NC ranks No. 6 on list of most religious states

North Carolina ranks among the nation’s most religious states, according to a new analysis that measures faith activity, religious education, and the presence of religion-affiliated organizations.

The study, published by SmileHub, compared all 50 states using 13 metrics grouped into three broad categories: Religious interest and places of worship, religious education and careers, and religion-affiliated organizations. Researchers scored each metric on a 100-point scale and combined weighted averages to produce an overall religiosity score for every state.

States in the traditional Bible Belt dominated the top of the list. Virginia ranked No. 1, followed by Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina, and Mississippi. At the other end of the spectrum, the least religious states included Wyoming, Nevada, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.

Texas tops the list for faith and religious support charities, while North Carolina leads in the number of religious establishments. On the personal faith front, Alabama has the highest share of adults who consider religion very important, and Georgia leads in Google search interest for faith-related terms. In contrast, Utah and New Hampshire are at the bottom for religious charities and establishments, respectively, while Vermont and Alaska show lower engagement, with Vermont having the fewest adults valuing religion and Alaska ranking lowest in faith-related searches.

Half the index — 50 of 100 points — came from measures of religious interest and places of worship. That portion weighed how many adults say religion is “very important” (triple weight), weekly attendance at services (double weight), frequency of daily prayer, share of adherents and the religiously unaffiliated, congregations and places of worship per capita (places of worship given double weight), and a composite Google search‑interest index for faith‑related terms.

The remaining points were split between religious education and careers (30 points) and religion‑affiliated organizations (20 points). The education-and-careers category looked at religious‑studies and sacred‑music degrees per capita and the share of religion‑related jobs, while the organizations category measured faith and religious‑support charities per capita and other religious establishments such as schools, media outlets, and publishing houses operated by faith groups.

The new finding comes as national data show a shifting religious landscape. A Pew Research Center report released in February found the long-term decline in Christian identification across the United States appears to have slowed or may have leveled off. As of the 2025 update, about 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christian, down from 71% in 2014.

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