The South lived up to its Bible Belt label, holding nearly all of the top 10 most religious states, according to a new Gallup survey revealing the most and least religious U.S. states.
The results are based on telephone interviews conducted between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2012, with a random sample of more than 348,000 adults, ages 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Read full story on the most and least religious U.S. states.
- Mississippi: 58 percent are very religious
- Utah: 56 percent
- Alabama: 56 percent
- Louisiana: 53 percent
- Arkansas: 52 percent
- South Carolina: 52 percent
- Tennessee: 50 percent
- North Carolina: 50 percent
- Georgia: 48 percent
- Oklahoma: 48 percent
- Texas: 47 percent
- South Dakota: 46 percent
- Kentucky: 45 percent
- Idaho: 45 percent
- Nebraska: 44 percent
- New Mexico: 43 percent
- Indiana: 43 percent
- Missouri: 42 percent
- West Virginia: 42 percent
- North Dakota: 42 percent
- Virginia: 41 percent
- Iowa: 41 percent
- Pennsylvania: 40 percent
- Ohio: 38 percent
- Minnesota: 38 percent
- Illinois: 38 percent
- Florida: 38 percent
- Maryland: 37 percent
- Wisconsin: 37 percent
- Michigan: 37 percent
- Arizona: 37 percent
- New Jersey: 35 percent
- Delaware: 35 percent
- California: 35 percent
- Montana: 34 percent
- Colorado: 34 percent
- Wyoming: 33 percent
- New York: 32 percent
- Hawaii: 33 percent
- Nevada (tie): 31 percent
- Hawaii (tie): 31 percent
- Alaska (tie): 31 percent
- Connecticut (tie): 31 percent
- Washington (tie): 31 percent
- District of Columbia: 30 percent
- Rhode Island: 29 percent
- Oregon: 29 percent
- Massachusetts: 27 percent
- Maine: 24 percent
- New Hampshire: 23 percent
- Vermont: 19 percent are very religious
Individuals who indicated that religion is an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week were classified as "very religious" by Gallup officials.
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