When commentators discuss parts of the country where people hold strongly to religious beliefs and practices, they rarely include New York. In fact, for much of its history, people from the rest of the U.S. have tended to view the city as a godless metropolis in a largely god-fearing land.

The statistics, though, tell a very different story. If belonging to a religion translates to being religious, New Yorkers are very religious when compared to Americans as a whole. The proportion of people identified as adhering to an organized religion in New York City makes the five boroughs as religious as many places in the so-called “Bible Belt.” Yet people here belong – and do not belong – to different religions than residents of other parts of the country.

Read more here: http://gothamgazette.com/article/demographics/20080212/5/2431

View Religion Maps

Today, Social Explorer, in association with the Association of Religious Data Archives, releases maps and reports at the county level that provide counts of adherents and congregations of most demoninations in the United States for 1980, 1990 and 2000, including Catholics, many Protestant Denominations, both Evangelical and mainline, Mormons, Muslims and Jews, etc.

Based on the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS) this is the most complete census available on religious congregations and their members. These data were developed by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB).

Want to know where the Bahai or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) are concentrated by state or county? Social Explorer can tell you! There are well over 100 denominations reported for each decade. The application is available through the Social Explorer website and through the ARDA site.

Links:

• Religion Maps
• Association of Religious Data Archives
• Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies