The List: The Most & Least Religious US States

A new Gallup survey reveals which U.S. states are most and least religious, with the South living up to its Bible Belt label, while other states were less likely to attend religious services.

The results are based on telephone interviews conducted between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2011, with a random sample of 353,492 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: 59 percent are very religious
  • Utah: 57 percent
  • Alabama: 56 percent
  • Louisiana: 54 percent
  • Arkansas: 54 percent
  • South Carolina: 54 percent
  • Tennessee: 52 percent
  • North Carolina: 50 percent
  • Georgia: 48 percent
  • Oklahoma: 48 percent
  • Texas: 47 percent
  • Kentucky: 47 percent
  • South Dakota: 45 percent
  • Indiana: 45 percent
  • Missouri: 44 percent
  • North Dakota: 44 percent
  • Nebraska: 44 percent
  • West Virginia: 43 percent
  • Virginia: 42 percent
  • Idaho: 42 percent
  • New Mexico: 41 percent
  • Iowa: 41 percent
  • Minnesota: 40 percent
  • Pennsylvania: 40 percent
  • Ohio: 39 percent
  • Maryland: 39 percent
  • Florida: 39 percent
  • Illinois: 39 percent
  • Wisconsin: 37 percent
  • Michigan: 37 percent
  • Arizona: 35 percent
  • Montana: 35 percent
  • California: 35 percent
  • Wyoming: 34 percent
  • New Jersey: 34 percent
  • Delaware: 33 percent
  • Colorado: 33 percent
  • Hawaii: 33 percent
  • Rhode Island: 32 percent
  • New York: 32 percent
  • District of Columbia: 32 percent
  • Connecticut: 31 percent
  • Washington: 30 percent
  • Nevada: 30 percent
  • Oregon: 30 percent
  • Alaska: 28 percent
  • Massachusetts: 28 percent
  • Maine: 25 percent
  • Vermont: 23 percent are very religious
  • New Hampshire: 23 percent

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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Jeanna Bryner
Live Science Editor-in-Chief

Jeanna served as editor-in-chief of Live Science. Previously, she was an assistant editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Jeanna has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland, and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.