Utah is the ‘most religious’ state, according to new study

Derick Fox
·2 min read
16

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Beehive State has the largest share of religious adherents out of every other state in the nation, according to new research from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah.

The 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%.

The report used data from the U.S. Religion Census and described an “adherent” as including all people attending a religious congregation during the time of the study.

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It’s no surprise 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.

“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 did note 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.

“Rich County, for example, had over 100% adherents as a share of their population,” the report said. “This is likely due to Rich County’s small population relative to the large amounts of travelers attending worship services.”

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.

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