Mississippi earned the top spot as the most religious state in the union, according to a Gallup poll released today, with 58% of its citizens responding that they were “very religious,” attending services every week or almost every week. It’s the second year in a row the Magnolia State came out on top in Gallup’s poll, and in fact last year’s ten most religious states are the same as this year’s. However, among these devout states — nine Southeast states and Utah — six have become less religious overall and the other four have shown no increase over the prior year. Overall, 40% of Americans claim to be very religious, 29% say they are moderately religious and 31% claim to be nonreligious (ie., say that religion is not an important part of their daily life and that they seldom or never go to church services).
The twelve least religious states on Gallup’s list include Hawaii, Nevada, most of New England and the Pacific Northwest and Washington D.C. Vermont is the least religious state overall, with with just 19% of Vermonters considering themselves very religious. Perhaps surprisingly, the percentage of New Yorkers who considered themselves very religious — 32% remained unchanged from last year, pushing the Empire State out of the ranks of the 10 least religious in favor of the surging secularists of Hawaii.
Below are Gallup’s ten most religious states and dozen least religious states.
The Top Ten Most Religious States (Based on % of Very Religious)
1. Mississippi–58%
2. Utah–56%
2. Alabama–56%
4. Louisiana–53%
5. Arkansas 52%
5. South Carolina–52%
6. Tennessee- 50%
6. North Carolina–50%
7. Georgia–48%
7. Oklahoma–48%
Top Twelve Least Religious States (Based on % of Very Religious)
1. Vermont–19%
2. New Hampshire– 23%
3. Maine–24%
4. Massachusetts–27%
5. Rhode Island–29%
5. Oregon–29%
6. District of Columbia–30%
7. Nevada–31%
7. Hawaii–31%
7. Alaska–31%
7. Connecticut–31%
7. Washington–31%
You can check out the whole list here.