Religious affiliation varies greatly among U.S. cities. A new report from the Pew Research Center found that while America is by far still a predominantly Christian nation, with about 71 percent of Americans identifying as Christian, many major metros vary in religiosity.
According to Pew:
Only about half of the residents in the Seattle (52 percent) and San Francisco (48 percent) metropolitan areas identify as Christians, as well as roughly six-in-ten or fewer of those living in Boston (57 percent ) and New York (59 percent).
(Credit: Pew Research Center)
Fewer Christians isn’t the only thing that makes the religious landscapes of Seattle, San Francisco and Boston different. They also have higher percentages of residents who don’t identify with a religious affiliation at all (37 percent, 35 percent and 33 percent, respectively).
If more and more Americans are flocking to live in cities, does this mean that Americans are also becoming less religious? Not necessarily. Many major metropolitan areas have high percentages of religiously affiliated residents, and are closer to and in some cases exceed the national average.
Pew reports:
Roughly three-quarters of residents of three Southern cities — Dallas (78 percent), Atlanta (76 percent) and Houston (73 percent) — are Christians. In each case, at least three-in-ten are evangelical Protestants (including 38 percent in Dallas). And Atlanta, the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. is home to an especially large share of members of the historically black Protestant tradition (18 percent).
Here’s a link to the full study and an interactive map.
Jenn Stanley is a freelance journalist, essayist and independent producer living in Chicago. She has an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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