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The Largest Presbyterian Communities


Related Pages:
- Famous Presbyterians
- Presbyterian Science Fiction Writers

Top 10 U.S. States with Highest Proportion of
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Adherents in the Population, 1990

StateAdherentsPercent of
state pop.
Pennsylvania 388,774 3.27%
North Carolina 205,548 3.10
Iowa 85,186 3.08
Nebraska 48,591 3.08
South Carolina 93,714 2.69
Kansas 63,658 2.57
Delaware 15,401 2.31
Virginia 138,554 2.24
South Dakota 15,473 2.22
West Virginia 37,586 2.10


NOTE: Remember, although the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the largest Presbyterian church in the U.S. and the church to which most affiliated Presbyterians in the U.S. belong, there are many other Presbyterian religious bodies in the U.S.

Top 10 U.S. States with
Most Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Adherents, 1990

StateAdherentsPercent of
state pop.
Pennsylvania 388,774 3.27%
California 258,854 0.87
Ohio 205,721 1.90
North Carolina 205,548 3.10
Texas 200,969 1.18
New York 199,519 1.11
Florida 165,255 1.28
Illinois 158,320 1.39
New Jersey 138,763 1.80
Virginia 138,554 2.24


States on both lists (Highest Number and Highest Percent): Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia.

It would appear that Pennsylvania, which has both the largest number of Presbyerian Church (U.S.A.) members as well as the highest percentage, is the "most Presbyterian state" in the United States. But Presbyterians do not dominate the state by any means. The largest churches in the state are the Catholic church (over 30% of the state's residents), followed by the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (each with about 6%). The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the fourth largest religious body in the state.

There are Presbyterians in Pennsylvania who are not members of the PCUSA. Acording to the Kosmin survey, 5.3% of Pennsylvanians identified themselves as Presbyterians in 1990. But this still placed them behind Catholics (34%), Lutherans and Methodists (each over 8%), and Baptists in various churches (almost 10%).


Source: Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1990, published by the Glenmary Research Center, P.O. Box 507, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Principle investigator: Church Growth Research Center, Church of the Nazarene, Kansas City, MO. This data source was obtained from the American Religion Data Archive.
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Created 10 August 1999. Last modified 30 September 2005.