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 most Bible-thumping places in the Tar Heel State?
It’s easy to figure out. Just find out which areas say they are the most religious, 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 Most Bible Thumping Cities in North Carolina:
What godly criteria did we use?
First, we had to use the latest Religious Congregations & Membership Study to determine the counties with the highest number of religious residents and most number of churches:
- Highest number of religious residents
- Highest number of churches per capita
Then, we had to took the cities from the highest counties and ran city-by-city data on those cities, using this criteria:
- Lowest number of bars
- Lowest 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. Hayesville
Population: 414
Clay County: 5.3% not religious
Churches per capita: .42
Bars per capita: Last
Divorce rate: 3rd from last
2. Forest City
Population: 7,480
Rutherford County: 25% not religious
Churches per capita: .20
Bars per capita: 4th least
Divorce rate: 7th least
3. Waynesville
Population: 9,864
Haywood County: 28% not religious
Churches per capita: .24
Bars per capita: 2nd lowest
Divorce rate: 2nd lowest
4. Whiteville
Population: 5,347
Columbus County: 42% not religious
Churches per capita: .30
Bars per capita: 10th lowest
Divorce rate: Lowest
5. Albemarle
Population: 15,913
Stanly County: 33% not religious
Churches per capita: .24
Bars per capita: 8th fewest
Divorce rate: 4th fewest
6. Clinton
Population: 8,890
Sampson County: 43% not religious
Churches per capita: .32
Bars per capita: 9th least
Divorce rate: 6th least
7. Kinston
Population: 21,746
Lenoir County: 43% not religious
Churches per capita: .30
Bars per capita: 7th least
Divorce rate: 10th least
8. Shelby
Population: 20,312
Cleveland County: 38% not religious
Churches per capita: .25
Bars per capita: 5th least
Divorce rate: 9th least
9. Morganton
Population: 17,030
Burke County: 39% not religious
Churches per capita: .22
Bars per capita: 6th least
Divorce rate: 5th least
10. Mount Airy
Population: 10,550
Clay County: 46% not religious
Churches per capita: .25
Bars per capita: 3rd least
Divorce rate: 7th least
There You Have It
If you’re measuring the locations in North Carolina where there are a high number of people who attend church, where there are a lot of churches to begin with, and where they follow religious practices, this is an accurate list.
