The Most Religious US State Is ...

Man praying — (Image credit: Image via Shutterstock)

Once again, Mississippi reigns as the most religious U.S. state, with 61 percent of its residents classified as "very religious," according to the results of a Gallup survey released Monday (Feb. 3).

In contrast, only 22 percent of people in Vermont ranked just as devout, and the Green Mountain state held onto its title as "least religious."

Overall, about 41 percent of Americans indicated that they are "very religious," meaning that religion is an important part of their daily lives and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week. Some 29 percent were classified as nonreligious, because they did not attend services and didn't cite religion as an important part of their daily life. Another 29 percent fell somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, and were labeled as "moderately religious."

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For the most part, the rankings have remained largely unchanged since Gallup first started tracking religiosity in 2008. The most religious states still tend to be clustered in the South, though Utah — with its large population of Mormons, typically the most religious of any denomination — stands out as an exception and ranks No. 2 in religiosity, according to Gallup. Meanwhile, the least religious states are mostly found in New England, the Pacific Northwest and other states in the West.

Megan has been writing for Live Science and Space.com since 2012. Her interests range from archaeology to space exploration, and she has a bachelor's degree in English and art history from New York University. Megan spent two years as a reporter on the national desk at NewsCore. She has watched dinosaur auctions, witnessed rocket launches, licked ancient pottery sherds in Cyprus and flown in zero gravity. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.