A new study out from the famous Gallup research group puts Utah at the #1 spot for weekly church attendance--and you can probably guess the reason for that finding.
As the report states, "51% of Utah residents attend church weekly.... Utah's No. 1 position on the list is a direct result of that state's 59% Mormon population." Gallup drew this conclusion based on a previous 2014 study that found that Latter-day Saints attend religious services most frequently, with 75% of those who identify as Mormon saying they attend a religious service "at least one a week almost every week."
Utah was also uniquely noted in the report for being the only non-Southern state in the top 12 states for religious attendance. (And in case you're curious, Utah's 51% weekly attendance was followed by Mississippi at 47% and Alabama at 46%--the state with the smallest church attendance figure was Vermont with 17%).
The results were based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews with 177,020 adults that took place in 2014. The question asked was "How often do you attend church, synagogue or mosque -- at least once a week, almost every week, about once a month, seldom or never?"
And though the answers collected are only estimates, they "provide an important measure of the way in which Americans view their personal, underlying religiosity. In particular, the focus on the top category of 'weekly' attendance yields a good indicator of the percentage of each state's population that is highly religious, and for whom religion is likely to be a significant factor in their daily lives."
In other words, because Utah (and its Mormon population) scored so high in the poll, it reflects a general sense that religion is important to residents as it affects their daily lives.
Way to be!