A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S.

(Pew Research Center). Mormons make up 1.7% of the American adult population, a proportion that is comparable in size to the U.S. Jewish population. By contrast, members of evangelical Protestant churches and Catholics each make up roughly a quarter of the adult population (26.3% and 23.9%, respectively), and 16.1% of Americans say they are unaffiliated with any particular religion. Mormons are more numerous, however, than members of other small religious groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses (0.7%), Buddhists (0.7%), Muslims (0.6%) and Hindus (0.4%).

The Mormon population in the U.S. is heavily concentrated in the West (76%). In fact, roughly one-third of all American Mormons (35%) live in Utah, the state founded by its early leaders. An additional 13% live in California while 7% reside in Idaho, 5% in Nevada and 4% each in Oregon and Arizona. Only about one-in-ten Mormons (12%) live in the South (including 4% who reside in Texas), 7% live in the Midwest and just 4% reside in the Northeast. (read more)