By Frank Newport
PRINCETON, N.J. — Religiousness across the U.S. in 2013 remained similar to previous years. With 61% of its residents classified as very religious, Mississippi held on to its position as the most religious state, while Vermont, with 22% very religious residents, remained the least religious. The most religious states were in the South, except for Utah, while the least religious states were clustered in New England and the West.
These state-by-state results are based on more than 174,000 interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking in 2013, including more than 500 interviews conducted in each state and 442 in the District of Columbia. Complete results and sample sizes are on page 2.
Gallup classifies Americans as very religious if they say religion is an important part of their daily lives and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week. More than four in 10 Americans nationwide (41%) fit this classification in 2013. Twenty-nine percent of Americans were nonreligious, saying religion is not an important part of their daily lives and that they seldom or never attend religious services. The remaining 29% were moderately religious, saying religion is important in their lives but that they do not attend services regularly, or that religion is not important but that they still attend services.
Gallup began tracking religion using this measure in 2008, and the nationwide proportions of Americans in each of the three religious categories have remained generally stable since then. The percentage “very religious” is slightly higher in 2013 than it was in 2012, 2011, and 2008, while the percentage of nonreligious Americans is slightly lower in 2013 than in any previous year.
Read more at http://www.gallup.com/poll/167267/mississippi-religious-vermont-least-religious-state.aspx