A study measuring religious bodies in the United States called the, “2010 U.S. Religious Census: Religious Congregations & Membershi...” was recently released by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The most comprehensive study of its kind, it provides detailed county by county information on congregations, members, adherents and attendance for 236 different faiths groups. (The survey differentiates between specific denominations within the same tradition.)

Of metropolitan areas with population greater than a million, the researchers found Salt Lake City to be the most religious city with close to 74 percent identifying as a religious adherent. The researchers found the greater area of Portland, OR-WA to be the least religious city with about 32 percent identifying as a religious adherent.

The researchers define adherents to be those with an affiliation to a congregation including children, members and attendees who are not members, and believe that the adherent measure is the most complete and comparable across religious groups. As the chart below shows, more than 54 percent of adherents were from metropolitan areas with population of a million and above.

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