I launched this blog in 2010 as a means to release a massive report on evangelical concentrations in the United States and Canada. Such was based on data housed at The ARDA. Over the years, I have attempted to share the updated evangelical percentages and church to population ratios.
While the latest numbers have been out for a while, I am now getting around to posting them here.
Listed below are the least-reached U.S. metro areas based on evangelical percentages under 4%. I have also included the decadal shifts since 2000. Provo-Orem continues to lead the way at 0.4% evangelical.
If your church, denomination, agency, or network is looking for geographical areas in the U.S. to begin (or continue) church planting work, then start here.
| Metro-Area | Evangelical Percentage 2020 | Evangelical Percentage 2010 | Evangelical Percentage 2000 |
| Provo-Orem, UT Metro Area | 0.38 | 0.48 | 0.62 |
| Heber, UT Micro Area | 0.70 | 0.64 | 0.24 |
| Vineyard Haven, MA Micro Area | 1.19 | 1.87 | 2.26 |
| Rexburg, ID Micro Area | 1.21 | 1.39 | 1.31 |
| Logan, UT-ID Metro Area | 1.33 | 1.39 | 0.85 |
| St. George, UT Metro Area | 1.93 | 1.70 | 1.33 |
| Salt Lake City, UT Metro Area | 2.44 | 2.64 | 2.01 |
| Cedar City, UT Micro Area | 2.46 | 3.00 | 1.46 |
| Blackfoot, ID Micro Area | 2.56 | 1.66 | 2.10 |
| Torrington, CT Micro Area | 2.59 | 2.36 | 2.04 |
| St. Marys, PA Micro Area | 2.59 | ||
| Barnstable Town, MA Metro Area | 2.61 | 2.45 | 1.48 |
| Kingston, NY Metro Area | 2.63 | 2.25 | 1.58 |
| Taos, NM Micro Area | 2.73 | 6.19 | 5.06 |
| Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metro Area | 2.84 | 3.26 | 2.58 |
| Plattsburgh, NY Micro Area | 3.22 | 2.94 | 2.94 |
| Dubuque, IA Metro Area | 3.26 | 5.99 | 3.12 |
| Hudson, NY Micro Area | 3.27 | 2.11 | 1.35 |
| Jackson, WY-ID Micro Area | 3.30 | 2.94 | 1.34 |
| Pittsfield, MA Metro Area | 3.40 | 2.15 | 1.45 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area | 3.43 | 3.23 | 2.31 |
| Concord, NH Micro Area | 3.69 | 3.55 | 2.18 |
| Vernal, UT Micro Area | 3.77 | 4.02 | 5.13 |
| Cortland, NY Micro Area | 3.78 | 4.64 | 4.45 |
| Rio Grande City-Roma, TX Micro Area | 3.82 | 3.88 | 3.03 |
| Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY Metro Area | 3.84 | ||
| Watertown-Fort Drum, NY Metro Area | 3.91 | 4.21 | 2.92 |
| Lebanon, NH-VT Micro Area | 3.97 |
I’m a church planter in Rochester, NY (Monroe County). We planted 7 years ago, and plan to plant many churches (not campuses: independent, elder-led churches) in the Rochester Metro area. Do you have data for my area? I’d love to know where we sit.
Brandon–I do not have the data at the moment. However, if you go to The ARDA’s web site linked above and enter Rochester, you should find what you desire.