Friday, July 22, 2011

Updated list of the states in the United States without a temple

With the recent announcement of temples for Indianapolis, Indiana and Hartford, Connecticut I have updated the list of states in the United States without temples.  Currently 15 states and the District of Columbia do not have an LDS temple announced, operating, or under construction.  At the end of 2010 six percent of LDS membership in the United States resided in states without an LDS temple.

1. Virginia
  •  89,297 members
  •  19 stakes
  • 196 congregations
  • Washington DC Temple
2. Wyoming
  •  63,069 members
  • 16 stakes
  • 155 congregations
  • Billings Montana Temple (5 stakes), Ogden Utah Temple (5 stakes), Denver Colorado Temple (2 stakes), Idaho Falls Idaho Temple (2 stakes), Vernal Utah Temple (2 stakes)
3. Kansas
  • 34,190 members
  • 7 stakes
  • 75 congregations
  • Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple (2 stakes), St. Louis Missouri Temple (2 stakes), Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple (2 stakes), Denver Colorado Temple (1 stake)
4. New Jersey
  • 31,673 members
  • 5 stakes, 1 district
  • 59 congregations
  • Manhattan New York Temple (4 stakes, 1 district), Washington DC Temple (1 stake)
5. Arkansas
  •  27,559 members
  • 5 stakes
  • 63 congregations
  • Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple (3 stakes), Memphis Tennessee Temple (2 stakes)
6. Wisconsin
  • 24,496 members
  • 6 stakes
  • 69 congregations
  • Chicago Illinois Temple (5 stakes), St. Paul Minnesota Temple (1 stake)
7. Iowa
  • 24,614 members
  • 7 stakes
  • 69 congregations
  • Nauvoo Illinois Temple (3 stakes), Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple (4 stakes)
8. Mississippi
  • 21,217 members
  • 4 stakes
  • 43 congregations
  • Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple (3 stakes), Memphis Tennessee Temple (1 stake)
9. West Virginia
  • 16,710 members
  • 4 stakes
  • 37 congregations
  • Washington DC Temple (2 stakes), Columbus Ohio Temple (1 stake), Louisville Kentucky Temple (1 stake)
10. Maine
  • 10,684 members
  • 2 stakes
  • 27 congregations
  • Boston Massachusetts Temple (2 stakes)
11. South Dakota
  • 9,812 members
  • 2 stakes, 1 district
  • 33 congregations
  • Bismarck North Dakota Temple (1 stake, 1 district), Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple (1 stake)
12. New Hampshire
  • 8,231 members
  • 3 stakes
  • 21 congregations
  • Boston Massachusetts Temple
13. Delaware
  • 5,184 members
  • 1 stake
  • 12 congregations
  • Washington DC Temple
14. Vermont
  • 4,384 members
  • 1 stake
  • 12 congregations
  • Boston Massachusetts Temple
15. Rhode Island
  • 3,833 members
  • 1 stake
  • 7 congregations
  • Boston Massachusetts Temple
16. District of Columbia
  • 2,382 members
  • 0 stakes, 0 districts (the Washington DC Stake is headquartered in Kensington, Maryland)
  • 3 congregations
  • Washington DC Temple (located in Kensington, Maryland)

    Most of these states do not had their own LDS temples due to close proximity to a temple in a neighboring state.  For example, all states without a temple with over 20,000 Latter-day Saints are serviced by temples in neighboring states which are near the state border, such as the Washington DC Temple for Virginia and the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple for Iowa.  Prospects appear most favorable for temple announcements in the near future in Virginia (Richmond or Virginia Beach), Wyoming (Evanston), and Arkansas (Rogers) among states which currently have no LDS temples.

    20 comments:

    1. Technically, the Providence Rhode Island Stake is headquartered in Mystic, Connecticut. I don't know if that means Rhode Island does or does not have a stake, similar to the situation with the Washington D.C. Stake.

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    2. Good point; I didn't realize that the stake was headquartered in Connecticut. However most of the units in the stake are in Rhode Island (seven of 12), so I would say that Rhode Island does have its "own" stake.

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    3. WYOMING. Ft. Collins Colorado will bring the temple closer to southeast Wyoming.

      I'd never thought of Evanston. Maybe so. I would guess more likely would be Montpelier Idaho as a temple to serve Bear Lake Valley and SW Wyoming.

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    4. you said in this article that; "Currently 15 STAKES....do not have an LDS temple...." I think that should say STATES.

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    5. I wonder why you said Rogers, AR over Little Rock.

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    6. I believe that Little Rock and Rogers are the most likely locations for an LDS temple in Arkansas as these are the only cities which have more than one stake nearby in the state. Prospective temples in Little Rock or Rogers would likely each service around six stakes currently. However, Rogers is located further away from a temple than Little Rock, the two stakes in the Rogers area have more wards than in Little Rock (18 wards vs. 14 wards), congregational growth has outpaced Little Rock in Rogers, and the Memphis Tennessee Temple would only have three stakes if a temple were built in Little Rock.

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    7. Delaware has twelve of the sixteen congregations in the Wilmington Delaware Stake, not thirteen.

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    8. You're right; I've made the correction. Thanks.

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    9. Well...you can take Wyoming off the list now! Star Valley is SO pretty and will be even better with a temple!

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    10. As of 2018, you can take Virginia off, too.

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    11. Both the Manhattan NY and the Philadelphia PA temples are within a few miles the New Jersey border. In Addition, both the Nauvoo IL and the Winter Quarters NB temples are built practically on the Iowa border. Kansas City MO is very near the state border with Kansas. Some members may have to drive a few miles out of the way to reach the nearest bridge as these borders are on rivers. Since this article was published a temple was dedicated in Wyoming and announced in Virginia. The Washington DC temple is not actually built in DC but is in the same metropolitan area in Kensington MD. Chicago IL temple only about 23 miles from a city in WI. St. Paul MN temple is about 20 miles from WI. On the grand scale these last two are still very close to the state border. What state without a temple do you think will be the next one to get one?

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    12. Arkansas sounds like they have the membership

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    13. Wyoming has the star valley temple.

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    14. And now we can cross Arkansas off the list with the announcement of the Bentonville temple.

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    15. We live in SW Kansas and have to travel quite a distance to attend a temple
      Our temple assigned is Denver 5 1/2 hours
      It’s 4 1/2 to Oklahoma City or Lubbock Texas
      6 hours to Albuquerque
      Nearly 7 hrs to KC temple
      7 hrs 40 mins to Winter Quarters
      And 10 hours to St Louis
      Needless to say we have averaged one to two trips a year our 38 years of married life.
      It’s hard to do a one day trip but can be done. Get up very early to travel do several sessions then get home very late. It would be so nice to get a temple closer to us.

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    16. Can you update this. It is an awesome list. Thanks for putting it together

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