US Catholic population shifting to south and west
August 25, 2025
» Continue to this story on National Catholic Register
CWN Editor's Note: The Catholic population of the US, once heavily centered in the northeast and midwest of the country, has shifted south and west in the past generation.
A National Catholic Register report on the trend notes that in 1980, 70% of the country’s Catholics lived in dioceses of the northeast or midwest. That figure is now below 50%, and evidently still falling.
Of the American dioceses reporting the largest population gains in the past 20 years, six are in either Texas or California, and only one (New York) in the north. Of the ten dioceses that have lost the most, all are in the traditionally Catholic bastions of the northeast and midwest, with the single exception of Miami.
The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
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