Photo Gallery: The most religious U.S. metropolitan areas

A 2012 Gallup survey lists the most religious of 189 U.S. metropolitan areas.

Click any image below to view photo slideshow.

#12 – Hickory – Lenoir – Morganton, North Carolina (54% very religious) – Photo of the Carolina Theater. Photo courtesy lumierefi via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/7pspj1)
#11 – Baton Rouge, Louisiana (54% very religious) – Photo of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Photo courtesy Ken Lund via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/6Z6tF3)
#10 – Little Rock, North Little Rock and Conway, Arkansas (54% very religious) – Photo of Quapaw Quarter, Little Rock Arkansas. This was the house used in the television show “Designing Women”. Photo courtesy L. Allen Brewer via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/EpgWt)
#9 – Ogden-Clearfield, Utah (55% very religious) – Photo of Centerville, Utah on Parrish Lane looking West. Centerville is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Photo courtesy 5of7 via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/bvZv2b)
#8 – Augusta – Richmond County, Georgia – South Carolina (55 % very religious) – Photo of Augusta, Georgia (2013). Photo courtesy Design Feast via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/dNv1RE)
#7 – Greenville – Mauldin – Easley, South Carolina (55% very religious) – Photo of the back side of the entrance arch to Historic Springwood Cemetery in Greenville, South Carolina. Photo courtesy change-of-venue via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/26C8fH)
#6 – Holland – Grand Haven, Michigan (55% very religious) – Photo of Windmill Restaurant in Holland, Michigan. Photo courtesy Michigan Municipal League via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/8kZ87V)
#5 – Huntsville, Alabama (55% very religious) – Photo of Big Spring Park in Huntsville, Alabama. Photo courtesy Maggie Hammond via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/aq5E3)
#4 – Birmingham – Hoover, Alabama (56% very religious) – Photo of Birmingham, Alabama. Photo courtesy Ken Lund via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/ajPwvM)
#3 – Jackson, Mississippi (64% very religious) – Photo of the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi. Photo courtesy Ken Lund via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/6ZskSp)
#2 – Montgomery, Alabama (64% very religious) – Photo of a statue of Hank Williams in Montgomery, Alabama. Photo courtesy Tim Parkinson via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/8nLgTR)
#1 – Provo – Orem, Utah (77% very religious) – Photo of Mt. Timpanogos LDS Temple, American Fork, Utah. American Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range, north of Utah Lake. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. Photo courtesy Ken Lund via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/7aMyNs)

From the press release:

The most and least religious cities generally reflect the religiousness of the state in which they are located, although there are some interesting exceptions. Utah, for example, is one of the nation’s most religious states, and two Utah cities — Provo and Ogden — are indeed among the most religious cities in the nation. But Utah’s largest metro area, Salt Lake City, is significantly lower on the religiousness list (47% very religious) than the other two Utah cities. This most likely reflects Salt Lake City residents’ more urban, less Mormon nature compared with other Utah metro areas. And, although Michigan as a state has below-average religiousness, that state’s Holland-Grand Haven metro area is tied as the nation’s fifth most religious.

Specific data on religious service attendance — one of the two components of the religiousness index — highlight stark behavioral differences between the two cities at the extreme ends of the religiousness distribution. Seventy-seven percent of Provo residents say they attend church weekly or nearly weekly, while 18% say they seldom or never attend. Residents of the Burlington area represent nearly a mirror image, with 18% saying they attend church weekly or nearly every week, and 76% saying they seldom or never attend.

The 77% level of frequent church attendance among residents of Provo is clearly exceptional; 63% of residents in Montgomery, Ala., second on the church attendance list, say they attend church on a weekly or nearly weekly basis.

5 Comments

  2. Secular Coalition’s Morning Read for April 3, 2013 | Secular News Daily

    [...] Photo Gallery: The most religious U.S. metropolitan areas The most and least religious cities generally reflect the religiousness of the state in which they are located, although there are some interesting exceptions. Utah, for example, is one of the nation’s most religious states, and two Utah cities — Provo and Ogden — are indeed among the most religious cities in the nation. But Utah’s largest metro area, Salt Lake City, is significantly lower on the religiousness list (47% very religious) than the other two Utah cities. This most likely reflects Salt Lake City residents’ more urban, less Mormon nature compared with other Utah metro areas. And, although Michigan as a state has below-average religiousness, that state’s Holland-Grand Haven metro area is tied as the nation’s fifth most religious. [...]

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  3. Gea

    It would be interesting to see whether “religiousity” (whichever way you define it) has anything to do with out of marriage born babies (45% white and 75% of black babies born out of wedlock nationwhide) or with the percentage of people on Welfare and food stamps…Also, crime correlations may be interesting and so do few incidence. Could church attendance and other manifestations of religiousity prevent social ills?

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