With Hanukkah and Christmas coming up, we look at religion in America.
Highly religious by state
California is ranked as the 35th most religious state in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center’s religious landscape study. Mississippi, Alabama and other Southern states are among the most highly religious states in the nation, while New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine in New England are among the least.
The Pew Research Center has a state by state breakdown here.
American views
The Pew Research Center study shows that overall, 52 percent of Americans strongly agree that religious faith is very important in their life.
21 percent of Americans somewhat agree that religious faith is very important in their life.
How Americans affiliate
Based on 2016 statistics
Figures in percentage by denomination chart are rounded up.
Religion by county
Non-Christian congregations
Here are the second-most popular faiths in counties in America after Christianity.
You can learn more about these maps at the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
California’s religious landscape
California is ranked the 35th most religious state and tied with Nevada and Minnesota. Here’s a look at the state’s profile.
California has more religious diversity than most states, according to a metric created by the Public Religion Research Institute. The 2016 index is calculated to measure variations in the concentration of global religious populations in states.
The least diverse states were in the South. Mississippi is the least diverse. The states to the right are in order of the most diverse.
You can read more about American’s changing religious landscape in the PRRI study of religious affiliation in America here.
Percent of population that is religiously unaffiliated, 1976-2016
Those who identify as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular have increased from about 8 percent of the population in 1976 to 24 percent of Americans in 2016.
Percent unaffiliated by age
Source: Pew Research Center, Public Religion Research Institute, Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies