Major Religions of Alaska

A Russian orthodox church is found in Ninilchik, Alaska.

The American state of Alaska is located on the extreme northwest corner of the of the continent. It is the United States of America’s largest state by area, the third least populous, and the most sparsely populated state. Alaska was part of the Russian Empire before it was purchased by the United States for $7.2M on March 30, 1867. It was fully recognized as a US territory on May 11, 1912. On January 3, 1959, Alaska formerly joined the Union as the 49^th state.

Population of Alaska

As of 2017, the population of Alaska was estimated at 740,000. It is the third least populous and the most sparsely populated state with a population density of 1.26/sq mi. Half the state’s population reside in the Anchorage metropolitan area.

Religious Demographics of Alaska

Christianity

A survey conducted by Pew Research Center revealed that a majority (79%) of Alaskans were Christians. Of this, Protestantism was the largest Christian sect with Evangelical Protestants making up 26% of the population, Mainline Protestants at 19%, and Black Protestants at 2%. Roman Catholicism was the next biggest sect with 14%, followed by Orthodoxy at 12.5% and Latter-day Saints at 4%. Jehovah's Witnesses and other Christian sects make up less than 0.5% of the population. The large Orthodox population is attributed to early Russian colonization of Alaska with the first Russian Orthodox Church being established in 1795.

Other Religions

Judaism (0.9%), Islam (0.5%), Buddism (<0.5%), Hinduism (<0.5%), other faiths (2.5%) represented less than 5% of the population combined.

Unaffiliated

A large percentage (17%) of the Alaskan population reported being unaffiliated with any religion while 1% refused to answer.

Languages of Alaska

The majority of the Alaskan population (approximately 84%) speak English as their primary language. Only 5.2% of Alaskans speak one of the 20 recognized Alaska Native languages. These 20 Alaska Native Languages were declared official languages of the state of Alaska in 2014 and in 2018, a state of emergency was declared in regards to the conservation of these languages.