Rich in cultural diversity, the city of Chicago creates a vibrant and exciting backdrop for the typical city-dwellers’ regular activities; which for just one-third of the city’s residents includes reading the Bible.  To some extent, Chicagoans tend to be more skeptical and more likely to say they do not believe in God. But this should not be taken to mean Chicago is anti-religion or even anti-Christian. In fact, residents here are just as likely to have attended church or volunteered to help at a church as the national average and they are more likely to have donated to one. One trend that’s particularly exciting in Chicago is the enthusiasm of the young adults in the church. Mosaics (ages 18 to 28) living in Chicago, are 1.5 times more likely than average to be practicing Christians.

Practicing Christians in Chicago follow the “big city” trend and are more likely to be young and single. Just over one in five practicing Christians in Chicago have never been married, and as previously mentioned the younger generation is creating quite a stir. Practicing Christian families living in Chicago are 1.6 times more likely to be a single parent home; though the divorce rate is lower than the category average. Catholicism has played a strong role in this community, more so than in most cities nationwide. The percent of white, practicing Catholics is nearly double the national average. Among practicing Christians in Chicago, their political ideology skews more liberal, though a majority hold to a moderate view. Practicing Christians between the ages of 18 and 35 in Chicago are much less likely to be Republican than their peers.

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Seattle-Tacoma has one of the lowest average yearly sunshine levels in the U.S., it also has one of the lowest number of residents who claim faith is important in their lives.  This holds with the proportion of Seattle-Tacoma residents who would identify with any faith. The percent of residents who identify as “no faith” is more than double the national average. The same goes for the proportion of skeptics living in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Skeptics account for 20% of the adult population in this area.

In addition, nearly 3 out of 10 adults living in the Seattle-Tacoma area do not identify as Christian. The national norm for this factor is 3 out of 20 adults, making Seattle-Tacoma residents 1.75 times more likely than average to not identify as Christian. Yet the proportion of Protestant Christians seems untouched by this. With 48% of adults living in the Seattle-Tacoma area identifying as Protestant, this is right on par with the national average. It is among Catholic Christians where the most impact is seen. The proportion of Catholic adults living in this area is barely half the national norm.

Considering the below average proportion of Christians and the above average proportion of skeptics and adults with no faith, it should come as no surprise that of the different faith activities Barna Group assesses, Seattle-Tacoma residents tend to be below average in participation. Specifically, when it comes to church attendance, the proportion of adults living in the Seattle-Tacoma area who are unchurched is 10 percent-points higher than the national average. Forty-one percent of Seattle-Tacoma adults (41%, 13 percent-points above the national average) say they do not read the Bible and are more inclined to believe the Bible does not teach accurate principles.

The demographic and psychographic make-up of practicing Christians living in the Seattle-Tacoma market skews more ethnically white with fewer single parent homes. Practicing Christians in this area are also somewhat more likely than average to be registered Independent party voters and less likely to be either registered Republicans or Democrats.

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Would it surprise you to know Las Vegas, NV has the highest concentration of practicing Christians who are politically conservative? It’s true—while the U.S. average is 42%, 64% of practicing Christians living in Las Vegas consider themselves to be politically conservative. That’s 1.5 times greater than the national norm and seven percent-points higher than the second ranked city in this category, Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, IL.

As a part of our regular national tracking studies, Barna: Cities asks the question, “When it comes to political and social issues, do you consider yourself to be mostly conservative, mostly liberal, or somewhere in-between?” Based on these results we have created a list of the top 5 and bottom 5 cities based on the concentration of practicing Christians who are politically conservative.

Ranked at number two on this list, fifty-seven percent (57%) of practicing Christians living in Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, IL market are politically conservative. Salt Lake City, UT and Greensboro-H Point-West, NC make their way into the top four list with 55% (each) of their practicing Christians self-identifying as politically conservative. And rounding out the top five is Springfield, MO at 54%.

Four of the bottom six cities in this category come from the New England area, a region of the country known for taking a more liberal position on many issues. The same goes for San Francisco, which also shows up in the bottom six. The final market in the bottom six is El Paso, TX-Las Cruces, NM.

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The sunny state of Florida attracts vacationers, snowbirds and golfers alike (perhaps because there are more golf courses in Florida than in any other state). In addition, the state has become a haven for retirees, giving the state a slightly older median age. These demographic factors have a strong impact on the Christian community profile in Florida as well.

Overall, the percent of practicing Christians living in Florida is around average. Yet, nearly one-third of all practicing Christians in Florida are Elders (ages 67 plus), placing it among the top five states in the nation in this regard. And Florida is the top ranking state for practicing Christians who are widowed. Practicing Christians in Florida are also more likely to be women, to have ever been divorced, or to have a liberal political ideology.

Although residents of Florida are not more likely than average to be Christian, they are more likely than average to be born again and have an orthodox view of God. But still Floridians struggle to accept the principles of the Bible as completely true or to believe Satan is a real being and not just a symbol of evil. Fewer born-again Christians in Florida meet the criteria to be evangelical and therefore fall into the middle category of non-evangelical, born-again Christians.

The percent of unchurched adults in Florida is on par with the national average, but a few segments of this category do stand out: married, white or upscale adults are all more likely to be unchurched in Florida than compared to the national average. Men and adults who are over the age of 40 are also more likely to be unchurched in Florida.

About one out of every seven Christians in Florida attend a large church, where the weekly attendance ranges anywhere from 500 to less than 1,000. Across the nation, this represents the highest percent of Christians attending large churches. By comparison, the percent of Christians attending a small church (weekly attendance of 100 or less) is 10 percent points below average. Additionally, attendance of a Sunday school class is lower in Florida.

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Godless Hollywood? “Lost” Angeles? Barna’s tracking of faith trends shows the nation’s second largest city is less Christianized than other cities in the nation. It has a high concentration of adults with no faith as well as Pantheists (Hindu, Buddhists, Confucian and so on). Still, 24% of the LA region’s residents are Catholic and 31% are Protestant. The city features an interesting contrast in that just 33% are born again Christians, well below the national average of 43%. Yet, among born again Christians it has a relatively high rate of faith sharing activity.

It is a city of independent thinkers. For example, denominational connections tend to be less common among Christians in the west coast city, with non-denominational churches faring comparatively better than those associated with mainline denominations. They tend not to attend Sunday school, by comparison to national norms, but religious small groups are a more common activity among the city’s believers. They are also more likely than average to say they attend house churches and to homeschool their children. Still, Los Angelinos like things big, with 15% of the region’s Christians attending megachurches (compared to just 10% nationally).

The Christian community in the LA region tends to be younger and more single than average. And also includes an above-average percentage of single parents. It’s one of the few markets in the nation in which the practicing Christian community has fewer whites (46%) than non-whites (54%). Hispanics make up 29% of the Christian community in the Los Angeles area. Christians in LA also tend to have higher incomes and education levels than is true of believers in other cities. Politically, Christians edge toward moderate ideologies by comparison to other Christians nationwide. In the nation’s most populous state, many Christians have opted out of politics, with an above-average rate of unregistered voters.

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Details:
Pantheists refer to those Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, etc.
Born again Christians are those who say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life and believe that when they die they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

As part of the Barna: Cities effort, we can pinpoint America’s most and least megachurch-oriented cities. The research shows that Las Vegas, NV has the highest concentration of megachurch attenders among the Christians who reside in the market (29% of all Christians who live in the region attend a church of at least 1,000 attenders). The second-ranked market was Baton Rouge, LA (27%). Two Florida cities made the top of the list, including Tampa-St. Petersburg (21%) and Orlando (18%). Texas also contributed two cities to the rankings: Dallas, Fort Worth (19%) and Houston (19%). The New Mexico corridor of Albuquerque, Sante Fe (19%) also places in the top seven cities.

The bottom three markets included Madison, WI, Toledo, OH, and Salt Lake City, UT. In each of these three markets, only 1% of Christians reported attending a megachurch.

TO GET THE COMPLETE 2013 CITIES & STATES REPORT, CLICK HERE.

What do you mean by “market”? And how many markets are included?
In this case, we are referring to a ‘media market,’ and each market region is defined based upon what local television they receive. The report includes 96 media markets, the largest ones in the U.S. Sometimes these markets include multiple cities that are adjacent to one another.

How do you get the data?
Every year, we interview thousands of people nationwide through random, representative polling. For these reports, we used our most recent interviews and sliced them into the various cities (or markets) and states in which respondents live. This database is made up of more than 42,000 interviews. With this information, we can create a substantial faith profile of 96 markets and 48 states.

Who are these reports designed for?
The complete, comprehensive Cities and States reports are crafted for organizational leaders who have responsibility for a national audience or constituency. Leaders in media, ministry, marketing, television, magazines, publishing, non-profit, and advocacy have used these reports and have found them to be extremely useful. We have been thrilled to hear their responses. Here’s one example, from Lisa Pang of World Vision:
“World Vision has used Barna’s Cities and States reports in several of our strategic initiatives when we needed to understand and pick the best markets for fundraising or building awareness. The theolographic® attributes are extremely helpful and are probably the best available in the country. Those attributes provide a great picture for us as we try to ascertain the religious segments in each of the markets. These reports are user friendly and very thorough—a cost effective way of getting helpful faith-related information very quickly.”

Can someone just see their own city or state data, rather than the whole report?
Yes. This year, in response to the many requests we received, we are offering both the comprehensive reports, which include all the markets and states, and the individual reports for each of the 96 cities and 48 states.

Who should we contact for more information?
DK - Call us at 805-639-0000 or email us at research@barna.org.

Learn more about the complete, 2-volume Cities and States report.

Learn more about the individual Cities reports.

Learn more about the individual States report.