Yes, Portland is America's most religiously unaffiliated metro. But who exactly are the 'nones'?

Portland skyline

The Portland metro area is the most religiously unaffiliated city in the United States, with 42 percent of residents identifying as atheist, agnostic or no religion in particular.

(Don Ryan/AP Photo)

Surprise, surprise: statistics show Portland is the most religiously-unaffiliated metro area in the United States.

About 42 percent of residents in the City of Roses and surrounding suburbs self-identify as religiously unaffiliated, according to a survey released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute.

That's nearly 10 percentage points higher than Portland's West Coast peers and runner-ups Seattle and San Francisco, which both came in at 33 percent.

The "nones," as they're commonly called, are an amorphous group. In the Portland area, only about 4 percent of residents are atheists, according to the institute's survey. Roughly 8 percent are agnostic.

So how do we get to 42 percent unaffiliated? A whopping 29 percent of Portlanders said their religion is "nothing in particular." That's about twice the size of the next-largest minority: white evangelical Christians.

"This is a fascinating group," said researcher Dan Cox. Nationally, most people who identify as unaffiliated believe in a higher power of some kind, but say belief in God isn't necessary in order to be moral and have good values.

They're young, socially liberal and usually believe in evolution. Most are more concerned about religious groups asserting their beliefs on others than about the government limiting religious freedom.

The "nones" also tend to be fairly detached, Cox said. They don't turn out for elections or connect to society in traditional ways.

Here are a few benchmarks to compare all Americans and the "nones" nationally:

-- Melissa Binder

mbinder@oregonian.com
503-294-7656
@binderpdx