These 3 are the least religious states in America. Do you Agree?
Religious identity still shapes daily life for millions of Americans, but state-by-state data shows major regional differences. The latest Gallup update, released February 29, 2024, puts Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine at the bottom of the national list for religiosity. The ranking is based on a combined measure of worship attendance and the share of adults who said religion is important in their daily lives, according to Gallup.
Gallup’s latest ranking put three New England states at the bottom
Gallup said on February 29, 2024, that Vermont ranked as the least religious state in the country, followed by New Hampshire and Maine. The polling firm based the list on interviews with U.S. adults conducted from 2023 through early 2024. Gallup’s measure combines two indicators: whether adults attend religious services weekly or almost weekly, and whether they said religion is important in their daily life.
In Vermont, 45% of adults were classified by Gallup as very religious, moderately religious, or nonreligious under its scoring system, with the state landing last overall in relative religiosity. New Hampshire followed closely behind, and Maine rounded out the bottom three, according to the same Gallup release. Gallup has tracked these differences for years, and New England states have frequently clustered near the least religious end of the ranking.
What that means across Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine
What is confirmed is the order of the three states in Gallup’s 2024 release: Vermont at No. 50, New Hampshire at No. 49, and Maine at No. 48. All three are in northern New England, a region that has long posted lower church attendance than Southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama in Gallup’s annual tracking. The survey gives a broad statewide picture, not a town-by-town count.
What is not known from Gallup’s release is how religiosity breaks down in every county, city, or age group inside those states. The data also does not say whether Burlington, Concord, Portland, or smaller rural communities are changing faster than the statewide average. That matters because local religious life can vary sharply even within a small state, and Gallup’s published ranking is designed as a state comparison, not a local census.
The bigger context behind the numbers
Gallup said the least religious states tend to cluster in New England and the Pacific Northwest, while the most religious states remain concentrated in the South. That pattern has shown up repeatedly in Gallup reporting over the past decade, including earlier state rankings released in 2023 and 2024. Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute have also documented a rising share of Americans who identify with no religion, though each group uses different survey methods.
For residents, the ranking is best read as a snapshot of broad habits in 2024, not a judgment about belief in any one town or household. A state can rank low in religiosity and still have active congregations, faith-based charities, and strong local religious communities, as seen in cities like Portland and Manchester. Gallup’s latest release shows that, at least by its measure, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine remain the least religious states in America.
