Click through the slideshow to see most and least Mormon states in the United States:
A study measuring religious bodies in the United States called the, “2010 U.S. Religious Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study (RCMS)” was recently released by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The most comprehensive study of its kind, it provides detailed county-by-county information on congregations, members, adherents and attendance for 236 different faiths groups. (The survey differentiates between specific denominations within the same tradition.)
The researchers found Utah to be the most Mormon state with close to 70 percent identifying as Mormon adherents. Nearly one in three Mormons are in the state of Utah. The researchers found the District of Columbia (just the district) to be the least Mormon state with only about 0.07 percent identifying as Mormon adherents.
The researchers define adherents to be those with an affiliation to a congregation including children, members and attendees who are not members, and believe that the adherent measure is the most complete and comparable across religious groups. Congregations are defined as groups of people who meet regularly at a pre-announced time and location.
More than 6.1 million Mormon adherents and 13,601 congregations were reported in 1,873 counties. The largest concentration of Mormons in the United States is in the mountain region of the West where more than 5 percent of the population identified as a Mormon. The smallest concentration of Mormons were found in the Northeast and pockets in the South.
Similarly, the most dense concentration of Mormon congregations is found in the Western region of the country. In stark contrast, the Midwest, most of the South and Northeast reported very few to almost zero congregations.
As the map below shows, compared to the year 2000, most of the West reported minor change in percentage of Mormon adherents. Many regions in the South and Midwest reported major gains in Mormon population in some counties, and major losses in others.
Bibliography:
Grammich, Clifford, Kirk Hadaway, Richard Houseal, Dale E. Jones, Alexei Krindatch, Richie Stanley, and Richard H. Taylor, 2012. 2010 U.S. Religion Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study. Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
Click through to see a list of most and least religious states in the United States as reported by Gallup: