Religion

For the most part, Texas is a devoutly religious state, with Christianity dominating the spiritual scene. Although it mirrors national trends showing slightly declining congregation numbers, residents in the rural areas of the state remain committed churchgoers. In fact, a 15-county area in Texas’s southeastern Panhandle is designated as a candidate for the “buckle of the Bible Belt,” a wide band of the entire U.S. South where a majority of people identify themselves as Baptists.

The two primary Christian denominations in Texas are Baptist (approximately 22 percent) and Catholic (roughly 21 percent). The percentages are far lower for other religions—Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and other faiths—which are mostly located in the state’s urban areas. Texas’s big cities also had the largest number of people claiming not to be affiliated with a religious group. In Austin [1], the percentage is roughly 55 percent, while Houston [2] and Dallas/Fort Worth [3] had approximately 50 percent and 48 percent, respectively, of nonaffiliates.