Is New York More Religious Than Utah? Study Results

Study on Most Religious States is Surprising 

It would it probably confuse you to find a study of most religious states that had California and New York far higher than Utah, but that is exactly what the results showed. Utah was middle of the pack at number 27 and these two states on the coasts were near the top. 

SmileHub wanted to find out the states where religion was most important to their residents. They weren’t interested in which religion, it could be Muslim, Buddhist, Christian to Zoroastrianism. They just wanted to know how important it was in their lives. 

This study also looked at how many churches there were in the community and how many opportunities for careers in religion. They also looked at things like how often religious terms were googled by the state’s residents and how many religious based charities there were. 

Where Utah Was High and Where We Didn’t Score Well 

Like any study, what you choose to include in your data affects the outcome. Utah ranked number one in highest share of adherents and number two for religious terms googled. With adults who consider religion very important in their lives Utah was number three behind Alabama and Mississippi. 

Where Utah did not do well was in most religious establishments per capita where we were dead last at 50. Also, in the category of the number of religious supported charities, Utah was at 46. You can start to see why Utah was in the middle of the pack.

Read More: Scientific Podcast on Ancient Temple Rites Has Utah Listening 

The beehive state doesn’t have the diversity of religious faiths and therefore less churches per capita compared to New York or California. Still, I think this study is interesting. It points out that the number of people who believe in a higher power is more than we may think. 

Sometimes we assume the country has given up on religion and Utah is an anomaly. This study seems to say otherwise even in places like California and New York. The truth may be different than our perceptions.