The U.S. Is An Outlier In The Degree To Which It Is Religious

 

The rapid secularization of the U.S., in an international context, looks like a natural tendency towards affluent countries becoming less religious, which similarly situated countries experienced decades earlier. Considering only per capita GDP one would expect the percentage of Americans who say that religion is very important to in their lives to be about 20% when it is actually a bit more than 50%.

The countries below the curve tend to be either currently, or recently Communist countries, where atheism was a matter of official policy, or Asian countries where Islam is rare in most of the country. Countries where there was once an established religion also tend to be more secular. 

Countries with a significant Muslim population and countries with religious diversity tend to be above the curve.

The level of religiosity seen in the U.S. is typical of a nation with less than a third of its per capita GDP, and would probably be somewhat more of an outlier if compared to a regression curve that didn't include it as one of the data points.

Religion and Affluence Within The U.S.

Even within the U.S., less affluent states tend to be more religious and more affluent states tend to be more secular. The comparable data (also from Pew) regarding the importance of religion to people in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia is as follows:

% of adults who say religion is very important in their lives

1. Alabama	77%
2. Mississippi	74%
3. Tennessee	71%
3. Louisiana	71%
5. Arkansas	70%
6. South Carolina	69%
7. West Virginia	64%
7. Georgia	64%
7. Oklahoma	64%
10. Texas	63%
10. Kentucky	63%
12. North Carolina	62%
13. Virginia	60%
14. New Mexico	59%
15. Utah	58%
16. South Dakota	57%
17. Missouri	56%
17. Ohio	56%
19. Nebraska	54%
20. Iowa	53%
20. Florida	53%
20. Indiana	53%
20. North Dakota	53%
24. Arizona	51%
24. Pennsylvania	51%
24. Idaho	51%
27. Kansas	50%
27. New Jersey	50%
27. Maryland	50%
27. District of Columbia	50%
27. Michigan	50%
27. Illinois	50%
33. Wyoming	49%
34. Rhode Island	48%
35. California	47%
35. Colorado	47%
37. Delaware	46%
37. Minnesota	46%
39. Oregon	45%
39. New York	45%
41. Nevada	44%
41. Montana	44%
41. Hawaii	44%
41. Washington	44%
41. Wisconsin	44%
46. Connecticut	42%
47. Alaska	41%
48. Maine	34%
49. Massachusetts	33%
49. New Hampshire	33%
51. Vermont	32%

The corresponding GDP data for U.S. states (which is not a perfect fit) is as follows:

U.S. states and territories by GDP per capita (current dollars)^[3]

National rank	Global rank	State or territory	2018
56	—	American Samoa	11,200[8]
55	—	Northern Mariana Islands	24,500[7]
54	—	Puerto Rico	31,651[6]
53	—	Guam	35,600[5]
52	—	U.S. Virgin Islands	37,000[4]
51	24	Mississippi	37,948
50	19	Arkansas	42,454
49	19	West Virginia	43,053
48	19	Idaho	43,430
47	17	Alabama	45,219
46	16	South Carolina	45,280
45	15	Montana	46,609
44	16	Kentucky	46,898
43	15	New Mexico	46,954
42	13	Maine	47,969
41	13	Arizona	48,055
40	13	Florida	48,318
39	12	Oklahoma	50,613
38	12	Missouri	51,699
37	11	Michigan	53,209
36	11	Vermont	53,523
35	11	Louisiana	53,589
34	11	Tennessee	53,933
33	11	North Carolina	54,441
32	11	Indiana	55,172
31	11	Nevada	55,269
30	11	Utah	55,550
29	10	Georgia	55,832
28	10	Kansas	56,334
27	9	Oregon	56,956
26	8	Ohio	57,492
25	8	Wisconsin	57,720
24	8	Rhode Island	57,852
23	8	South Dakota	58,624
22	8	Iowa	59,977
21	6	Texas	61,167
20	6	Pennsylvania	61,594
—	6	United States	62,390
19	6	Virginia	62,563
18	6	New Hampshire	63,067
17	6	Colorado	63,882
16	6	Nebraska	63,942
15	6	Hawaii	64,096
14	6	Minnesota	64,675
13	6	Illinois	67,268
12	6	Maryland	68,573
11	6	New Jersey	69,378
10	6	Wyoming	69,900
9	4	North Dakota	72,597
8	4	Alaska	73,205
7	4	Washington	74,182
6	4	California	74,205
5	3	Connecticut	76,342
4	3	Delaware	77,253
3	2	Massachusetts	82,480
2	2	New York	85,746
1	1	District of Columbia	200,277

Religion and Politics in U.S. States

The importance of religion also tends to track red state, blue state lines. Eleven of the twelve most religious states voted for Trump in 2020 (Georgia was the exception), while sixteen of the eighteen least religious states voted for Biden in 2020 (Alaska and Montana were the exception).