Membership organisations and Mainline Protestant adherents
Where Membership organisations is higher, Mainline Protestant adherents tends to be higher. The link is moderate: +0.54 across 3,121 counties, on a scale from −1 (opposite) to +1 (in step). That figure compares places with the same population density, income and education, so those differences can't explain it. It holds inside states too. Measured separately within each of 40 states, the middle value of the link is +0.41.
Holds after adjusting
Every place, plotted
One dot for each place reporting both measures. Hover over or tap a dot to see its name and values. The thin line is the straight line that best fits the dots. The bold line, shown for counties, is the link after adjusting for density, income and education. A dot far from the lines is a place that does not follow the pattern.
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What each measure is
Membership organisations
Membership groups per 10,000 people, such as churches, clubs, unions and sports leagues. They are counted from the government's list of businesses and organizations.
County Health Rankings · County Health Rankings v140
Mainline Protestant adherents
Members of mainline Protestant churches, such as United Methodist, Presbyterian Church (USA), Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran, as a share of the population.
· Religion Census MPRTRATE (2010, 2020)
Highest and lowest
Where each measure is highest and lowest among the places reporting both (2023), with the other measure beside it. This is shown for every size of place where both are published. Metro-area values are added up from their counties. A measure that cannot be added up across counties, such as a middle value (median), has no metro figure. Counts are shown per 1,000 residents, since raw totals would only list the largest places. Cities and towns and ZIP codes are shown where the Census survey or the CDC publishes them; most other sources stop at the county. They are shown for places of 5,000 residents or more, and only where the survey’s margin of error is small enough for the figure to be usable. The CDC publishes its health estimates for cities in a version adjusted for age, so places with older or younger people can be compared fairly, but not for ZIP codes.
Counties
By membership organisations
| Membership organisations | Mainline Protestant adherents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Thomas County, NE | 59.6 | 16.7 |
| Griggs County, ND | 53.3 | 33.9 |
| Comanche County, KS | 47.6 | 25 |
| Sheridan County, ND | 46.3 | 32.7 |
| Campbell County, SD | 44.5 | 34.8 |
| Lowest | ||
| Sedgwick County, CO | 0 | 6.86 |
| San Juan County, CO | 0 | 25.8 |
| Mineral County, CO | 0 | 18.5 |
| Kiowa County, CO | 0 | 5.12 |
| Jackson County, CO | 0 | 4.79 |
By mainline Protestant adherents
| Membership organisations | Mainline Protestant adherents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Nelson County, ND | 26.7 | 69.5 |
| Burke County, ND | 18.6 | 66.8 |
| Renville County, ND | 13.5 | 65.3 |
| Steele County, ND | 16.8 | 59.6 |
| Lac qui Parle County, MN | 20.9 | 57 |
| Lowest | ||
| Costilla County, CO | 8.33 | 0 |
| Alpine County, CA | 0 | 0 |
| Skagway Municipality, AK | 0 | 0 |
| Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK | 21.7 | 0 |
| Kusilvak Census Area, AK | 0 | 0 |
States
By membership organisations
| Membership organisations | Mainline Protestant adherents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| District of Columbia | 29.4 | 10 |
| North Dakota | 15.6 | 21 |
| South Dakota | 15.6 | 17.9 |
| Iowa | 14.2 | 15.7 |
| Montana | 14.1 | 4.68 |
| Lowest | ||
| Utah | 3.48 | 0.48 |
| Nevada | 4.38 | 1.05 |
| Arizona | 5.65 | 1.61 |
| California | 6.17 | 1.4 |
| Hawaii | 6.49 | 2.28 |
By mainline Protestant adherents
| Membership organisations | Mainline Protestant adherents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| North Dakota | 15.6 | 21 |
| South Dakota | 15.6 | 17.9 |
| Iowa | 14.2 | 15.7 |
| Minnesota | 12.4 | 13.6 |
| West Virginia | 12.6 | 12.2 |
| Lowest | ||
| Utah | 3.48 | 0.48 |
| Nevada | 4.38 | 1.05 |
| California | 6.17 | 1.4 |
| Arizona | 5.65 | 1.61 |
| Oregon | 9.88 | 2.15 |
Metro areas
By membership organisations
| Membership organisations | Mainline Protestant adherents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Pierre, SD | 23.1 | 15.1 |
| McPherson, KS | 22.7 | 22.2 |
| Oil City, PA | 21.3 | 19.8 |
| El Dorado, AR | 21.2 | 5.69 |
| Somerset, PA | 21 | 19.6 |
| Lowest | ||
| Zapata, TX | 0 | 0.41 |
| Rexburg, ID | 0.591 | 0.18 |
| Blackfoot, ID | 1.2 | 1.14 |
| Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT | 1.75 | 0.0437 |
| Rio Grande City-Roma, TX | 1.98 | 0.35 |
By mainline Protestant adherents
| Membership organisations | Mainline Protestant adherents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Albert Lea, MN | 17.9 | 38.4 |
| Red Wing, MN | 18.3 | 35 |
| Willmar, MN | 19.2 | 34.1 |
| Pella, IA | 16.6 | 33 |
| Beatrice, NE | 14.4 | 32.8 |
| Lowest | ||
| Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT | 1.75 | 0.0437 |
| Rexburg, ID | 0.591 | 0.18 |
| Laredo, TX | 3.73 | 0.27 |
| Gallup, NM | 5.44 | 0.3 |
| Ogden, UT | 2.9 | 0.316 |
Counties furthest from the pattern
Compared with the straight line that best fits all 3,144 counties: the five with far more mainline Protestant adherents than their membership organisations would suggest, and the five with far less.
| Membership organisations | Mainline Protestant adherents | |
|---|---|---|
| Above the line | ||
| Renville County, ND | 13.5 | 65.3 |
| Burke County, ND | 18.6 | 66.8 |
| Dundy County, NE | 0 | 49.6 |
| Nelson County, ND | 26.7 | 69.5 |
| Steele County, ND | 16.8 | 59.6 |
| Below the line | ||
| Thomas County, NE | 59.6 | 16.7 |
| Jeff Davis County, TX | 36.8 | 4.46 |
| De Baca County, NM | 35.4 | 8.54 |
| Oldham County, TX | 22.8 | 0 |
| Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK | 21.7 | 0 |
Two series, one county
Both measures over time for a county you pick. The two charts are stacked, so they share only the years along the bottom. You can pick from the thirty largest counties reporting both. This panel covers 2010–2024, and a measure published only once shows as a single dot.
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Every version of the link
Each row measures the same link, from −1 to +1, in a different way. If the rows mostly agree, the link does not depend on one choice of method.
| Before adjusting for anything | +0.543 | 3,121 counties reporting both |
| After adjusting for density, income and education | +0.537 | the part of the link that is not just how urban, rich and educated a place is |
| Also adjusting for population size | +0.510 | size taken out as well as density |
| Also comparing only within each state | +0.384 | each county is compared only with others in its own state, so this is no longer a comparison between states |
| Giving bigger counties more weight | +0.595 | the adjusted link for the average resident rather than the average county. With this weighting, the data counts for about 287 equally weighted counties |
| Middle value inside single states | +0.410 | the link worked out inside each of 40 states with at least 20 counties reporting |
| Using ranks, after adjusting | +0.576 | uses each county’s rank, not its value, so a few extreme counties cannot create the link |
How much to believe it
Could it be chance?
The p-value is the chance of seeing a link this strong if there were really none. A value of 0.05 or less means the link is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 3.1e-16 means 0.00000000000000031, and the bigger the number after “e-”, the smaller the value. Treating every county as a separate case gives p = 1.2e-232. But counties in the same state tend to resemble each other, so the better figure allows for that: p = 8.4e-10. The site tested 20,910 pairs, and testing so many turns up some flukes. The q-value allows for that too. For this pair it is 1.5e-231.
Do nearby places look alike?
Moran’s I measures how much nearby places look alike: 0 means no map pattern, and higher means neighbours are more similar. For the part of each county that the adjustment leaves unexplained, it is +0.43 (p = 0.001). That unexplained part still clusters on the map. So some regional factor shared by both measures is not accounted for.
Did they change together?
Not measurable: at least one of these is published for too few of the years a change needs (2014–2019 or 2019–2023), or for too few counties in both.
Related pairs
- Mainline Protestant adherents and Social connection score — +0.53
- Adult income rank of children raised poor here and Mainline Protestant adherents — +0.45
- Frequent physical distress and Mainline Protestant adherents — -0.44
- Returns reporting capital gains and Mainline Protestant adherents — +0.40
- Mainline Protestant adherents and Economic connectedness — +0.39
- Median gross rent and Mainline Protestant adherents — -0.39
- Binge drinking and Mainline Protestant adherents — +0.38
- Cognitive disability and Mainline Protestant adherents — -0.36
Association only. Nothing here shows that either measure changes the other. This describes counties, not the people in them. Two measures going together across places does not mean the same people have both. How the US county data works · Explore Membership organisations and Mainline Protestant adherents