Top 15 Reporting Religious Bodies Bakersfield, CA
Church, Christian, or Religious Body	Adherents (and rank)						Congregations
	in 2000			in 1990			in 2000	in 1990
Catholic Church, The	168,455	(1)		75,000	(1)		30	29
Southern Baptist Convention	28,843	(2)		25,425	(2)		64	58
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The	13,821	(3)		11,630	(3)		35	28
Assemblies of God	10,515	(4)		10,734	(4)		43	43
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel	8,620	(5)		2,383	(16)		19	8
Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches	5,667	(6)		3,000	(13)		4	1
Seventh-day Adventist Church	5,087	(7)		4,547	(8)		17	16
Churches of Christ	4,687	(8)		4,338	(9)		37	36
American Baptist Churches in the USA	4,477	(9)		6,125	(6)		14	16
United Methodist Church, The	4,251	(10)		5,638	(7)		18	19
Church of the Nazarene	3,853	(11)		3,329	(12)		15	16
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod	3,623	(12)		4,294	(10)		13	12
Pentecostal Church of God	3,559	(13)		2,540	(15)		20	23
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	2,312	(14)		2,170	(17)		6	6
Presbyterian Church (USA)	2,288	(15)		2,811	(14)		6	6

Metropolitan Population, 2000 Census:		661,645
Percent of Population Claimed by Reporting Groups:		43.7%

National Average: 50.2% claimed

Reporting Groups (149 possible):	59	(47 of 133 in 1990)
Total Reported Adherents:	288,811	(190,667 in 1990)
Total Reported Congregations:	481	(433 in 1990)

The metro area included 1 county (or equivalent) at the time of the 2000 census:
	Kern County, CA
	The newly published book Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000 includes a CD that allows users to determine such lists for any selected group of counties.
Source:	Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000 Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990
	Both studies, copyrighted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, are published by the Glenmary Research Center, Nashville, Tenn. More information is available at www.glenmary.org/grc.