Seattle has long been known as one of the least religious parts of the country. A new survey shows it’s gotten even less religious in the past 10 years.
Among the nation’s largest metro areas, Seattle tied for the highest share of residents who have no religious affiliation — that is, they are atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular.” Also, for the first time, the number of adults with no religious affiliation in Seattle equaled the number who are Christian.
The data comes from the Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, which had around 37,000 respondents across the U.S. The report includes data for 34 large metro areas, including Seattle, and all 50 states. The Religious Landscape Study is an ongoing series which was previously conducted in 2007 and 2014.
The U.S. Census Bureau does not collect data on religious identification, so the Pew study is one of the best sources for data on this topic.
In the Seattle metro area, which includes King, Pierce and Snohomish countries, the share of adults who identified as Christian was the same as the share who had no religious affiliation: 44%. Roughly 11% identified with a non-Christian religion. Statewide in Washington, 51% identified as Christians, while 38% were unaffiliated. Ten percent of Washington adults identified with other religions. The totals do not add up to 100% due to rounding.
These numbers represent a sharp decline in the share of Christians in the Seattle area. In the 2014 survey, Christians were still in the majority, representing 52% of the adult population. At the same time, there was a significant increase in the share who were unaffiliated with any religion, who made up just 37% in 2014.
The Seattle metro area was not included in Pew’s first Religious Landscape Study, which was conducted in 2007.
This is part of a wider trend, as the share of Americans who identify as Christian has been declining for years, the share who have no religious affiliation has risen.
Nationally, Christians fell from 71% in 2014 to 62% in the new survey, and the unaffiliated grew from 23% to 29%. There was a small increase in the share of the population that identifies with a non-Christian religion, from 6% to 7%.
Seattle tied with — you guessed it — Portland for the highest percentage of adults with no religious affiliation, among the 34 metro areas included in the Pew report. Portland had an even lower percentage of people who identified as Christian, at 42%, the lowest of any metro. That also made Portland the only place where the unaffiliated outnumbered Christians.
San Francisco had the third-highest percentage of unaffiliated adults, at 42%, followed by Boston and San Diego, both at 40%.
Charlotte, N.C., had the lowest percentage, with just 22% of the adult population not identified with any religion. Houston, Atlanta and Riverside, Calif., were next, all at 25%.
Charlotte also had the highest share of Christians among the 34 metro areas, at 73%. New York City, which has the nation’s largest Jewish population, had the highest share of people who identified with a non-Christian religion, at 15%.
The survey data also included a more detailed breakdown on religious denominations and nonreligious beliefs.
In the Seattle area, evangelical Protestants and people who considered themselves “nothing in particular” tied as the largest groups, both at 21% of the adult population. Agnostics were next, at 14%. Catholics made up the fourth largest group, at 11%, followed by mainline Protestants and atheists, tied at 9%. Buddhists were our area’s largest non-Christian religious group, at 4%.
The least religious state was New Hampshire, with 48% of the adult population having no religious affiliation. South Carolina had the lowest percentage of unaffiliated adults, at just 16%.
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