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The Most and Least Buddhist Cities in the U.S.

Comments

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Interesting and some are surprising.
  • DaozenDaozen Veteran
    Very interesting - thanks.

    I would expect Buddhist populations to be concentrated around areas with higher Asian populations and among educated non-Asians - ie, cities.
  • OneLifeFormOneLifeForm Veteran
    The six Buddhists of Birmingham, Alabama :lol:
    SileRebeccaS
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Schizophrenics are more common than Buddhists!
  • SileSile Veteran
    Wow - fascinating - thanks for this!
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    I was really surprised to see my county colored in. Less than .5%, lol, but still! It's not exactly an open minded area, typically.
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    Wow, I didn't think there'd be such a huge population of them in Colorado.
  • tmottestmottes Veteran
    edited November 2012
    Zayl said:

    Wow, I didn't think there'd be such a huge population of them in Colorado.

    Its strange where they are located though. I would think they would be further north, considering that the first buddhist university is in Boulder, CO (Naropa University).
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Zayl said:

    Wow, I didn't think there'd be such a huge population of them in Colorado.

    1. Keep in mind that Denver is the one of the largest cities in the mountain west.
    2. Think back to the election. That area is what provided Obama with the ability to win the state both times. There's been, over recent years, quite an influx of people from other states, with California high on the list.

  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Oh, yea! I'm in the 50th place!:)
  • RebeccaSRebeccaS Veteran
    I thought Colorado was like, a famous hippy state so I'm not surprised :lol:
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Not exactly, although it is getting a bit more California-ish.

    What there has long been in Colorado is a sense of "live and let live", which is different than being "hippy-ish". It's actually been -- in the past -- somewhat conservative.
  • RebeccaSRebeccaS Veteran
    I read a lot of "I used to be a spiritual whack job" blogs and a lot of them are from Colorado so that's where I got my impression of it.

    I'd quite like to visit one day, though, the scenery looks beautiful :)
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    @Vinlyn oh yeah of course but none of that clearly states "The Buddhists are here!" coulda been any number of things.
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    Rocky Mountain High ;)
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    And a lot higher since the election results!
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Zayl said:

    Wow, I didn't think there'd be such a huge population of them in Colorado.

    There's a Tibetan community in Denver. And I think the existence of Naropa U. has attracted a lot of people over the years, who settled in Boulder and Denver. Even one of the Christian churches has a resident lama, in Denver.

  • JosephWJosephW Veteran
    Southern states obviously stay away from Buddhism, for the most part...
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Or is it Buddhists stay away from southern states?
    tmottes
  • SileSile Veteran
    Just happy for my wee bit o' green in south central WI.
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    In CO, looking at the map, the areas in red don't seem to be near the Denver/Boulder areas. Can someone from CO pinpoint where they are? I was tryin to figure it out but didn't have much luck as to what about those areas makes them have such a high % of Buddhists compared to other areas of the state. I would have expected the Denver/Boulder area to be up there. Buddhist practice seemed pretty well used in Boulder when I was there, but I was also visiting my sister who was staying at a residence dorm for Naropa and was dating a girl from there, so that probably affected my perception ;) lol
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    karasti said:

    In CO, looking at the map, the areas in red don't seem to be near the Denver/Boulder areas. Can someone from CO pinpoint where they are? I was tryin to figure it out but didn't have much luck as to what about those areas makes them have such a high % of Buddhists compared to other areas of the state. I would have expected the Denver/Boulder area to be up there. Buddhist practice seemed pretty well used in Boulder when I was there, but I was also visiting my sister who was staying at a residence dorm for Naropa and was dating a girl from there, so that probably affected my perception ;) lol

    Frankly, at least in the case of Colorado, I'm not sure I trust that map at all. The bottom-most red area appears to be the county in which Durango is located, and Durango is probably the most liberal area of the western two-thirds of Colorado. The larger red area just north of that looks to me to be a very sparsely populated area, so I think it's very misleading.

  • tmottestmottes Veteran
    edited November 2012
    Check out this link. It appears that the map could be accurate ;).

    Sanguache County

    Also check out the wikipedia for Crestone
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    Interesting. I was really surprised my county was listed as high as it was, because it's a very rural area with overwhelmingly Christian people. Looking at the city data for our county, Buddhism doesn't even register, and it tracks it down to .4% yet the map shows .5% Buddhist. I'm not sure I believe it, but I suppose it depends where exactly they get their information. You just never know how many people identify as something. We live in a town of just over 3000 people and just our group alone has over 30 people that identify as Buddhist. I think where I live, anyone not Christian is still mostly in the closet, lol. Our area is 50% Catholic and 25% lutheran with the rest spread out between Baptists, Presbyterian and such.
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Yes, but here's why I think it's misleading: Sanguache County only has a total population of 5,917 (as compared to Denver, for example, at 620,000 or Colorado Springs with 416,000). So, the number of Buddhists in Sanguache County could be as little as 295 people.
  • tmottestmottes Veteran
    edited November 2012
    vinlyn said:

    Yes, but here's why I think it's misleading: Sanguache County only has a total population of 5,917 (as compared to Denver, for example, at 620,000 or Colorado Springs with 416,000). So, the number of Buddhists in Sanguache County could be as little as 295 people.

    The article doesn't make any claims to the contrary: the scale is clearly marked in percentages.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    karasti said:

    Interesting. I was really surprised my county was listed as high as it was, because it's a very rural area with overwhelmingly Christian people. Looking at the city data for our county, Buddhism doesn't even register, and it tracks it down to .4% yet the map shows .5% Buddhist. I'm not sure I believe it, but I suppose it depends where exactly they get their information. You just never know how many people identify as something. We live in a town of just over 3000 people and just our group alone has over 30 people that identify as Buddhist. I think where I live, anyone not Christian is still mostly in the closet, lol. Our area is 50% Catholic and 25% lutheran with the rest spread out between Baptists, Presbyterian and such.

    Not all Buddhists go to sangha. Some practice at home, and don't wear their religion on their sleeve, so no one knows about them.

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