Latter-day Saints are among the most religious Americans. Their rates of religious engagement often rival evangelical Protestants and members of historically Black Protestant churches, and they far exceed those of many other religious groups.
Latter-day Saints stand out from other Americans as highly religious
% of adults who say they …
Source: Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Latter-day Saints stand out from other Americans as highly religious
% of adults who say they …
| Pray daily | Attend religious services in person at least weekly | |
|---|---|---|
| All U.S. adults | 44 | 25 |
| Latter-day Saint (Mormon) | 73 | 69 |
| Historically Black Protestant | 72 | 33 |
| Evangelical Protestant | 72 | 50 |
| Muslim | 67 | 39 |
| Orthodox Christian | 53 | 23 |
| Catholic | 51 | 29 |
| Hindu | 46 | 18 |
| Mainline Protestant | 45 | 23 |
| Buddhist | 22 | 6 |
| Jewish | 22 | 15 |
| Religiously unaffiliated | 12 | 2 |
Source: Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
For instance, 73% of Latter-day Saint adults say they pray daily, according to data from Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS). This is similar to the shares among evangelical Protestants and members of the historically Black Protestant tradition (72% each) but much higher than the shares of Catholics (51%) or Buddhists (22%) who say they pray daily.
And 69% of Latter-day Saints report attending religious services in person at least weekly, compared with 29% of Catholics and 23% of mainline Protestants.
About half of Latter-day Saints say they have become more religious during their lifetime
% of adults who say that over the course of their lifetime, they have generally become …
Note: Those who did not answer are not shown.
Source: Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
About half of Latter-day Saints say they have become more religious during their lifetime
% of adults who say that over the course of their lifetime, they have generally become …
| More religious | Less religious | Some of both | Stayed about the same | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latter-day Saints (Mormons) | 48 | 12 | 26 | 12 |
| All U.S. adults | 28 | 29 | 21 | 21 |
Note: Those who did not answer are not shown.
Source: Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
In the RLS, we also asked Americans to assess how their own religiousness may have shifted over their lifetimes. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as Mormons) are far more likely to say they have grown more religious than to say they’ve grown less religious (48% vs. 12%).
This is different from the pattern among Americans overall, who are about as likely to say they’ve become more religious (28%) as to say they’ve become less religious (29%).
In addition, most Latter-day Saints say they have become more spiritual over their lifetimes (58%). Few say they have grown less spiritual (8%).
While Latter-day Saints as a whole are more religious than many Americans, some of the church’s members exhibit higher levels of religiousness than others. Latter-day Saints who live in the eight states of the country’s Mountain region (including Utah) and church members who have more education particularly stand out.
This analysis is part of a larger project exploring Latter-day Saints’ demographic makeup, religious beliefs and practices, and political and social views, as well as how these characteristics have changed over time.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often called Mormons by other people, and for years the church used that term to refer to its members or related institutions, such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. However, the church stopped using “Mormon” in 2018 and discourages others from using the term to refer to the church or its followers. In this analysis, we primarily use the church’s full name and refer to members of the faith as “Latter-day Saints.” We include limited references to the term “Mormon” in parentheses for readers who are unfamiliar with the full name of the church or the term “Latter-day Saints.”
Read on to learn more about the religious differences among Latter-day Saints in different parts of the country and among church members with different education levels.
How Latter-day Saints in the Mountain region stand out religiously
About half of American Latter-day Saints live in the Mountain region stretching from Montana to New Mexico. In several of these states, at least 5% of adults identify as members of the church – a share that rises to 50% in Utah. By comparison, Latter-day Saints comprise about 2% of the U.S. adult population.
Latter-day Saints in the Mountain region are somewhat more religious than those who live elsewhere in the country
% of Latter-day Saint adults (Mormons) in the __ who say …
Note: The Mountain region includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Statistically significant differences are in bold.
Source: Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Latter-day Saints in the Mountain region are somewhat more religious than those who live elsewhere in the country
% of Latter-day Saint adults (Mormons) in the __ who say …
| Mountain region | Rest of the U.S. | Diff (pct. pts.) | Statistically significant difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Religion does more good than harm | 79 | 64 | +15 | Yes |
| They pray daily | 79 | 66 | +13 | Yes |
| Religion is very important in their lives | 78 | 66 | +12 | Yes |
| There is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it | 98 | 88 | +10 | Yes |
| They attend religious services in person at least weekly | 74 | 63 | +11 | No |
Note: The Mountain region includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Statistically significant differences are in bold.
Source: Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Church members living in this Latter-day Saint hub are, on average, a little more religious or spiritual than members living elsewhere in the country. For example, nearly all Latter-day Saints in the Mountain region (98%) say there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it, compared with 88% of church members living in all other regions.
And while 79% of Latter-day Saints in Utah and the surrounding states report praying daily, 66% in other parts of the United States say the same.
This higher religiousness of people in the Mountain region appears unique to Latter-day Saints. For instance, roughly six-in-ten Christians overall in both the Mountain region and other parts of the country say they pray every day.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in the Mountain region (79%) also are more likely than members living elsewhere (64%) to view religion positively, saying it does more good than harm.
Educational divides in religiousness among Latter-day Saints
As we previously showed in our major 2011 survey of Latter-day Saints, church members with more education are typically more religious or spiritual than those with less education.
Latter-day Saints with more education appear more religious, spiritual than those with less education
% of adults who say …
| Among Latter-day Saints (Mormons) | Among all Christians | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more | Less education | Diff (pct. pts.) | Bachelor’s degree or more | Less education | Diff (pct. pts.) | |
| There is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it | 97 | 91 | +6 | 92 | 89 | +3 |
| They attend religious services in person at least weekly | 86 | 59 | +27 | 42 | 35 | +7 |
| Religion is very important in their lives | 85 | 65 | +20 | 53 | 56 | -3 |
| They pray daily | 85 | 66 | +19 | 58 | 61 | -3 |
Note: All differences are statistically significant.
Source: Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024.
“Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
This pattern is different from what we see in the U.S. general public, where higher levels of education are typically linked with lower levels of religiousness. There are exceptions to this pattern, as Christians with bachelor’s degrees are often just as religious as Christians without college diplomas – and in some cases, slightly more religious.
Still, on some measures, the gap between Latter-day Saints with different levels of education is notably large. For instance, there’s a 27 percentage point gap in weekly attendance at religious services between Latter-day Saints with a bachelor’s degree or more education (85%) and church members with less education (59%). The gap by education is much smaller among Christians overall (7 points).
Latter-day Saints with bachelor’s degrees (82%) also are more likely than those with less education (67%) to express a favorable view of religion, saying that it does more good than harm in society. Among Christians overall, 57% with bachelor’s degrees take this view, compared with 60% of those without college degrees.
