The American religious landscape is a curious thing. Thanks to a website that colors American counties on a map according to each faith group’s relative membership dominance, we can quickly see the general distribution of believers.Check out how Regions of Mind has mapped religions in America: regionsofmind.blog-city.com.
It is based on the 2000 U.S. Census and was developed by Glenmary Research Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The mapping surely confirms that Baptists dominate the so-called Bible Belt — the American South. Lutherans reign in the Upper Midwest. Mormons thrives most in Utah and Idaho, and Jews in Florida, the Atlantic Seaboard and pockets of California. Methodists are most prolific across the center of the country from the Plain States to the East Coast. Yet the Methodists are about as ubiquitous as any faith.
On the pure basis of what parts of the country have the highest rate of affiliation to some houses of worship, the West was relatively light except for Utah, parts of Texas and the Dakotas. The Plain States generally stood more religious than the regions farther West. The Mid-Atlantic and part of the South were also strong.
Analysts found Catholics domination was no surprise, the states bordering on Mexico, especially Texas, New Mexico and California, along with New England, Louisiana and the Upper Midwest states from Wisconsin through the Dakotas.
Also selected out for mapping are Mennonites, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, the two major Lutheran groups, Quakers and Muslims.
Some rural counties are anomalies because they may have only one or two churches. Thus, if there is just a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod church there, the county wears the LCMS label. Ethnic settlement in previous centuries explain much of the patterning.
Maricopa County comes off as place where 35 to 50 percent of the populace say they belong to a congregation. Only Santa Cruz and Graham rise to the next level of 50 to 75 percent of the population.
In a largest-takes-all mapping, Arizona is entirely Catholic, except for Coconino and Apache counties, which are claimed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which completely gets all of Utah to the north.
Episcopalians are noticeably missing as a group from the mapping.
Finally, take away Catholics, Baptists, Mormons and Lutherans which dominate largest patches, and there would not be much color left on the American map until they started over with the next layer of faiths.
Thank You. This is really good and informative information. Religion is and should be the center of ones focus as they think of relocating in other parts of the USA. Being among those of the same religious background can help give one more security in this troubled world we live in.
I appreciate you bringing this website to my attention and i will pass it on to others.
The Valley of the Sun is truly blessed with Lawn Griffiths and his un-ending efforts to bring the best religious information to us.
Thank you