{"id":7747,"date":"2025-03-04T11:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T16:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/9-facts-about-us-catholics\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T23:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T03:21:12","slug":"10-facts-about-us-catholics","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/03\/04\/10-facts-about-us-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"10 facts about U.S. Catholics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Ash
Ash Wednesday at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston. (Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Catholics are one of the largest religious groups in the United States, outnumbering any single Protestant denomination. The U.S. has more Catholics than all but three other countries \u2013 Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines \u2013 according to the Vatican\u2019s 2021 Statistical Yearbook of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 10 key facts about the U.S. Catholic population, drawn from Pew Research Center surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/summary>\n

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to explore the basic demographic traits, religious characteristics and political preferences of U.S. Catholics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis draws mainly on data from the Center\u2019s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)<\/a>. It also draws from the Center\u2019s National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS)<\/a>, an annual benchmarking survey of U.S. adults. Both the RLS and NPORS use address-based sampling from the U.S. Postal Service\u2019s Delivery Sequence File to recruit participants. RLS respondents were surveyed mainly online or on paper, though respondents also had the option of calling a toll-free number to participate by telephone. NPORS respondents could answer either by paper or online. Follow the links to read more about each survey\u2019s methodology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post also relies on online surveys of respondents who are part of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel<\/a>. Data from before 2020 comes from the Center\u2019s random-digit-dial telephone surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these surveys are weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, education and other categories.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Today, 20% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Catholics. <\/strong>This percentage has been generally stable since 2014. But it is slightly lower than in 2007, when 24% of U.S. adults identified as Catholic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, there were about 267 million U.S. adults in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>. This suggests that there are roughly 53 million Catholic adults nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The share of U.S. Catholics who are Hispanic is rising. <\/strong>Currently, the Catholic population is 54% White, 36% Hispanic, 4% Asian and 2% Black. An additional 2% identify with another race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2007, the share who are White has dropped by 10 percentage points, while the share who are Hispanic has grown by 7 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change has implications for the profile of Catholic Americans overall because Catholics from different racial and ethnic backgrounds have distinctive social and political traits, as we\u2019ll discuss below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More than four-in-ten U.S. Catholics are immigrants (29%) or the children of immigrants (14%).<\/strong> But some racial and ethnic groups have much higher shares of first- and second-generation immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, 78% of Asian Catholics were born outside the U.S., and an additional 14% were born in the U.S. but have at least one parent who was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among Hispanic Catholics, 58% were born outside the U.S., and 22% were born in the U.S. to at least one immigrant parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, 83% of White Catholics are from families who have been in the U.S. for three generations or longer.<\/ins><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The 2023-24 survey did not include enough Black Catholics to report on them separately. Refer to our 2022 analysis<\/a> for more information about Black Catholics.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholics tend to be older than Americans overall. <\/strong>Nearly six-in-ten Catholic adults (58%) are ages 50 and older. By comparison, 47% of all <\/em>U.S. adults in the Center\u2019s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)<\/a> fall in this age range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Hispanic Catholics and Asian Catholics tend to be a lot younger than White Catholics. Four-in-ten Hispanic Catholics and 53% of Asian Catholics are 50 and older, compared with 70% of White Catholics. And just 14% of Hispanic Catholics and 20% of Asian Catholics are ages 65 and older, versus 39% of White Catholics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Catholics are spread out relatively evenly across the U.S. <\/strong>Roughly three-in-ten (29%) live in the South, while 26% live in the Northeast, 25% in the West and 20% in the Midwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The racial and ethnic makeup of the Catholic population varies by region. For example, in the Midwest, 78% of Catholics are White and 15% are Hispanic. In the Northeast, 72% of Catholics are White and 20% are Hispanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the South, 44% are White and 45% are Hispanic. And in the West, there are more Hispanic Catholics than White Catholics (58% vs. 27%). The West also has a relatively larger population of Asian Catholics than do other regions (10%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More than one-third of U.S. Catholics (35%) have a bachelor\u2019s degree. <\/strong>Another 27% have some college experience but not a bachelor\u2019s degree, and 38% have a high school education or less. This distribution is similar to that of the general adult population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On average, Asian Catholics and White Catholics have higher levels of educational attainment than Hispanic Catholics. About half of Asian Catholics (53%) have a college degree, while 21% have a high school education or less. Among White Catholics, 43% have at least a bachelor\u2019s degree, while 29% have a high school education or less. Among Hispanic Catholics, 20% have a bachelor\u2019s degree and 54% have a high school education or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About three-in-ten U.S. Catholics (29%) say they attend Mass weekly or more often. <\/strong>Larger shares say they pray on a daily basis (51%) and say religion is very important in their lives (44%). By comparison, Protestants are slightly more likely to say they do or believe each of these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, 21% of U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass weekly and<\/em> pray daily and<\/em> consider religion very important. By contrast, 10% say they attend Mass a few times a year or less, pray seldom or never, and<\/em> consider religion not too or not all important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About half of Catholics who are registered voters (53%) identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, while 43% affiliate with the Democratic Party.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But partisan affiliation varies by race and ethnicity. Roughly six-in-ten White Catholic registered voters (61%) say they identify with or lean toward the GOP, while 36% identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, 56% of Hispanic Catholics who are registered voters say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with 39% who favor the GOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Catholic Church opposes abortion<\/a>, 59% of Catholics say abortion should be legal. <\/strong>This includes 35% who say it should be legal in most cases and 25% who say it should be legal in all cases. Roughly four-in-ten Catholics say abortion should be illegal<\/em> in most (26%) or all (13%) cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholics\u2019 opinions about abortion tend to align with their political leanings. Among Catholic Democrats, 78% say abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Among Catholic Republicans, 43% say this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholic Democrats (78%) are a little less likely than Democrats as a whole (86%) to say abortion should be legal in most or all cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roughly three-quarters of Catholics (78%) view Pope Francis favorably, <\/strong>according to our February 2025 survey<\/a>. At least 80% of Catholics have expressed a favorable opinion of him in 10 of the 15 U.S. surveys in which we have asked about the pope since 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholic Democrats (88%) are much more likely than Catholic Republicans (69%) to view Francis favorably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Note: This is an update of a post originally published Sept. 4, 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catholics are one of the largest religious groups in the United States, outnumbering any single Protestant denomination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":201783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-12T13:43:17Z","apple_news_api_id":"b607ca2f-c15d-43bd-a098-1147e05fddea","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-12T13:46:40Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AtgfKL8FdQ72gmBFH4F_d6g","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[{"key":"_oqc2rx9o0","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2025\/02\/26\/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off\/","postId":198882,"title":"Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off","date":"2025-02-26 06:09:14","label":"Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off"}],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[180,179,405,432],"bylines":[926,744,622],"collection":[2625],"datasets":[2774],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-7747","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholicism","category-christianity","category-size-demographic-characteristics-of-religious-groups","category-us-religious-demographics","bylines-gregory-a-smith","bylines-justin-nortey","bylines-patricia-tevington","collection-religious-landscape-study","datasets-american-trends-panel-wave-143","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":1138,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/03\/04\/10-facts-about-us-catholics\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":201783,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/03\/SR_24.04.12_Catholics_9facts_featured.jpg","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/03\/SR_24.04.12_Catholics_9facts_featured.jpg?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"caption":"Ash Wednesday at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston. 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