North Carolina is the 9th most religious state in the nation, according to a 2014 Gallup Poll. That’s not surprising, since 9 of the top 10 are in the south. Utah was the only outlier.
Exactly 50% of the residents of North Carolina are estimated to be religious. But we wanted to know – where are the least religious places in the Tar Heel State?
It’s easy to figure out. Just find out which areas say they don’t have a religion, and measure the number of churches per city.
Plus, we thought – why not add in a couple of stereotypes? Since hard core religious members of the south stay strict about no alcohol, and divorce is considered ‘taboo’ in religious circles, we used those criteria as well.
After analyzing all cities with a decent amount of people in them, we came up with this list as The Least Religious Cities in North Carolina:
- Jacksonville
- Piney Green
- Half Moon
- Raeford
- Rockfish
- Moyock
- Swansboro
- Surf City
- North Topsail
- Silver City
What ungodly criteria did we use?
First, we had to use the latest Religious Congregations & Membership Study (which gets it from the Association of Religion Data Archives) to determine the counties with the lowest number of religious residents and least number of churches:
- Least number of religious residents
- Least number of churches per capita
Then, we had to took the cities from the three lowest counties and ran city-by-city data on those cities, using this criteria:
- Highest number of bars
- Highest divorce rates
Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a city’s border, as well as within a short driving distance.
1. Jacksonville
Population: 69,393
County: 2nd least religious
Bars per capita: 5th
Divorce rate: 7th
Jacksonville is the by far the largest city to make this list, meaning we can make a case that it’s the least religious city in the state of North Carolina. Here’s why:
Onslow County is the 2nd least religious in the state when you look at the data. 71% of its residents don’t have a religion. Additionally, Onslow County has the 2nd fewest churches per capita in the state.
Within Onslow County, Jacksonville has a ton of bars. If the divorce rate was higher than 7.2%, Jacksonville would have ‘won’ this study by even more than it did.
Onslow County goes from Jacksonville inland a bit and huge a majority of the cast from Surf City to Emerald Isle.
2. Piney Green
Population: 13,975
County: 2nd least religious
Divorce rate: 2nd highest
Another Onslow County city, Piney Green is also very unreligious, when compared to the rest of the state of North Carolina.
Within Onslow County, there are no bars in Piney Green proper. However the divorce rate was one of the highest of the least religious cities we measured. At 11%, it’s just about as high as we saw in running the numbers.
3. Half Moon
Population: 8,374
County: 2nd least religious
Divorce rate: 10.8%
Remember, Onslow County is the least religious county in the state.
Half Moon is another Onslow County city, right next door to Jacksonville. Again, there are no bars in Half Moon proper, but when 1 in 10 people is divorced, it’s a sign that religion isn’t at the centerpoint of the residents lives.
4. Raeford
Population: 4,643
County: Least religious
Bars per capita: 5th
Divorce rate: 9.8%
Raeford is the seat in Hoke County, which is, by far, the least religious county in North Carolina. Located right outside of Fayetteville, the residents in Hoke County follow religion at a staggeringly low 23%, which is by far the least number of church goers in the state.
Plus, Hoke County has the 4th lowest number of churches in the state.
Raeford has a few bars in its city limits, and 10% of its residents are divorced.
5. Rockfish
Population: 3,455
County: 2nd least religious
Divorce rate: 9.6%
Rockfish is right next door to Raeford, and is also in Hoke County, the least religious county in North Carolina. There are no bars here, and nearly 1 in 10 residents are divorced.
While there are a few churches in the Rockfish area, none have Rockfish addresses.
6. Moyock
Population: 3,432
County: 3rd least religious
Bars per capita: 5th
Divorce rate: 9%
Moyock is in Currituck County, which is the 3rd least religious county in North Carolina. 7 in 10 people who live in this small county near the Virginia state line don’t attend church. In fact, there are only 35 churches in this entire county.
Moyock’s residents divorce at a higher rate than most of the state, and they have a bar in town.
Curritick County extends along the far northern coast of North Carolina, practically to Kitty Hawk, and inland to the Virginia border.
7. Swansboro
Population: 2,637
County: 2nd least religious
Bars per capita: 2nd
Divorce rate: 7%
Swansboro is in Onslow County, right along the coast. Here, there are very few religious identifiers and practically more bars than churches. The divorce rate is just about on par with the national average at 7%.
8. Surf City
Population: 2,259
County: 2nd least religious
Bars per capita: 1st
Divorce rate: 8%
Surf City is right along the coast in Onslow County, where there are a huge number of bars, and an above average divorce rate.
Considering that more than 70% of Onslow County residents identify as being non-religious, and the sheer number of beach/summer/vacation homes in the area, Surf City ranking on this list isn’t surprising.
9. North Topsail
Population: 1,151
County: 2nd least religious
Bars per capita: 2nd
Divorce rate: 8%
Like Surf City, North Topsail is a touristy place without much of a religious presence with a couple bars and hardly any churches in the area. There are only 158 churches in the entire county of Onslow.
10. Silver City
Population: 1,052
County: 2nd least religious
Divorce rate: 11.7%
Silver City has the highest divorce rate of any city on this list. 100 of the city’s 1,000 residents is divorced, and 700 of them claim they don’t go to church.
There You Have It
If you’re measuring the locations in North Carolina where there are a low number of people who attend church, where there are few churches to begin with, and where most people don’t follow religious practices, this is an accurate list.
We also wrote about the 10 most redneck cities in North Carolina if you didn’t read it yet. Click here to read that one.
Desktop users: Here’s a list of the least religious counties in North Carolina, along with the number of churches each has:
