The majority of Hispanics profess the Catholic faith in the U.S., although their numbers have fallen considerably over the last decade. They are followed by Protestants and Evangelicals, whose adherents have increased slightly over the same period. The group that has seen the most pronounced growth is the group of Latinos who declare themselves tohave "no religious affiliation" (agnostic, atheist or nothing in particular), which has risen from 18% to 30%.
Share of U.S. Latino adults who identify as…
Catholic: 43%
Religiously unaffiliated: 30%
Evangelical Protestant: 15%
Non-evangelical Protestant: 6%
Other faiths: 4%https://t.co/2uIX1Zs4wf pic.twitter.com/2wYs5AZFCu— Pew Research Race and Ethnicity (@pewidentity) April 13, 2023
Catholics double the number of Evangelicals and Protestants combined
This is evidenced by a Pew Research Center survey, which shows that adult Hispanic Catholics have gone from 67% of this community in 2010 to 43% today. In spite of this notable decrease, their number is double the sum of evangelical believers (15%) and Protestants (6%). Another 4% declared themselves followers of other faiths, while 30% said they had no religious affiliation.
The number of evangelicals has risen 3% since 2010. At that time, they accounted for 12% of this community, compared to 15% today. Protestants have also seen their ranks grow, in this case by 2%, from 4% to 6% of Hispanics. Latinos confessing other faiths increased by 1%, reaching 4% in 2022.
Hispanic youth, the least religious
The survey also indicates that young Hispanics of all denominations are less religious than adults, especially those over 65. The majority of the members of this community between 18-29 years of age declare themselves to be not affiliated with any religion (49%), followed by Catholics (30%). Evangelicals account for 11% of Latinos in this age group, while those who follow other faiths outnumber Protestants (6%) (4%).
The most numerous Hispanic Catholics are those over 65 years of age (54%), while the age group with the most evangelicals is adults between 30 and 64 years of age (17%). Protestants peak between 50 and over 65 (7%).
What is the religious affiliation profile of different Latino demographic groups? See our latest report with data from 2022: https://t.co/Y0BKMR080n. @pewidentity @pewreligion pic.twitter.com/VdGcbit1TL
— Mark Hugo Lopez (@mhugolopez) April 17, 2023
More Catholics among Hispanic Democrats than among Republicans
Immigrants are much more religious than U.S.-born Hispanics, according to the survey. Among the natives, 39% have no religious affiliation, while 36% declare themselves Catholic, 12% Evangelical and 7% Protestant. For their part, 52% of foreign-born Latinos are Catholic, compared to 21% unaffiliated, 19% evangelical and 4% Protestant.
By political affiliation, Hispanic Democrats are mostly Catholic (48%), followed by 31% atheists and agnostics, 10% evangelicals and 5% Protestants. Among Republican sympathizers, the Catholic majority is narrower (33%), compared to 28% unaffiliated and 27% evangelicals. Protestants also represent 5% and followers of other faiths, 6%.
65% of Hispanics, raised Catholic
Stresses that the majority of U.S. Hispanics in the U.S. (65%) were raised Catholic. The number of those who did so as Protestants is notably lower (18%), followed by those not religiously affiliated (13%) or of another religion (3%). However, one in 3 adult members of this community indicate that their current denomination is different from that of their childhood.
Nearly a quarter of all U.S. Hispanics are former Catholics. While 65% of Hispanic adults say they were raised Catholic, 43% say they are currently Catholic. https://t.co/Io2rHe6t72 pic.twitter.com/5PYllgRs2S
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) April 17, 2023
Evangelicals and Protestants, with greater religious commitment
Religious commitment, however, is much higher among Evangelicals and Protestants than among Catholics. Seventy-three percent of Evangelicals and 69% of Protestants consider religion to be "very important" in their lives, compared to 46% of Catholics. This is also reflected in attendance at religious services: while 58% of evangelicals attend at least once a week, Catholics attend at least 22%. Among Protestants, 38% do so.
As far as prayer is concerned, 72% of evangelicals state that they pray at least once a day, while Protestants (55%) and Catholics (52%) do so less.
