| Editors: | Jan Shipps |
| Mark Silk |
In the Religion by Region Project, the Mountain West states are Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. (Along with California and Hawaii, Nevada included in the Pacific region.) The eastern boundary of the Mountain West, region is in the high plains and much of its land mass is in the intermountain area. But the essential character of the region is drawn from its mountains. The rugged beauty of the Rockies, the Grand Tetons, the Wasatch Mountains, and the Uintahs is so intense that the land has taken on an inherently sacred character for many of its inhabitants. Although geography and landscape combine to make this a single region, history--especially the religious history of the Mountain West-created three sub regions in the mountain area. Arizona and New Mexico were founded as northern extensions of a Spanish and then Mexican Catholic empire; the "Great Basin, which became Utah and Idaho, started out as the Mormon Kingdom of God "in the tops of the mountains;" and long bef ore gold and other precious metals were discovered in the area that is now Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, this was sacred land to many different Native American peoples.
Despite the marvels of modernity, this is still an oasis region with scattered urban concentrations of population located in what, for many years, was more or less empty space. But in the areas where water makes it possible, the region is increasingly filled with what might be called linear urban sprawl. As a result, this is a region in transition, a transition that is creating enough religious tension to make religion an important element in the public life of the Mountain states.
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Rocky Mountain West Region - Adherents as % of all adherents |
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| In order of magnitude, the denominational breakdown in the Mountain West is: Catholic, 34.4%; Mormon, 27%;Conservative Protestant, 20.7%; Historic mainline Protestant, 9.5%; African-American Protestant, .4%;Eastern religions, .1%; Jewish, 2%, Muslim, .4%. | |
Rocky Mountain West Region - Congregations as % of all congregations |
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| A comparison of the percentages in this chart with the percentages of adherents reflects a huge disparity in the sizes of congregations in the Mountain West. For example, 34.4 % of all adherents are Catholic, while only 8.6 % of all the congregations in the region are Catholic. In the other direction,5.7% of all adherents are Holiness/Wesleyan/Pentecostal while 12.7 of all congregations are classified in this category. The Mormon statistics are closer: 27% of all adherents are Latter-day Saints and 34.9 % of all congregations are LDS. | |
Arizona - adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Religious adherent breakdown for Arizona. | |
Colorado- adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Denominational breakdown of religious adherents in Colorado. | |
Idaho - adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Denominational breakdown of religious adherents in Idaho. | |
Montana - adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Denominational breakdown of religious adherents in Montana. | |
New Mexico - adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Denominational breakdown of religious adherents in New Mexico. | |
Utah - adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Denominational breakdown of all religious adherents in Utah. | |
Wyoming - adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Denominational breakdown of religious adherents in Wyoming. | |
Boulder County, Colorado - Adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Religious diversity in the Mountain West is perhaps most clearly represented in Boulder County, Colorado. Rounded out to the nearest whole figure, of all religious adherents in the county, 36% are Catholic; 20% are Conservative Christians; 14% are adherents of Eastern religions; 12% are Mainline Protestants; 8% are Jewish; 3 percent are Mormon; 3 percent are Muslim; and 1% is Orthodox. | |
El Paso County, Colorado - Adherents as % of all adherents |
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| Although it is considered a center of Christian Right conservatism, El Paso County is more religiously diverse than is sometimes thought. Gathered into categories, rounded percentages of adherents among all adherents in the county are Conservative Protestant, 37; Catholic, 25; Historic African-American Protestant, 16; Mainline Protestant, 16; Mormon, 5; Jewish, 1; Eastern religion <1. | |
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Unaffiliated or Uncounted - as % of total population |
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| Except Mormon Utah, where religiously unaffiliated or uncounted persons account for 23.5 percent of the total population, and Catholic New Mexico, where the religiously unaffiliated or uncounted account for 36.8 percent of the total population, at least half the total population in the other states in the Mountain West is religiously unaffiliated or uncounted. The precise percentages are: Arizona, 56; Colorado, 54.9; Montana, 52.9; Wyoming 50.6; and Idaho 50. | |
Catholics as percentage of all adherents in the Mountain West |
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| Among all adherents in this region, Catholics predominate in every state except Utah. In descending order, the specific percentages are New Mexico, 58.4; Arizona, 43.2; Montana, 39.8; Wyoming, 33; Idaho 20.2; and Utah 5.7. | |
Catholics as % of total population in the Mountain West |
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Percentage of Catholics as percentage of the total population is much lower than the percentage of Catholics in the total number of religious adherents. In each state the percentage comparison is as follows:
Arizona, 19 as opposed to 43.2; Colorado, 17.5 as opposed to 38.8; Idaho, 10.1 as opposed to 20.2 Montana, 18.8 as opposed to 39.8 New Mexico, 39.9 as opposed to 58.4 Utah, 4.3 as opposed to 5.7 Wyoming, 16.3 as opposed to 33. |
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Mormons as % of all adherents in the Mountain West |
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| The table accompanying this map indicates that Mormons as a percentage of all adherents varies from 86.8 in Utah to 3.7 in New Mexico. In descending order, percentages of all adherents in the other states are Idaho, 48.1; Wyoming, 19.3; Arizona, 11.2; Montana, 7.7; and Colorado 4.8. | |
Mormons as % of total population in the Mountain West |
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Percentage of Mormons as a percentage of the total population is much lower than the percentage of Mormons in the total number of religious adherents. In each state the percentage comparison is as follows:
Arizona, 4.9 as opposed to 11.2; Colorado, 2.1 as opposed to 4.8; Idaho, 24.1 as opposed to 48.1; Montana, 3.6 as opposed to 7.7; New Mexico, 2.3 as opposed to 3.7 Utah, 66.4 as opposed to 86.8; Wyoming, 9.5 as opposed to 19.3. |
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Evangelical Protestants - as % of all Protestant adherents in the Mountain West |
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| Although in smaller percentages overall than Catholics in four of the states in the region and Mormons and Catholics in Utah and Idaho, of all the Protestants in the Mountain West, there is a strong Protestant presence in the region. Within the region' Protestants, conservative evangelical bodies are the most numerous. In descending order, the percentage of evangelicals among the Protestant adherents are as follows: New Mexico, 73.6; Arizona, 60.3; Idaho 64.4; Colorado 61.6; Utah 59.1; and Wyoming, 56.8. | |
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Adherents by Denomination Categories |
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| This table shows by denomination category for each state in the Mountain West the number of adherents, number of adherents as percent of all adherents, and number of adherents as a percent of the total population. | |
Congregations by Denomination Categories |
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| This table shows by denomination category for each state in the Mountain West the number of congregations and the number of congregations as percent of all congregations. | |
