Most and least religious American cities

"Provo, Utah, tops the list of America’s most religious metros, according to survey results recently released by the Gallup Organization. More than three-quarters of residents in this metro reported that they are “very religious.” Three of the top five most religious metros are in Alabama — Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville. Jackson, Mississippi, also ranks among the top five.
"Burlington, Vermont, and Boulder, Colorado, tie for the title of the nation’s least religious metro area. In these two metros, fewer than one in five residents claim to be “very religious.” San Francisco and Boston also rank among the least religious metros in America, as only about one in four of their residents say they are “very religious.”
“The data are based on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey of nearly 250,000 Americans across 189 metros conducted over the course of 2012.”
See the rest of the article and charts at
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/04/americas-most-and-least-religious-metro-areas/5180/

Interesting–thanks for sharing. Doesn’t surprise me that most of the most religious people are concentrated in the south and the least religious in more progressive, northern locales.
I would definitely live in VT if it weren’t for the weather.

Interesting--thanks for sharing. Doesn't surprise me that most of the most religious people are concentrated in the south and the least religious in more progressive, northern locales. I would definitely live in VT if it weren't for the weather.
I agree. I wonder if there anyone has looked into the possible correlation between climate and religiosity. I tend to doubt it. I was recently in the South Pacific and saw that most islanders are religious. The missionaries were successful there. Of course, there are many other factors that create religiosity and climate may be a very weak one if it's a factor at all.

Lois, I’ve never considered climate as a factor. It is interesting though because when we think about the northern Scandanavian countries in Europe, I believe they are extremely atheistic compared to more of the southern European courtires, such as Spain or Italy.
Regarding the US, I have always kind of attributed the northern areas, such as New England as being more progressive due to their social and economic advantages during periods of US industrialization and during the civil war. In addition, the cities in the North have thrived historically in terms of being more diverse (i.e. cultural mixing at Ellis Island and so forth). Whereas people in the southern states and Appalachian region have historically been far removed from the “northern advantages.” Also, during the post civil war era, the south suffered and declined in general–the advantages that are the impetus behind progressive mindsets and cultures just hasn’t been present in the deep south. Not only is this evidenced in the percentage of religious stats but also the northern states are more progressive in term of laws too. When I look at the current events and proposed legislation there usually always seem to be a sharp contrast between the birth control, marriage equiality and teaching of science in schools between states in the south vs. north.

I wouldn’t doubt the relationship between climate and education/religiosity: cold climates lend themselves to staying indoors, and therefore reading, writing, etc. Warmer climates lend themselves to outdoor activities usually physical, not mental, in nature. BUT…I’ve also always heard that even within metropolitan areas, the Northside is usually more well to do, etc. than the Southside. Chicago for example is a perfect example, at least last time I was there. So that kind of defeats the climate notion, I guess.

Lois, I've never considered climate as a factor. It is interesting though because when we think about the northern Scandanavian countries in Europe, I believe they are extremely atheistic compared to more of the southern European courtires, such as Spain or Italy. Regarding the US, I have always kind of attributed the northern areas, such as New England as being more progressive due to their social and economic advantages during periods of US industrialization and during the civil war. In addition, the cities in the North have thrived historically in terms of being more diverse (i.e. cultural mixing at Ellis Island and so forth). Whereas people in the southern states and Appalachian region have historically been far removed from the "northern advantages." Also, during the post civil war era, the south suffered and declined in general--the advantages that are the impetus behind progressive mindsets and cultures just hasn't been present in the deep south. Not only is this evidenced in the percentage of religious stats but also the northern states are more progressive in term of laws too. When I look at the current events and proposed legislation there usually always seem to be a sharp contrast between the birth control, marriage equiality and teaching of science in schools between states in the south vs. north.
Yes, I agree. Those are more important factors.
I wouldn't doubt the relationship between climate and education/religiosity: cold climates lend themselves to staying indoors, and therefore reading, writing, etc. Warmer climates lend themselves to outdoor activities usually physical, not mental, in nature. BUT...I've also always heard that even within metropolitan areas, the Northside is usually more well to do, etc. than the Southside. Chicago for example is a perfect example, at least last time I was there. So that kind of defeats the climate notion, I guess.
It depends on the city. It's not true in Manhattan, for example. Harlem is in the North. The well to do areas are further South, around Central Park, basically mid-town.

Fascinating stuff. Another factor to look at is race.
There are more black Americans in the south then in any other region. Black southerners are often intensely religious, far more then religious white southerners.
In a place like southern California, the predominately white areas on that map are non-religious, while the predominately Mexican areas are religious. Areas where many Indian reservations are located are high in religiosity.

I wouldn't doubt the relationship between climate and education/religiosity: cold climates lend themselves to staying indoors, and therefore reading, writing, etc. Warmer climates lend themselves to outdoor activities usually physical, not mental, in nature. BUT...I've also always heard that even within metropolitan areas, the Northside is usually more well to do, etc. than the Southside. Chicago for example is a perfect example, at least last time I was there. So that kind of defeats the climate notion, I guess.
Yeah, I've read about that, too. However, in the case of Chicago, the north side is where the waterfront is; that means more open space, fresh air, better views, etc. The rich are going to want to buy those properties. The south and east sides were traditionally where the slaughterhouses, landfills, smokestacks, and so on were located. The immigrants from Europe first lived in those areas, then they "moved on up" and black migrants from the south moved in.
I wouldn't doubt the relationship between climate and education/religiosity: cold climates lend themselves to staying indoors, and therefore reading, writing, etc. Warmer climates lend themselves to outdoor activities usually physical, not mental, in nature. BUT...I've also always heard that even within metropolitan areas, the Northside is usually more well to do, etc. than the Southside. Chicago for example is a perfect example, at least last time I was there. So that kind of defeats the climate notion, I guess.
It depends on the city. It's not true in Manhattan, for example. Harlem is in the North. The well to do areas are further South, around Central Park, basically mid-town.Remember the upper middle class areas of the Upper West side, and Upper East side are in north Manhattan, too. 59th street is considered the start of "uptown". Then north of Manhattan, the Bronx is worse in its southern areas, but the north Bronx becomes more upper-middle class. Northeast Queens is the most upscale part of that borough, IIRC.
I wouldn't doubt the relationship between climate and education/religiosity: cold climates lend themselves to staying indoors, and therefore reading, writing, etc. Warmer climates lend themselves to outdoor activities usually physical, not mental, in nature. BUT...I've also always heard that even within metropolitan areas, the Northside is usually more well to do, etc. than the Southside. Chicago for example is a perfect example, at least last time I was there. So that kind of defeats the climate notion, I guess.
It depends on the city. It's not true in Manhattan, for example. Harlem is in the North. The well to do areas are further South, around Central Park, basically mid-town.Remember the upper middle class areas of the Upper West side, and Upper East side are in north Manhattan, too. 59th street is considered the start of "uptown". Then north of Manhattan, the Bronx is worse in its southern areas, but the north Bronx becomes more upper-middle class. Northeast Queens is the most upscale part of that borough, IIRC. Yeah, but the Lower East Side has historically (until very recently in fact) been one of the most dangerous areas of Manhattan. Brooklyn Heights is one of the wealthiest areas of Brooklyn/Queens, but lies south of all of Queens. The South Bronx lies on the north side of the city. (It's north of everything but the Bronx, basically). The problem is that depending on how you draw the boundaries of your map, anything can be north, south, or central.
I wouldn't doubt the relationship between climate and education/religiosity: cold climates lend themselves to staying indoors, and therefore reading, writing, etc. Warmer climates lend themselves to outdoor activities usually physical, not mental, in nature. BUT...I've also always heard that even within metropolitan areas, the Northside is usually more well to do, etc. than the Southside. Chicago for example is a perfect example, at least last time I was there. So that kind of defeats the climate notion, I guess.
It depends on the city. It's not true in Manhattan, for example. Harlem is in the North. The well to do areas are further South, around Central Park, basically mid-town.Remember the upper middle class areas of the Upper West side, and Upper East side are in north Manhattan, too. 59th street is considered the start of "uptown". Then north of Manhattan, the Bronx is worse in its southern areas, but the north Bronx becomes more upper-middle class. Northeast Queens is the most upscale part of that borough, IIRC. Yeah, but the Lower East Side has historically (until very recently in fact) been one of the most dangerous areas of Manhattan.Alphabet city is getting a little better, eh?
Alphabet city is getting a little better, eh?
The LES is a hip area now. Gentrifying fast.