The preponderance of "English" and "Scottish" religious backgrounds indicated above for the upper classes in smaller places tends to show (1) a preponderance of those religious groups in the population, in which case it shows nothing about social class, (2) the advantage of certain families, of these denominations, have over others because of their longer residence in America, since those of these denominations came with the earlier migrations to America, or (3) that families of higher standing prefer to be identified with these churches, in which case the basis of their belief would have to be that other families already high in standing were in these denominations as a matter of family custom. In communities which are neither overwhelmingly Episcopalian nor Presbyterian, which is usually the rule, one would be inclined to conclude that these data indicate that those family lines which were formerly conservative, successful, and exclusive are still so and are still identified with the same church organizations as their ancestors. This is especially true of the Episcopalians, who, as a rule form a small proportion of the total populations of smaller places, but some of whose members may almost always be reckoned among the better or best families of the towns. However, the survey did not prove anything conclusive about the relationship between religion and upper class standing in smaller places.

The nationality backgrounds of families of higher status were given as follows: