10 States With A High Population Of Christians

Which states in the United States have the highest population of Christians? There are many factors to consider, especially since the term “Christian” often refers to people of different beliefs. About 41.6% of people across the United States go to church each week. There are many different churches and religious beliefs throughout the United States, from Baptist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Adventist and Catholic. There are many, many other religions and types of churches, but these are the main ones that are generally in research statistics. Beliefs are also very different as you visit different churches and locations through out the United States.

With all of these statistics and the research floating around, I decided to focus on many factors to draw an overall conclusion about which states have high populations of Christians. My goal is absolutely NOT to start advocating that Christians only come from certain states or that Christians from one state are better than Christians from another state. So, let’s have fun as we observe a few facts about Christians in the United States together!

#10 State with High Population of Christians – Arkansas

• 53% of the population attends church each week
• 78% say religion is part of their daily life
• 8 Christian camps and conferences

#9 State with High Population of Christians – South Carolina

• 56% of the population attends church each week
• 80% say religion is part of their daily life
• 7 Christian camps and conferences

#8 State with High Population of Christians – Georgia

• 51% of the population attends church each week
• 76% say religion is part of their daily life
• 16 Christian camps and conferences

#7 State with High Population of Christians – California

• 57% of the population attends church each week
• 57% say religion is part of their daily life
• 76 Christian camps and conferences

#6 State with High Population of Christians – Louisiana

• 56% of the population attends church each week
• 79% say religion is part of their daily life
• 10 Christian camps and conferences

#5 State with High Population of Christians – Tennessee

• 54% of the population attends church each week
• 79% say religion is part of their daily life
• 20 Christian camps and conferences

#4 State with High Population of Christians – Mississippi

• 63% of the population attends church each week
• 85% say religion is part of their daily life
• 9 Christian camps and conferences

#3 State with High Population of Christians – Alabama

• 58% of the population attends church each week
• 82% say religion is part of their daily life
• 18 Christian camps and conferences

#2 State with High Population of Christians – North Carolina

• 53% of the population attends church each week
• 76% say religion is part of their daily life
• 34 Christian camps and conferences

#1 State with High Population of Christians – Texas

• 50% of the population attends church each week
• 74% say religion is part of their daily life
• 73 Christian camps and conferences

Other Interesting Factors

There are so many different figures I wanted to review, but either found incomplete research or figures I knew were not accurate. For example, I know there are many states that have Christian colleges, but the sources I reviewed did not list all of them. When you start looking at each college within a state you notice the number of people who attend the school. Another factor I considered and found inconclusive results for was the number of K-12 Christian schools. Each state has at least one private Christian school, but there is not a conclusive list (that I could find) that listed all schools. Boarding schools were easier to find, but a list of Christian boarding schools did not include all Christian schools. Other figures that would be interesting to consider are the states with the most non-profit Christian organizations, Vacation Bible School programs, total number of churches, highest sales of Bibles and Christian books in general, and the number of pastors / ministers / preachers in each state.

Overall Conclusion

I do not consider this article conclusive of the states with the highest population of Christians, but rather an interesting look at Christian statistics. This is certainly fun to review, but if you consider, say, the 73 Christian camps and conferences in Texas, you assume that people from out of state attend them. Conferences, especially, are very focused and are held for specific groups of people or interests, such as the Family Discipline & Homeschooling Conference. One thing I found interesting is how separate each religion, church and denomination is from one another. Some churches believe their church is the only “right” church and do not want to associate with other churches – even those with similar beliefs! Other churches will associate with those that hold similar beliefs, but will not organize events with other denominations or non-denominational churches. I have seen this happen in every community I have lived in and think about how much God could accomplish if we were open to coming together as ONE body of Christ. If the data from each religion and church were combined, we could see more accurate trends and better assess where our country stands on Biblical issues. How awesome would it be to see church attendance at 100% in every state or more kids attending a faith-based summer camp?

What other factors do you think would be interesting to research?

Resources- photo credit: JeepersMedia via photopin cc