Churches in Ohio

Religious Landscape of Ohio

Ohio's religious landscape is a microcosm of the nation, blending the Catholic and mainline Protestant traditions of the industrial North with the evangelical fervor of the upper South. The Catholic Church is the largest single denomination, with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Diocese of Cleveland together serving millions of adherents in the state's two largest metro areas. German, Irish, Polish, Hungarian, and Slovenian Catholic communities established dense parish networks that remain active, though consolidation has reduced their numbers. United Methodists have the most congregations of any Protestant body, with over 1,400 churches making Ohio one of the strongest Methodist states. Non-denominational megachurches have boomed, with Crossroads Church in Cincinnati drawing over 30,000 weekly across multiple campuses. Ohio is also home to the largest Amish population in the world, concentrated in Holmes, Wayne, and Tuscarawas counties, with over 75,000 Amish residents. Southern Baptists have expanded substantially from the state's southern counties. Lutherans are well-represented in the northern part of the state. Ohio's adherence rate of about 48% is near the national average, with the Appalachian southeast and rural areas trending more religious and the urban cores trending more secular.