The Surprising Truth: California’s Significant LDS Population Revealed

The population of Latter-day Saints in Utah is obviously large, however, the state with the second-largest LDS population may surprise you.  

It's no secret that in Southern Utah there are those who have some beef with Californians either for just moving here and increasing the population or because they have some non-LDS values. Well, there’s a reason that the second part may not be true.  

According to Wise Voter, the state with the second largest LDS population is actually California. They have 735k LDS people. Utah of course beats them significantly with a total of 2.2 million LDS people in 2023.  

Utah has 17 LDS temples and California has 7, also the second most in the U.S. So, for all the California haters, think again.  

In percentages, Utah’s LDS population makes up just over half of the total population at 66%. This number shows that though the state does have the highest concentration of LDS, they are not all gathered in just one place.  

Here are the top 10 states of LDS Pop.: 

1. Utah – 2,161,526
2. California – 734,989
3. Idaho – 471,241
4.  Arizona – 438,249
5. Texas – 371,007
6.  Washington – 283,609
7.  Nevada – 182,569
8. Florida – 164,558
9. Oregon – 151,151
10. Colorado – 149,007 

So, what is the state with the least LDS population? It’s the District of Columbia coming in at rank #51 with a total of 3,136 LDS people.  

The LDS faith is all over the country and makes up 1.7% of the total population in the U.S. so, you can find your people just about anywhere if you know where to look.