• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Sermons
  • About
  • Contact

So What Faith

Greg Smith

  • Books
  • Discipleship
  • Social Media
  • Leadership
  • Trends
  • Prayer

Top Religions by State (#1606)

2016/01/22 By Greg

Top American Religions

There are many ways to look at America’s top religions.

The Public Religion Research Institute’s new American Values Atlas offers a helpful way to consider the religious makeup of the United States on both a national and state level.

National Perspective

As a whole the top three religions in our country are

  • Catholic – 22%
  • Religiously unaffiliated – 22%
  • White Evangelical Protestants – 18%.

Personal Experience

I have spent my life in Texas and Florida.  The largest religion in both of these states is Catholicism.  In rank order the leaders for each state are

Texas

  • Catholic – 25%
  • White Evangelical Protestants – 19%
  • Religiously unaffiliated – 18%

Florida

  • Catholic – 22%
  • Religiously unaffiliated – 21%
  • White Evangelical Protestants – 17%.

The Disappearing Mainline

I have lived in two of the seventeen states in which Catholicism is the most popular religion.  While Catholics are the top religion in more states than any other religion, White Evangelical Protestants are not far behind (15 states – mostly Southern).  The religiously unaffiliated rank third (13 states – mostly in the Pacific Northwest or the Northeast).  The final groups to be the largest in any state are Mainline Protestant (2 states -North Dakota and Iowa) and Mormon (1 state – Utah).

As a lifelong Mainline Protestant I immediately noticed how far from main-anything my tradition has become.  We have clearly moved from Mainline to Sideline some time ago.  In addition to ranking first in just two states, we rank second in only five more (South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Arkansas.

So What?

Despite all of the stories about the rise of the religiously unaffiliated, America remains a very religious country.  The religion of choice for the vast majority of Americans is Christianity. No other world religion ranks among the top three religions practiced in any state in the United States.

  • What are the top three religions in your state?
  • Where does your religion rank on your state’s list? How has its relative position (at or near the top vs at or near the bottom of the list) impacted your experience.
  • How do you expect the numbers to shift in your state over the next 10 years? What are some of the factors you think will have the greatest impact on such changes?

Note: While the largest Protestant subgroup is smaller than Catholicism, all Protestant groups combined remain larger than Catholicism.

Fun fact: Utah is the only state to have a top religion adhered to by more than half of the population.

 

Primary Sidebar

Greg Smith

Greg is a follower of the Way of Jesus who strives to make the world a better place for all people. Currently, he serves as Chief Executive Officer of White Rock Center of Hope and as Interim Senior Pastor of Advent Lutheran Church. He has served ten congregations, taught religion to undergraduates for eight years, and helped three organizations provide quality healthcare to underserved populations. (Read More)

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Are You Part of the 42%? (#2223)
  • Growing for the Future (#2222)
  • Great New Books for May 2025 (#2221)
  • Living with Eyes Wide Open (#2220)
  • Leading Well Starts Here (#2219)

Tags

Advent Lutheran Church Bible blogging Catholic change Christian Christianity church COVID-19 Dallas decline Diana Butler Bass discipleship education ELCA Episcopal Evangelical facebook faith Jesus Leadership love mainline Mainline Protestant marcus borg membership Ministry Naples United Church of Christ ordination pastor PCUSA Pew Research Center Prayer preaching Presbyterian Protestant religion Scot McKnight social media technology theology twitter United Church of Christ United Methodist worship

Copyright © 2025 ยท So What Faith, a member of The Faith Growth Digital Ministry Network