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Adherents.com: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/19991002054904/http://www.adherents.com:80/largecom/com_lds.html
Adherents.com presents:

The Largest Latter-day Saint Communities


Statement by National Conference of Christians and Jews regarding Latter-day Saints.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in 1830, in Fayette, New York. Today it is the sixth largest religious body in the United States and the fifth largest international Christian religious body in the world.

Approximately 12% of the members of the LDS Church live in the state of Utah. Approximately 48% live in the United States.

In 19% of the counties in the United States, at least 1% of the population is LDS. In 34% of U.S. counties, at least 1% of the religiously affiliated population is LDS.
(Source: Glenmary Research Center study: "Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1990")

Data from the U.S. Govt. Census Bureau lists Utah as the state with the lowest teen pregnancy rate and the lowest abortion rate in the United States. [Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States 1997: National Data Book. Washington, D.C.: Census Bureau, U.S. Dept. of Commerce (1997).]

National demographic studies indicate that couples in which both partners are Latter-day Saints (who marry in an LDS temple) have the lowest divorce rate among all U.S. social and religious groups studied. But statistics indicate that inter-faith marriages in which one partner is LDS and the other is not are more likely to end in divorce than any other religious combination studied, except for Jewish/non-Jewish couples.


Some web pages about LDS Temple geography (LDS temples offer a unusually manageable subject for detailed geographic analysis, as they are relatively few in number, and complete lists are readily available.):



Latter-day Saints as a percentage of state populations. Click here or on map to see a larger version.


Top 20 Nations with Highest Proportion
of Latter-day Saints in the Population

CountryPercent
Tonga 32.0%
Samoa 25.0
American Samoa 25.0
Niue 15.0
Kiribati 6.0
Tahiti 6.0
Cook Islands 5.0
Marshall Islands 4.0
Chile 2.5
Palau 2.0
USA 1.9
Uruguay 1.8
New Zealand 1.5
Guatemala 1.3
Honduras 1.2
Bolivia 1.1
Ecuador 1.1
Peru 1.1
Belize 1.1
Bolivia 1.0


Source: Adherents.com.

Top 10 Nations with Largest
Latter-day Saint Communities

CountryNumber
USA 4,900,000
Mexico 800,000
Brazil 650,000
Chile 400,000
Philippines 389,000
Peru 300,000
Argentina 282,000
United Kingdom 180,000
Guatemala 166,000
Canada 151,000


Source: Adherents.com.

Top 10 U.S. States with Highest Proportion of
Latter-day Saints in the Population, 1990

Note: Data from this and following tables come from the 1990 Glenmary Research Institute study of county-by-county membership data from 130 U.S. denominations. The data was based on organizational reporting. Adherents.com has correlated these data with results from the 1990 Kosmin/NSRI (National Survey of Religious Identification) study (nationwide, phone survey-based; sample size: 113,000). For LDS statistics, the match between the two data sets is very close: In exactly one half of the states, the Kosmin (self-identification) figure was slighly higher than the Glenmary (organizational reporting) figure; in the other half the Glenmary figure was slightly higher.

The implication of this correlation is that in the United States, the overwhelming majority of people who consider themselves Latter-day Saints are officially counted by the LDS Church, just as the majority of people counted by the LDS Church consider themselves to be Latter-day Saints.

This is not necessarily typical for all religious groups. In other Kosmin-Glenmary correlations, many religious groups had considerably more self-identified members than the organization claimed (indicating a large percentage of nominal-only "adherents"). Some religious groups had considerably less (indicating over-reporting or high levels of disaffiliation).

Sociologists are warned that these findings cannot necessarily be extrapolated beyond the U.S. setting.

StateNumber of
congregations		Number of
members		Percent of state
population
Utah 2,924 1,236,242 71.76%
Idaho 662 268,060 26.63
Wyoming 128 45,793 10.10
Nevada 198 89,033 7.41
Arizona 469 199,761 5.45
Montana 106 28,620 3.58
Hawaii 109 38,303 3.46
Oregon 228 89,601 3.15
Washington 371 150,634 3.10
Alaska 58 15,751 2.86

Top 10 U.S. States with Most Latter-day Saints, 1990

StateNumber of
congregations		Number of
members		Percent of state
population
Utah 2,924 1,236,242 71.76%
California 1,323 533,741 1.79
Idaho 662 268,060 26.63
Arizona 469 199,761 5.45
Washington 371 150,634 3.10
Texas 329 111,276 0.66
Oregon 228 89,601 3.15
Nevada 198 89,033 7.41
Colorado 193 70,313 2.13
Florida 160 59,845 0.46


States on both lists (Highest Number & Highest Percent): Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada.

Top 25 U.S. Counties with
Highest Proportion of Latter-day Saints, 1990

CountyNumber of
Congregations		Number of
Members		Percent
Rich, UT 5 1,700 98.55%
Sanpete, UT 41 14,886 91.56
Madison, ID 68 21,567 91.10
Morgan, UT 11 5,025 90.90
Utah, UT 649 236,893 89.87
Franklin, ID 24 8,281 89.70
Millard, UT 26 10,104 89.16
Sevier, UT 33 13,475 87.32
Bear Lake, ID 17 5,248 86.26
Wayne, UT 7 1,874 86.08
Juab, UT 12 4,987 85.73
Garfield, UT 12 3,403 85.50
Cache, UT 162 59,974 85.45
Box Elder, UT 73 30,667 84.05
Wasatch, UT 19 8,478 84.03
Oneida, ID 7 2,868 82.13
Emery, UT 21 8,403 81.33
Beaver, UT 9 3,796 79.66
Washington, UT 99 38,097 78.45
Iron, UT 42 16,058 77.24
Duchesne, UT 26 9,618 76.06
Davis, UT 309 139,375 74.16
Daggett, UT 2 510 73.91
Caribou, ID 13 5,129 73.66
Teton, ID 7 2,462 71.59

Top 25 U.S. Counties
Outside of Utah and Idaho with
Highest Proportion of Latter-day Saints, 1990

CountyNumber of
Congregations		Number of
Members		Percent
Lincoln, WY 20 8,035 63.64%
Lincoln, NV 5 1,785 47.28
Uinta, WY 20 8,301 44.38
Esmeralda, NV 1 487 36.24
Big Horn, WY 10 3,276 31.13
Conejos, CO 8 2,182 29.28
Graham, AZ 20 7,717 29.06
White Pine, NV 7 2,539 27.41
Navajo, AZ 37 17,525 22.57
Catron, NM 3 571 22.28
Broadwater, MT 2 722 21.76
Sweetwater, WY 17 6,339 16.33
Lander, NV 3 1,003 16.01
Elko, NV 11 4,620 13.78
Apache, AZ 20 8,486 13.78
Golden Valley, MT 1 111 12.17
Malheur, OR 10 3,159 12.13
Greenlee, AZ 2 969 12.10
Eureka, NV 1 185 11.96
Sublette, WY 2 579 11.96
Grant, WA 19 6,536 11.94
San Juan, NM 23 10,863 11.86
Park, WY 7 2,727 11.77
Beaverhead, MT 3 963 11.43
Coconino, AZ 23 10,902 11.29

Top 25 U.S. Counties with
Largest Latter-day Saint Communities, 1990

CountyNumber of
Congregations		Number of
Members		Percent
Salt Lake, UT 985 466,551 64.27%
Utah, UT 649 236,893 89.87
Davis, UT 309 139,375 74.16
Maricopa, AZ 260 115,080 5.42
Los Angeles, CA 271 103,286 1.17
Weber, UT 224 102,121 64.50
Cache, UT 162 59,974 85.45
Clark, NV 123 59,081 7.97
Orange, CA 115 49,608 2.06
San Diego, CA 112 46,863 1.88
Bonneville, ID 87 41,108 56.93
San Bernardino, CA 95 38,532 2.72
King, WA 91 38,195 2.53
Washington, UT 99 38,097 78.45
Ada, ID 69 32,517 15.80
Bannock, ID 70 31,830 48.21
Box Elder, UT 73 30,667 84.05
Sacramento, CA 67 30,320 2.91
Riverside, CA 67 28,987 2.48
Honolulu, HI 74 26,754 3.20
Santa Clara, CA 57 23,595 1.58
Bingham, ID 57 23,082 61.42
Madison, ID 68 21,567 91.10
Contra Costa, CA 46 19,636 2.44
Alameda, CA 47 19,420 1.52


States in this list: Utah, California, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii.
A bit of trivia: In 1990 the "least LDS" state in the country was Rhode Island. Rhode Island had the smallest number of Latter-day Saints of any state (1,438), the smallest number of congregations (5), and the smallest proportion of Latter-day Saints in the population (0.14%), or about 1 member for every 714 people. Still, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the 11th largest Christian denomination in the state, according to the Glenmary data, and Miss Rhode Island of 1999, Karen Lindsay, is LDS.

Source: Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1990, published by the Glenmary Research Center, P.O. Box 507, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Principle investigator: Church Growth Research Center, Church of the Nazarene, Kansas City, MO. This data source was obtained from the American Religion Data Archive.

This web page copyright (C) 1999 by Preston Hunter. Created April 30, 1999. Last updated 29 July 1999.

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