The U.S. Census Bureau stopped tallying statistics about religious affiliation back in the 1930s — a decision that may have been related to the separation of church and state.

However, the Association of Religion Data Archives — a research unit based at Pennsylvania State University, with
support from several other academic institutions — has been compiling statistics on religious groups in America since the late 1990s. And ARDA’s report on Yolo County (including Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento and Winters) offers a snapshot of the region.

ARDA’s 2010 survey finds that of Yolo County’s 200,849 residents, the majority (127,885) were “unclaimed” — in other words, they are not members of any particular religious group, or nonmembers who nonetheless attend regularly.

Of Yolo County’s 72,964 residents who are “adherents” associated with a particular faith, the great majority are Catholic. Yolo County has 11 Catholic congregations, with a total of 42,656 members, according to ARDA’s survey.

Another 12,405 county residents are associated with what ARDA described as Evangelical Protestant groups, including Southern Baptists (11 congregations, 3,631 members); Evangelical Covenant Church (three congregations, 1,698 members); and Assemblies of God (eight congregations, 1,666 members), among other congregations. There also are 12 nondenominational congregations, with a total of 2,797 members that ARDA lists in the Evangelical Protestant tally.

ARDA found that traditional Mainline Protestant denominations have 4,893 adherents in Yolo County, including United Methodist Church (four congregations, 1,200 members); Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (four congregations, 1,273 members); United Church of Christ (two congregations, 265 members); Episcopal Church (two congregations, 680 members); and Unitarian-Universalist (one congregation, 372 members), among other congregations.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints — sometimes referred to as the Mormon faith — has nine congregations, with a total of 4,893 members, according to the ARDA survey. ARDA estimates there are 4,436 Muslim adherents in Yolo County, who are members of four different groups.

ARDA reported one Reform Judaism congregation, with 742 members, in Yolo County. There also are 1,421 members of various Buddhist groups.

The ARDA survey offers a somewhat incomplete picture of local religious groups — the survey reports one Sikh group in Yolo County, but does not list how many people are members; and several Protestant denominations with congregations in Yolo County did not report membership figures. ARDA reports one Eastern Liturgical (Orthodox) congregation in Yolo County, with 250 members. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that there are several congregations in West Sacramento with roots in the
religious traditions of the former Soviet Union.

The ARDA website invites readers to submit contact information for faiths and congregations that are not listed in its 2010 survey data. ARDA also notes that “the 2010 report contains incomplete counts of congregations and adherents belonging to the eight largest historically African-American denominations.”

— Reach Jeff Hudson at 530-747-8055.

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