Stakes in Every U.S. State

When Fargo, North Dakota, became the headquarters of a new stake in early August, the Church passed another milestone in its growth. Now every state in the United States has a stake of the Church within its borders.

Stakes do not come merely as a result of sufficient numbers, however. The organization of a stake implies that there are enough Latter-day Saint men and women with leadership ability and dedication for the Church in that area to stand on its own.

Before a stake is organized in an area where there have been no stakes, direction for the branches and districts in the area comes from the mission president. The organization is less complete, usually. When a stake is organized, local members take full responsibility for acting in their priesthood functions in the normal ecclesiastical line—and the mission president is freed to devote his time to the missionary effort.

Out of the fifty states in the U.S., only twelve have but one stake—all the rest have two or more, and as of mid-August there were 667 stakes in the U.S., or one stake for every 322,444 persons in the general population. Utah, where the Church has been strong for well over a century, contains over a third of those stakes—230—with a ratio of one stake for every 5,240 persons in the general population.

The number of stakes is, of course, most concentrated in the Western U.S. The twelve states with the most stakes relative to population are, in order, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Colorado, and California. All of these states have fewer than 200,000 people in the general population for each stake of Zion within state boundaries. At the opposite end of the spectrum is New England, where six stakes in as many states serve a general population of more than two million each.

Only twenty-five years ago, in 1952, the creation of stakes in Texas and Michigan brought to eighteen the number of states with stakes of the Church. Great growth has come in a quarter of a century!

Following the name of each state is the number of stakes within it. In parentheses is the number of people in the general population for each stake within the state.

Alabama	3	(1,205,000)
Alaska	1	(352,000)
Arizona	30	(74,000)
Arkansas	1	(2,116,000)
California	106	(200,000)
Colorado	13	(195,000)
Connecticut	1	(3,095,000)
Delaware	1	(579,000)
Florida	11	(760,000)
Georgia	5	(985,000)
Hawaii	10	(87,000)
Idaho	64	(13,000)
Illinois	5	(2,229,000)
Indiana	4	(1,328,000)
Iowa	2	(1,435,000)
Kansas	2	(1,134,000)
Kentucky	2	(1,698,000)
Louisiana	3	(1,264,000)
Maine	1	(1,059,000)
Maryland	2	(2,049,000)
Massachusetts	1	(5,828,000)
Michigan	6	(1,526,000)
Minnesota	2	(1,963,000)
Mississippi	2	(1,173,000)
Missouri	5	(953,000)
Montana	7	(107,000)
Nebraska	2	(773,000)
Nevada	15	(40,000)
New Hampshire	1	(818,000)
New Jersey	2	(3,658,000)
New Mexico	7	(164,000)
New York	7	(2,589,000)
North Carolina	6	(909,000)
North Dakota	1	(635,000)
Ohio	6	(1,793,000)
Oklahoma	4	(678,000)
Oregon	20	(111,000)
Pennsylvania	3	(3,942,000)
Rhode Island	1	(927,000)
South Carolina	4	(705,000)
South Dakota	1	(683,000)
Tennessee	3	(1,396,000)
Texas	19	(644,000)
Utah	230	(5,240)
Vermont	1	(471,000)
Virginia	8	(621,000)
Washington	22	(161,000)
Washington, D.C.	1	(760,000)
West Virginia	1	(1,803,000)
Wisconsin	2	(2,304,000)
Wyoming	11	(34,000)