Least Reached Counties in the United States
Recently I shared about the release of the 2010 U. S. Congregational Membership Report. I am pleased to know that some folks across the country are shifting through the numbers to guide their strategic planning. I hope they are planning on sharing their findings with the rest of us.
I want to draw your attention to the U. S. counties that are under 3 percent evangelical. While I would never attempt to label a county an unreached people group, just remember that many within the missiological community identify a UPG as less than 2 percent evangelical. You will see several counties below that fall under 2 percent.
Yes, such places do exist in North America. And within these geographical regions we find ta ethne.
What I have posted below is a table containing some of the findings from the 2010 study. The county and state name is provided, followed by the number of evangelicals living in the county and their percent of the population in 2010. You may find the full list HERE.
Will you and your church consider praying, going, and sending missionary teams into these areas of the country to plant churches from the harvest fields? Will you consider encouraging our brothers and sisters who are laboring in these areas?
| U. S. COUNTY |
EVANGELICALS |
% OF POPULATION
|
| Judith Basin County, Montana |
62 |
2.99 |
| Kane County, Utah |
213 |
2.99 |
| Carbon County, Pennsylvania |
1943 |
2.98 |
| Nassau County, New York |
39923 |
2.98 |
| Franklin County, Maine |
908 |
2.95 |
| Bethel Census Area, Alaska |
501 |
2.94 |
| Clinton County, New York |
2417 |
2.94 |
| Esmeralda County, Nevada |
23 |
2.94 |
| Otsego County, New York |
1829 |
2.94 |
| Washington County, New York |
1856 |
2.94 |
| Iowa County, Wisconsin |
694 |
2.93 |
| Sussex County, New Jersey |
4368 |
2.93 |
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska |
164 |
2.93 |
| Coos County, New Hampshire |
966 |
2.92 |
| Franklin County, Massachusetts |
2079 |
2.91 |
| Millard County, Utah |
364 |
2.91 |
| Ziebach County, South Dakota |
81 |
2.89 |
| Keokuk County, Iowa |
303 |
2.88 |
| Elk County, Pennsylvania |
905 |
2.83 |
| Essex County, Massachusetts |
20925 |
2.82 |
| Mono County, California |
395 |
2.78 |
| Wyoming County, New York |
1168 |
2.77 |
| Conejos County, Colorado |
228 |
2.76 |
| Middlesex County, Massachusetts |
41270 |
2.75 |
| Bennington County, Vermont |
1005 |
2.71 |
| Providence County, Rhode Island |
16895 |
2.7 |
| Salt Lake County, Utah |
27497 |
2.67 |
| Plymouth County, Massachusetts |
13159 |
2.66 |
| Tolland County, Connecticut |
4069 |
2.66 |
| Carroll County, New Hampshire |
1241 |
2.6 |
| Davis County, Utah |
7928 |
2.59 |
| Sevier County, Utah |
539 |
2.59 |
| Monmouth County, New Jersey |
16025 |
2.54 |
| Rockingham County, New Hampshire |
7456 |
2.53 |
| St. Martin Parish, Louisiana |
1322 |
2.53 |
| Ocean County, New Jersey |
14510 |
2.52 |
| Franklin County, New York |
1277 |
2.47 |
| Barnstable County, Massachusetts |
5281 |
2.45 |
| Granite County, Montana |
75 |
2.44 |
| Fulton County, New York |
1351 |
2.43 |
| Middlesex County, Connecticut |
3978 |
2.4 |
| Pitkin County, Colorado |
409 |
2.39 |
| Hancock County, Maine |
1288 |
2.37 |
| Winneshiek County, Iowa |
500 |
2.37 |
| Litchfield County, Connecticut |
4483 |
2.36 |
| Sioux County, North Dakota |
98 |
2.36 |
| Pike County, Pennsylvania |
1351 |
2.35 |
| Windham County, Vermont |
1026 |
2.3 |
| Kent County, Rhode Island |
3786 |
2.28 |
| Herkimer County, New York |
1461 |
2.26 |
| Ulster County, New York |
4104 |
2.25 |
| Belknap County, New Hampshire |
1315 |
2.19 |
| Dundy County, Nebraska |
44 |
2.19 |
| Addison County, Vermont |
801 |
2.18 |
| Berkshire County, Massachusetts |
2817 |
2.15 |
| Rensselaer County, New York |
3424 |
2.15 |
| Tooele County, Utah |
1250 |
2.15 |
| Columbia County, New York |
1329 |
2.11 |
| Pocahontas County, Iowa |
152 |
2.08 |
| Summit County, Utah |
751 |
2.07 |
| Todd County, South Dakota |
195 |
2.03 |
| Elliott County, Kentucky |
158 |
2.01 |
| Hampshire County, Massachusetts |
3128 |
1.98 |
| White Pine County, Nevada |
196 |
1.95 |
| Sullivan County, New Hampshire |
849 |
1.94 |
| Dukes County, Massachusetts |
310 |
1.87 |
| Newport County, Rhode Island |
1522 |
1.84 |
| Franklin County, Vermont |
874 |
1.83 |
| Sullivan County, New York |
1399 |
1.8 |
| Schuyler County, New York |
329 |
1.79 |
| Washington County, Utah |
2345 |
1.7 |
| Yates County, New York |
432 |
1.7 |
| Norfolk County, Massachusetts |
11323 |
1.69 |
| Stanley County, South Dakota |
50 |
1.69 |
| Grafton County, New Hampshire |
1494 |
1.68 |
| Bingham County, Idaho |
757 |
1.66 |
| Mountrail County, North Dakota |
124 |
1.62 |
| Box Elder County, Utah |
807 |
1.61 |
| Nantucket County, Massachusetts |
158 |
1.55 |
| St. James Parish, Louisiana |
340 |
1.54 |
| Orange County, Vermont |
438 |
1.51 |
| Cache County, Utah |
1596 |
1.42 |
| Jackson County, Iowa |
250 |
1.26 |
| Bear Lake County, Idaho |
75 |
1.25 |
| Clear Creek County, Colorado |
113 |
1.24 |
| Putnam County, New York |
1208 |
1.21 |
| Franklin County, Idaho |
150 |
1.17 |
| Putnam County, Illinois |
67 |
1.12 |
| Oneida County, Idaho |
45 |
1.05 |
| Caribou County, Idaho |
60 |
0.86 |
| Jefferson County, Idaho |
213 |
0.81 |
| Sanpete County, Utah |
213 |
0.77 |
| Storey County, Nevada |
29 |
0.72 |
| Wasatch County, Utah |
150 |
0.64 |
| Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska |
6 |
0.6 |
| Utah County, Utah |
2540 |
0.49 |
| Garfield County, Utah |
25 |
0.48 |
| Madison County, Idaho |
162 |
0.43 |
| Beaver County, Utah |
28 |
0.42 |
| Bristol County, Rhode Island |
198 |
0.4 |
| Wayne County, Utah |
10 |
0.36 |
| Teton County, Idaho |
29 |
0.29 |
| Skagway Municipality, Alaska |
2 |
0.21 |
| Keweenaw County, Michigan |
0 |
0 |
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This is great information, but I’m curious what is labeled as “evangelical.” I’m a United Methodist church planter and I couldn’t help notice that the UMC isn’t considered evangelical. Is the issue that people are far away from God or are they far away from a list of particular denominations? If the answer revolves around denominations I’m afraid that we’re focusing more on stealing sheep then reaching unreached people. It’s possible that some of these counties might not have a church of a particular brand. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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Our church is located in one of these counties. I’m wondering how evangelical is defined in the congregational report. Thanks.
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Here is a map of the bottom 3%: http://batchgeo.com/map/7536845634f27debf9e26d6d0cccecd8
This data is startling! I live in PA the entire eastern side of the state has an average of 6%. This will keep me up tonight.
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As a resident of Elk Co, PA, this data is inaccurate.
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Interesting article. I wonder why these areas have such low numbers. I’m guessing because of the type on industry the county.
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A map of these counties would be a VERY helpful tool.
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JD, thanks so much for your blog and this post. I recently received a copy of Barnabas Factors and found your blog today. We are planting a church in Newport News, VA (15.96% on the ARDA list) and are building church planting into our DNA. This list will certainly help us pray in that direction! Thanks again.
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Thanks, Jesse, for sharing. Please feel free to let us know how it is not correct.
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Todd,
Here is how they are defining the term: http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/evangelical.asp
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Thanks, Matt, for sharing. I greatly appreciate it. Here is how they define evangelical: http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/evangelical.asp
It should definitely not be about sheep stealing. I addressed your question regarding the focus on evangelicals in 2010 with my report based on the 2000 data. You may find that report here: http://www.northamericanmissions.org/?q=node/525
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I’m curious as to how you define evangelical. What about renewal movements in the mainline denominations?
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Jeff,
Here is how the researchers defined evangelical: http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/evangelical.asp
To my knowledge, their research did not look at renewal movements.
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Whatever happened to America which was once 100% Christian?
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Gloria,
The USA was NEVER “100% Christian”. That would mean there would be no non-Christians, and that has never been the case. Being a member of a church is not enough, and even the first settlers from England when we were a part of England did not have 100% Christians.
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Gloria 0- I don’t think anyone has ever even claimed that the U.S. population consisted of all Christian believers at any time.