Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) - Rankings by Area (States) [Counties] [Metro-Areas]
The second-largest Lutheran denomination in the United States was founded in Missouri by German immigrants in 1847. Many of these immigrants had rejected the planned merger of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia. The group was originally named The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States, but the name was shortened to its present form in 1947 on the occasion of their 100th anniversary. [View our profile of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS)]
Using data from the 1980-2020 U.S. Religion Census, this list ranks U.S. States on the highest percent of the population in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). You can sort the list by clicking on the column headings.
| Rank 2020 |
Rank 2010 |
Rank 2000 |
Rank 1990 |
Rank 1980 |
State | Percent 2020 |
Percent 2010 |
Percent 2000 |
Percent 1990 |
Percent 1980 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Nebraska | 5.18 | 6.16 | 6.86 | 7.28 | 7.17 |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Wisconsin | 3.05 | 3.93 | 4.5 | 5.09 | 5.41 |
| 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Minnesota | 2.65 | 3.44 | 4.14 | 4.93 | 5.41 |
| 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | South Dakota | 3.09 | 3.74 | 4.18 | 4.74 | 4.89 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Iowa | 2.82 | 3.45 | 4.1 | 4.47 | 4.42 |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | North Dakota | 2.31 | 3.27 | 3.69 | 4.02 | 4.26 |
| 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Missouri | 1.93 | 2.38 | 2.51 | 2.85 | 2.95 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Michigan | 1.71 | 2.22 | 2.46 | 2.69 | 2.8 |
| 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 | Illinois | 1.42 | 1.9 | 2.24 | 2.59 | 2.74 |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | Kansas | 1.62 | 2.08 | 2.33 | 2.55 | 2.46 |
| 12 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | Wyoming | 1.13 | 1.66 | 2.25 | 2.48 | 2.27 |
| 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | Montana | 1.05 | 1.42 | 1.71 | 2.02 | 2.05 |
| 11 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 13 | Indiana | 1.32 | 1.66 | 1.83 | 1.98 | 2.01 |
| 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | Colorado | 0.55 | 0.84 | 1.1 | 1.43 | 1.62 |
| 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | Idaho | 0.44 | 0.63 | 1.03 | 1.32 | 1.35 |
| 21 | 21 | 20 | 16 | 16 | Oregon | 0.3 | 0.47 | 0.66 | 0.92 | 1.08 |
| 23 | 20 | 18 | 17 | 17 | Washington | 0.26 | 0.49 | 0.69 | 0.86 | 1.07 |
| 18 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 18 | Texas | 0.39 | 0.53 | 0.67 | 0.79 | 0.82 |
| 17 | 16 | 16 | 19 | 19 | Ohio | 0.42 | 0.59 | 0.7 | 0.77 | 0.81 |
| 23 | 24 | 23 | 21 | 20 | Maryland | 0.26 | 0.37 | 0.52 | 0.66 | 0.73 |
| 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 20 | Florida | 0.23 | 0.35 | 0.45 | 0.52 | 0.73 |
| 16 | 17 | 16 | 19 | 22 | Oklahoma | 0.43 | 0.58 | 0.7 | 0.77 | 0.72 |
| 21 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 23 | Alaska | 0.3 | 0.52 | 0.66 | 0.62 | 0.64 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 25 | 24 | Nevada | 0.23 | 0.29 | 0.38 | 0.52 | 0.63 |
| 30 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 24 | California | 0.18 | 0.28 | 0.38 | 0.48 | 0.63 |
| 20 | 22 | 24 | 22 | 26 | Arizona | 0.31 | 0.41 | 0.49 | 0.65 | 0.61 |
| 25 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 27 | New York | 0.25 | 0.35 | 0.43 | 0.5 | 0.58 |
| 19 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 28 | Arkansas | 0.34 | 0.41 | 0.53 | 0.6 | 0.54 |
| 28 | 29 | 27 | 29 | 29 | Connecticut | 0.21 | 0.27 | 0.39 | 0.46 | 0.52 |
| 32 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | Louisiana | 0.17 | 0.24 | 0.33 | 0.45 | 0.49 |
| 32 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 31 | New Mexico | 0.17 | 0.23 | 0.31 | 0.44 | 0.43 |
| 36 | 37 | 34 | 32 | 32 | New Jersey | 0.12 | 0.19 | 0.27 | 0.33 | 0.41 |
| 35 | 35 | 35 | 32 | 33 | Alabama | 0.15 | 0.22 | 0.26 | 0.33 | 0.35 |
| 38 | 30 | 33 | 32 | 34 | Delaware | 0.1 | 0.24 | 0.29 | 0.33 | 0.34 |
| 45 | 40 | 43 | 40 | 35 | District Of Columbia | 0.06 | 0.14 | 0.13 | 0.19 | 0.32 |
| 45 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 36 | Utah | 0.06 | 0.15 | 0.2 | 0.26 | 0.31 |
| 30 | 32 | 35 | 35 | 37 | North Carolina | 0.18 | 0.23 | 0.26 | 0.29 | 0.3 |
| 34 | 35 | 35 | 37 | 38 | Virginia | 0.16 | 0.22 | 0.26 | 0.28 | 0.27 |
| 29 | 32 | 32 | 35 | 39 | Tennessee | 0.19 | 0.23 | 0.3 | 0.29 | 0.24 |
| 41 | 43 | 42 | 41 | 39 | Hawaii | 0.08 | 0.11 | 0.15 | 0.17 | 0.24 |
| 40 | 40 | 39 | 39 | 41 | Pennsylvania | 0.09 | 0.14 | 0.17 | 0.2 | 0.22 |
| 38 | 38 | 40 | 41 | 42 | New Hampshire | 0.1 | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.19 |
| 41 | 43 | 44 | 43 | 43 | Mississippi | 0.08 | 0.11 | 0.12 | 0.16 | 0.17 |
| 37 | 42 | 40 | 44 | 44 | Kentucky | 0.11 | 0.13 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0.15 |
| 45 | 47 | 44 | 47 | 45 | Massachusetts | 0.06 | 0.08 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.14 |
| 43 | 45 | 44 | 45 | 46 | Georgia | 0.07 | 0.1 | 0.12 | 0.14 | 0.13 |
| 43 | 45 | 48 | 45 | 46 | Rhode Island | 0.07 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.14 | 0.13 |
| 45 | 49 | 49 | 48 | 48 | South Carolina | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.07 |
| 45 | 47 | 47 | 48 | 49 | Vermont | 0.06 | 0.08 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.06 |
| 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | Maine | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.03 |
| 50 | 51 | 50 | 50 | 50 | West Virginia | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.03 |
Note that data collection methods for religious bodies change over time, affecting the comparability of statistics. For further information, see the U.S. Religion Census website at https://www.usreligioncensus.org/.
The 2020 data were collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and include data for 373 religious bodies or groups. Of these, the ASARB was able to gather data on congregations and adherents for 217 and on congregations only for 156.
[More information on the data sources]
