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Phoenix surpasses New York, Chicago to become nation’s 2nd-largest diocese
December 23, 2025
The Diocese of Phoenix has surpassed the Archdiocese of New York and the Archdiocese of Chicago to become the nation’s second-largest diocese, according to statistics published in the recently released 2025 edition of The Official Catholic Directory.
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In the 2024 edition, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (3.82 million Catholics), Archdiocese of New York (3.26 million), Archdiocese of Chicago (2.08 million), Diocese of Phoenix (2.01 million), and Archdiocese of Boston (1.79 million) were the nation’s five largest dioceses, according to statistics reported to the Directory’s publisher by the dioceses themselves.
According to the 2025 edition, the nation’s five largest dioceses are the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (3.79 million), Diocese of Phoenix (2.01 million), Archdiocese of Chicago (1.95 million), Archdiocese of Boston (1.79 million), and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (1.70 million).
In the 2025 edition, the Archdiocese of New York reported that it has 1.57 million Catholics—a staggering decline of nearly 1.7 million Catholics in one year, suggesting that archdiocesan officials believed that the previous numbers were vastly overinflated.
The Archdiocese of New York reported to the Vatican that is has 2.84 million Catholics, according to the current edition of the Annuario Pontificio. The website Catholic-hierarchy.org has recorded archdiocesan statistics reported in the Annuario since 1950; according to these statistics, the Archdiocese of New York’s Catholic population steadily rose from 1.26 million Catholics in 1950 to 2.82 Catholics in 2023, and has never exceeded 3 million.
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