Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska has the highest Orthodox Christian share of any US county, at 44.92 percent in 2020, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives. Eight of the ten highest counties are in Alaska, where Russian Orthodox monks began a mission in 1794, and the other two are Davidson County, Tennessee and Lake County, Indiana. Nationwide, Orthodox congregations counted about 1.16 million adherents, roughly 0.4 percent of the US population.
Orthodox Christians are scarce across most of the United States and densely concentrated in a few places. The 2020 US Religion Census found Orthodox adherents in nearly 800 counties, and in nearly 50 of them they pass 1 percent of the population. The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), which hosts the county data, ranks every county by Orthodox share, and the top of that ranking is almost entirely Alaska.
Key Takeaways
Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska has the highest Orthodox Christian share of any US county, 44.92 percent of its 1,476 residents in 2020.
Eight of the ten highest counties are in Alaska. Davidson County, Tennessee (2.41 percent) and Lake County, Indiana (2.16 percent) are the only others.
Seven of the ten counties peaked in 2010, while Dillingham Census Area, Bethel Census Area, and Davidson County rose at every census since 2000.
The District of Columbia (1.88 percent) and Alaska (1.50 percent) have the highest state level shares, and Alaska’s share was 3.39 percent in 2000.
Eastern Orthodox adherents fell 17 percent between 2010 and 2020, while Oriental Orthodox adherents rose 67 percent.
What Counts as Orthodox Christian in the US Religion Census
The census sorts Orthodox bodies into two families. Eastern Orthodox has 16 bodies, among them the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Orthodox Church in America. Oriental Orthodox has eight, including the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean churches. Adherents are members, children of members, and other attendees who are not members, and only congregations that reported to the census are counted, so the totals miss people who identify with a tradition without belonging to a congregation.
I created the map below using ARDA data; it shows the Orthodox Christian share of the population in 2020.
Which US Counties Have the Highest Orthodox Christian Share
Eight Alaska boroughs and census areas fill the top eight places, and Davidson County, Tennessee and Lake County, Indiana take the ninth and tenth.[PLACE TABLE 1 HERE]
Rank
County
State
Orthodox Christian Share (2020)
2020 Population
1
Lake and Peninsula Borough
Alaska
44.92%
1,476
2
Dillingham Census Area
Alaska
24.40%
4,857
3
Bethel Census Area
Alaska
19.36%
18,666
4
Kusilvak Census Area
Alaska
11.75%
8,368
5
Aleutians East Borough
Alaska
8.48%
3,420
6
Aleutians West Census Area
Alaska
8.03%
5,232
7
Kodiak Island Borough
Alaska
6.53%
13,101
8
Bristol Bay Borough
Alaska
4.74%
844
9
Davidson County
Tennessee
2.41%
715,884
10
Lake County
Indiana
2.16%
498,700
Why Does Alaska Dominate the List
The explanation begins in 1794, when eight monks from Valaam Monastery arrived on Kodiak Island. Their mission spread among the Alutiiq and Tana’ina peoples and reached the Bering Sea coast before 1800, and the first Alaska Native schools teaching in local languages opened at Kodiak in 1804, Unalaska in 1824, Sitka in 1834, and Russian Mission in 1844. The Orthodox Diocese of Alaska now counts nearly 100 churches and chapels across the southern half of the state.
Counts in these places are small, so a few parishes move a whole borough. ARDA lists nine Orthodox Church in America congregations in Lake and Peninsula Borough with 663 adherents between them, which is 44.9 percent of its 1,476 residents. Bristol Bay Borough has 844 residents, so its 4.74 percent amounts to roughly 40 people.
Why Are Davidson County and Lake County on the List
Davidson County, Tennessee has a different explanation. Stacker’s analysis of the 2020 census lists 14,254 Coptic Orthodox adherents in eight congregations there. ARDA’s 2.41 percent of 715,884 residents works out to about 17,250 Orthodox adherents countywide, so Coptic congregations account for more than four of every five. The Coptic Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family, the one that grew 67 percent nationally between 2010 and 2020.
Lake County, Indiana goes back to the steel mills. Gary and East Chicago drew workers from eastern and southern Europe in the early 1900s, and East Chicago’s 1940 church directory lists Serbian, Greek, Romanian, and Russian Orthodox parishes. The 1926 Census of Religious Bodies already recorded Serbian Orthodox congregations in the county, and St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Merrillville marked its 100th anniversary in 2015. ARDA’s 2.16 percent of 498,700 residents comes to roughly 10,800 adherents.
How Has the Orthodox Christian Share Changed Over Time
ARDA’s rankings reach back to 1980, but the figures for these counties only become usable at 2000. For the Alaska counties and Davidson County, ARDA lists 0.00 percent for 1980 and nothing for 1990, which looks like missing coverage in the older censuses rather than a true absence, since Orthodox missions have operated in Alaska since 1794.
County
State
2000
2010
2020
Lake and Peninsula Borough
Alaska
19.14%
70.08%
44.92%
Dillingham Census Area
Alaska
9.28%
20.38%
24.40%
Bethel Census Area
Alaska
9.62%
16.76%
19.36%
Kusilvak Census Area
Alaska
8.24%
13.67%
11.75%
Aleutians East Borough
Alaska
4.52%
19.07%
8.48%
Aleutians West Census Area
Alaska
9.73%
13.56%
8.03%
Kodiak Island Borough
Alaska
4.12%
10.29%
6.53%
Bristol Bay Borough
Alaska
10.65%
22.67%
4.74%
Davidson County
Tennessee
0.03%
1.12%
2.41%
Lake County
Indiana
1.96%
2.82%
2.16%
Seven of the ten counties peaked in 2010. Lake and Peninsula Borough went from 19.14 percent in 2000 to 70.08 percent in 2010 and then 44.92 percent in 2020, and swings that large in a borough of about 1,500 residents call for caution. Dillingham Census Area, Bethel Census Area, and Davidson County rose at every census, and Davidson went from 0.03 percent in 2000 to 2.41 percent in 2020.
Nationally, the two Orthodox families are moving in opposite directions. Eastern Orthodox adherent numbers fell 17 percent between 2010 and 2020, while Oriental Orthodox numbers rose 67 percent. At the state level, Alaska’s share fell from 3.39 percent in 2000 to 1.90 percent in 2010 and 1.50 percent in 2020, while Tennessee’s climbed from 0.07 to 0.16 to 0.36 percent. Alaska led every state in 2000, and the District of Columbia has ranked first since 2010.
Which US States Have the Highest Orthodox Christian Share
The District of Columbia and Alaska are the only two places above 1 percent. New Jersey (0.85 percent), Massachusetts (0.83), and Rhode Island (0.70) follow, and Mississippi has the lowest share at 0.03 percent.
Orthodox Christian Population (2020)Orthodox Christian Population (2010)Orthodox Christian Population (2000)
Rank
State
2020
2010
2000
1
District of Columbia
1.88%
2.33%
1.30%
2
Alaska
1.50%
1.90%
3.39%
3
New Jersey
0.85%
0.82%
0.70%
4
Massachusetts
0.83%
0.94%
1.27%
5
Rhode Island
0.70%
0.72%
0.85%
6
California
0.56%
0.41%
0.42%
6
Maryland
0.56%
0.43%
0.42%
8
New York
0.54%
0.72%
0.64%
9
Connecticut
0.52%
0.55%
0.62%
10
Illinois
0.48%
0.59%
0.75%
11
Michigan
0.45%
0.48%
0.48%
11
Nevada
0.45%
0.34%
0.23%
13
Ohio
0.42%
0.45%
0.44%
14
Pennsylvania
0.39%
0.48%
0.67%
14
Virginia
0.39%
0.23%
0.16%
16
Tennessee
0.36%
0.16%
0.07%
17
New Hampshire
0.35%
0.37%
0.58%
17
Washington
0.35%
0.25%
0.13%
19
Indiana
0.30%
0.35%
0.28%
20
Arizona
0.29%
0.25%
0.22%
20
Florida
0.29%
0.32%
0.26%
22
Colorado
0.27%
0.22%
0.14%
23
Delaware
0.26%
0.17%
0.39%
24
South Dakota
0.24%
0.04%
0.03%
25
Minnesota
0.22%
0.15%
0.21%
26
Oregon
0.21%
0.19%
0.15%
27
North Carolina
0.20%
0.16%
0.12%
28
Texas
0.19%
0.13%
0.11%
29
Wisconsin
0.18%
0.23%
0.28%
30
Georgia
0.16%
0.16%
0.10%
31
South Carolina
0.15%
0.12%
0.11%
31
Utah
0.15%
0.22%
0.22%
33
Missouri
0.12%
0.11%
0.10%
34
Kansas
0.11%
0.12%
0.10%
34
Maine
0.11%
0.13%
0.22%
34
West Virginia
0.11%
0.15%
0.25%
37
Iowa
0.10%
0.07%
0.10%
38
Montana
0.09%
0.06%
0.08%
38
Nebraska
0.09%
0.08%
0.50%
40
Kentucky
0.08%
0.05%
0.05%
40
Oklahoma
0.08%
0.07%
0.09%
42
Wyoming
0.07%
0.14%
0.02%
43
Idaho
0.06%
0.05%
0.06%
43
Vermont
0.06%
0.05%
0.36%
45
Alabama
0.05%
0.06%
0.07%
45
Arkansas
0.05%
0.04%
0.02%
45
Louisiana
0.05%
0.05%
0.05%
45
New Mexico
0.05%
0.10%
0.07%
45
North Dakota
0.05%
0.02%
0.02%
50
Hawaii
0.04%
0.02%
0.02%
51
Mississippi
0.03%
0.03%
0.04%
The map below shows the shift in Orthodox Christian Adherents from 2000 to 2020.
