By Gene Balk, FYI Guy
Seattle Times columnist
Americans have grown less religious over the past couple of decades, and attendance at religious services is down across the country. Of course, some parts of the country are a lot less religious than others. New survey data shows Seattle is one of those places.
A clear majority of adults in the Seattle area — around 64% — never attend church or religious services or go less than once a year. 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.
The data comes from the ongoing Household Pulse Survey, a product of the U.S. Census Bureau. The question on religious-service attendance is a new addition to the survey, which was conducted from Jan. 9 to Feb. 5, and had about 68,500 respondents nationwide.
The survey includes data from all 50 states plus the nation’s 15 largest metro areas, including Seattle. And among those 15, Seattle ranked the least religious, edging out San Francisco, where 63% never attend religious services, or go less than once a year. Boston was a distant third at 56%.
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. In Dallas, 40.5% never attend a service or go less than once a year. Houston and Atlanta were just a little higher.
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.
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.
Nationally, half of adults never go to religious services, or go less than once a year, according to the survey.
More liberal places like Seattle tend to be less religious than conservative places. A Pew Research Center survey found that nationwide just 29% of Democrats attended religious services weekly, compared with 44% of Republicans.
Beyond geographic location and political affiliation, there are a number of demographic factors that correlate with religiosity.
Age is the most notable of these, with the youngest cohort being the least religious and the oldest being the most. Nationally, 59% of adults under 30 never or almost never attend services, compared with just 37% of those 80 and older.
The Seattle area has a high concentration of younger adults, which could partly explain our low level of religious-service attendance. Census data shows in the Seattle area 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.
Race and ethnicity are other factors that could partly explain the low level of religious-service attendance in the Seattle area. 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%.
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.
The U.S. Census Bureau produces the Household Pulse Survey in conjunction with other federal agencies. Unlike other census products, which have a long lag time, the Household Pulse Survey provides near-real-time data.
The program was initiated in 2020 in response to the pandemic. It was intended to help inform officials and policymakers about the impacts of the pandemic on communities across the country, and to provide data to aid in a post-pandemic recovery.
The new survey question on religious-service attendance is part of a series of mental health questions around social connectedness and emotional support.
First published Feb. 29, 2024
Gene Balk / FYI Guy: gbalk@seattletimes.com
