Which states are most religious? The answer depends on what you measure

Ask which part of America is most religious and most people can probably guess the broad answer: the South. Ask what “religious” actually means, though, and things get much more complicated.

Does it mean going to church, praying every day, believing in God without doubt, or saying religion is one of the most important things in your life? Those sound like versions of the same question. They aren’t.

Pew Research Center’s massive 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study surveyed nearly 37,000 adults and compared every state using four separate measures: daily prayer, monthly religious-service attendance, absolute certainty in God or a universal spirit, and whether religion is very important personally.

Put all four together and Mississippi comes out at the top of Pew’s overall religiousness measure, with several other Southern states close behind. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine sit near the other end. But pull those ingredients apart, and the map starts changing.

The South leads—but even there, religiousness isn’t one thing

Regional numbers show how powerful the Southern pattern remains. In the South, 51% of adults say they pray every day, compared with 42% in the Midwest, 39% in the West and 37% in the Northeast.

The gap is even larger when people are asked whether they believe in God or a universal spirit with absolute certainty. In the South, 63% say yes. That falls to 53% in the Midwest, 47% in the West and 46% in the Northeast, according to Pew’s latest regional comparison.

So the traditional Bible Belt remains visible. But that doesn’t mean every state ranks in exactly the same order on prayer, worship and belief.

Going to church is not the same as believing

Nationally, about 44% of American adults pray daily, while only about one-third attend religious services at least monthly. That gap matters.

Millions of people maintain a private religious life without regularly sitting in a church, synagogue, mosque or temple. Others may attend services because of family, community or tradition even if they don’t describe religion as central to their personal lives.

Pew’s research on prayer and other religious practices and religious attendance makes the distinction clear: religious behavior doesn’t come as a single package. That is why a ranking based purely on church attendance can look different from one based on personal prayer.

You may want to read: Why more Americans are leaving church without leaving spirituality behind

Utah is a perfect example of why the measure matters

Utah has one of America’s most distinctive religious cultures because of its large population of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Latter-day Saints are also unusually active religious participants.

Pew’s most recent research finds that 73% of Latter-day Saints nationally pray daily, while roughly seven in 10 say religion is very important in their lives. Among Latter-day Saints living in Utah and the surrounding Mountain states, religious activity is even higher: 79% report daily prayer and 78% call religion very important. Pew’s 2026 analysis of Latter-day Saints also found especially high attendance among members in the Mountain region.

That makes Utah stand out strongly on measures involving active religious participation. But Utah is not simply one giant congregation. The state also includes Catholics, Protestants, people of other faiths, atheists, agnostics and people with no religious affiliation. Depending on what question a survey asks, those groups change Utah’s overall position.

“I belong to a religion” is yet another question

Here’s another reason religious rankings can mislead: belonging to a religion is not the same thing as practicing one intensely. About 74% of adults in the South identify with a religion, according to Pew. So do 69% in the Midwest and 68% in the Northeast.

Yet the Northeast trails the South substantially in daily prayer and certainty of belief. In other words, someone can answer “Catholic,” “Jewish,” “Protestant” or another religion when asked their affiliation while rarely attending services and not thinking about religion very often.

That is not a contradiction. Religious identity can be cultural, familial, ethnic, communal and theological all at once.

New England is less conventionally religious—but not necessarily nonspiritual

States such as Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine consistently land near the bottom when Americans are measured by conventional religious practices. That can create the impression that people there simply don’t believe in much of anything.

Pew’s data says otherwise. Across every state in the country, roughly seven in 10 adults or more say they believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world. Around eight in 10 or more in every state say people have souls or spirits in addition to their physical bodies.

Those findings come from Pew’s separate state-by-state study of spirituality. A state can rank low on organized religious practice without being filled with people who reject spirituality. That distinction is increasingly important in America.

Americans are less religious than they once were—but the decline may be slowing

The longer-term picture is also more complicated than “religion is disappearing.” In 2007, 58% of American adults said they prayed every day. Today, the figure is about 44%.

The share saying religion is very important has also fallen over the long term. Pew’s Religious Landscape Study finds that about 38% now describe religion as very important in their lives.

But much of that decline occurred before the early 2020s. Several measures have recently leveled off rather than continuing to plunge. At the same time, younger Americans are considerably less religious by traditional measures than older adults. That means the religious map could keep changing even if national numbers appear temporarily stable.

You may want to read: Reasons young men are being drawn back to traditional religion

So what is America’s most religious state?

If you want one answer, Pew’s combined measure gives you one. But the more interesting answer is: What kind of religiousness are you asking about?

Mississippi can dominate a broad measure because prayer, belief and religion’s importance are all deeply embedded there. Utah can jump out when active religious participation is emphasized. New England can look deeply secular when church attendance is measured while still containing large numbers of people who hold spiritual beliefs.

The ranking isn’t wrong. It’s the question behind the ranking that matters.

You may want to read: What Christians can learn from atheists about navigating modern life