The Seattle Times analyzed an ongoing Household Pulse Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau to conclude that of all of America’s metropolitan areas, Seattle, Washington is the least religious.
“A clear majority of adults in the Seattle area — around 64% — never attend church or religious services, or go less than once a year,” the paper reported. “That pencils out to about 1.98 million people out of the total 3.1 million population aged 18 and older in our metro area, which includes King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.” It went on to note that the survey, having been conducted from January 9 to February 5, had approximately 68,500 respondents across the nation.
Seattle ranked as the least religious of America’s 15 largest metro areas, narrowly beating San Francisco’s 63% of those who rarely or never attend religious services.
Some regional and demographic patterns emerged, showing rough cultural boundaries.
One stark observation from the data is that Seattle residents may not be as much of an outlier as Americans might think. The data indicated that nationally, half of adults either never go to religious services whatsoever or attend less than once a year. ((Photo by: Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))
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“The southern parts of the U.S. tend to be more religious, so it’s not surprising to see three Sunbelt cities with the lowest share of nonreligious residents among large metros,” the Seattle news outlet reported. “In Dallas, 40.5% never attend a service or go less than once a year. Houston and Atlanta were just a little higher.”
But while many American states are known for a division between a less religious urban population and a more religious rural population, the state of Washington is notably irreligious in both.
“What may be surprising to folks in the Seattle area, though, is that the rest of Washington is nearly as nonreligious as Seattle. Statewide, 63% never or almost never attend religious services, just 1 percentage point lower than the number for the Seattle area,” The Seattle Times wrote. “Washington ranked as the fifth least-religious state. Maine and Vermont were at the top, both at around 69%, followed by Oregon (65%) and New Hampshire (64%). Mississippi had the lowest share of nonreligious people, with only 30% never or almost never attending services.”
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 13: The Space Needle stands over the Seattle skyline as Mt. Rainier is seen in the background on March 13, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. ((Photo by John Moore/Getty Images))
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One stark observation is that these are not as much of an outlier as Americans might think, as data indicated that nationally, half of adults either never go to religious services whatsoever or attend less than once a year.
The data also reportedly indicated that Seattle has a notably high concentration of younger adults, who are demographically less likely to attend church services, to the degree that “more than 42% of the adult population was between the ages of 18 and 39 in 2022, the highest percentage among the 15 metros.”
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Another demographic that may help explain the irreligious majority in Seattle is race.
“The survey data shows only 35% of Black people nationally never or almost never attend services, the lowest of any racial or ethnic group. White people had the highest percentage, at 54%,” the local news outlet wrote. “Census data shows in the Seattle area that Black people made up just 6% of the total population in 2022, second lowest among the 15 metro areas. White people were 57% of the total, fourth highest among the metros.”