Using data from the 1990 Religious Congregations and Membership Study, this list ranks U.S. states on the highest total number of adherents and the highest percent of the population in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. You can sort the list by clicking on the column headings.
Congregational "adherents" include all full members, their children, and others who regularly attend services.
[More information on the data source]
Complete List
| Ranking | State | Adherents | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nebraska | 114,944 | 7.3 |
| 2 | Wisconsin | 248,876 | 5.1 |
| 3 | Minnesota | 215,564 | 4.9 |
| 4 | South Dakota | 32,968 | 4.7 |
| 5 | Iowa | 124,021 | 4.5 |
| 6 | North Dakota | 25,691 | 4.0 |
| 7 | Missouri | 145,741 | 2.9 |
| 8 | Michigan | 250,141 | 2.7 |
| 9 | Illinois | 295,820 | 2.6 |
| 10 | Kansas | 63,145 | 2.6 |
| 11 | Wyoming | 11,228 | 2.5 |
| 12 | Montana | 16,172 | 2.0 |
| 13 | Indiana | 109,895 | 2.0 |
| 14 | Colorado | 47,262 | 1.4 |
| 15 | Idaho | 13,303 | 1.3 |
| 16 | Oregon | 26,159 | 0.9 |
| 17 | Washington | 41,916 | 0.9 |
| 18 | Texas | 134,280 | 0.8 |
| 19 | Ohio | 83,336 | 0.8 |
| 19 | Oklahoma | 24,303 | 0.8 |
| 20 | Maryland | 31,393 | 0.7 |
| 21 | Arizona | 23,708 | 0.7 |
| 22 | Alaska | 3,404 | 0.6 |
| 23 | Arkansas | 14,154 | 0.6 |
| 24 | Florida | 67,645 | 0.5 |
| 24 | Nevada | 6,219 | 0.5 |
| 25 | New York | 90,837 | 0.5 |
| 26 | California | 143,987 | 0.5 |
| 27 | Connecticut | 15,206 | 0.5 |
| 28 | Louisiana | 19,102 | 0.5 |
| 29 | New Mexico | 6,604 | 0.4 |
| 30 | Alabama | 13,237 | 0.3 |
| 30 | Delaware | 2,172 | 0.3 |
| 30 | New Jersey | 25,387 | 0.3 |
| 31 | North Carolina | 19,275 | 0.3 |
| 31 | Tennessee | 13,981 | 0.3 |
| 32 | Virginia | 17,413 | 0.3 |
| 33 | Utah | 4,547 | 0.3 |
| 34 | Pennsylvania | 23,850 | 0.2 |
| 35 | Hawaii | 1,852 | 0.2 |
| 35 | New Hampshire | 1,908 | 0.2 |
| 36 | Mississippi | 4,183 | 0.2 |
| 37 | Kentucky | 5,637 | 0.2 |
| 38 | Georgia | 8,997 | 0.1 |
| 38 | Rhode Island | 1,415 | 0.1 |
| 39 | Massachusetts | 7,053 | 0.1 |
| 40 | South Carolina | 3,026 | 0.1 |
| 40 | Vermont | 494 | 0.1 |
| 41 | Maine | 490 | 0.0 |
| 41 | West Virginia | 628 | 0.0 |
Source
The data presented in this list were collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and include statistics for 132 religious groups, including number of churches and adherents. Martin B. Bradley, Norman M. Green, Jr., Dale E. Jones, Mac Lynn, and Lou McNeil supervised the collection. These data originally appeared in Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1990, published by the Glenmary Research Center.
[More information about this data source]
