43. Rhode Island
  44. Delaware
  45. Massachusetts
  46. Alaska
  47. Vermont
  48. Nevada
  49. New Hampshire
  50. Maine

This story was reported from Cincinnati.