Map: The most religious US states in 2024, according to report

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FILE - The morning sun rises behind a stone cross atop The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, commonly known as Saint Francis Cathedral, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

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Depending on where you live, faith might play a larger or lesser role in the community. A new report ranks the U.S. states that care the most about religion, and the ones where it’s less important.

Previous research has found that about three in four Americans identify with a specific religious faith, and 45% of Americans say religion is "very important" in their life – with another 26% saying it’s "fairly important" and 28% saying it's "not very important."

The new ranking of all 50 states, published on Tuesday by SmileHub, considered several key factors – including the share of adults who consider religion very important in their lives to the places of worship per capita and religion-related careers per capita.

SmileHub, a nonprofit that uses data to rate charities online, also evaluated the number of people who said they attend religious services at least once a week, Google search interest for faith and religious terms, and religious studies degrees per capita.

Each metric was graded with different weights, and the population differences were also considered across states in the ranking, according to SmileHub.

Among the sources for the data were the U.S. Census Bureau, Gallup, the U.S. Religion Census, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the IRS, the report said.

Most religious states, ranked

Many states in the South earned higher rankings on the religion scale, while several states in the Northeast landed at the bottom.

Alabama was deemed to be the most religious state, earning the No. 1 spot, followed by Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

On the other end, Maine was ranked No. 50 as the least religious state. Vermont, Nevada, and New Hampshire also landed at the bottom, according to SmileHub’s report.

Here's the full ranking from the report: