Catholics make up one of the largest religious groups in the United States. This analysis looks at the reasons Catholic adults identify with the faith, as well as the reasons former Catholics have left it.
An estimated 19% of U.S. adults are Catholic, according to the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS). This group includes:
- 17% of U.S. adults who are Catholic today and who were raised Catholic
- 2% who are Catholic today after having been raised another way, including 1% who were raised Protestants and an additional 1% who were raised in another religion or no religion
The RLS also finds that 13% of U.S. adults are former Catholics – people who say they were raised in the Catholic faith but no longer identify with it. This group includes:
- 7% of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic but now are religiously unaffiliated
- 6% who were raised Catholic but now identify in another way (in most cases, with some variety of Protestantism; 4% of U.S. adults are former Catholics who are now Protestant)
(For a more detailed look at the connections Americans have to Catholicism, read our recent report exploring Catholic identity, beliefs and practices, as well as Catholics’ views of the church.)
Why do Catholics say they are Catholic?
A survey we conducted in May 2025 finds that many Catholics in the United States cite the following as extremely or very important reasons why they identify with the faith today:
- Their religion fulfills their spiritual needs (54% of Catholics cite this reason).
- They believe in the religion’s teachings (53%).
- Their religion gives their life meaning (48%).
- They like the traditions (46%).
(To read about what Catholics say is essential to being Catholic for them, refer to our recent report.)
This data on Catholics’ reasons for being Catholic comes from a broader set of survey questions that asked U.S. adults who identify with a religion why they do so. The survey also asked religiously unaffiliated Americans why they don’t identify with any religion, and it asked people who have switched religions between childhood and adulthood why they left their childhood faith.
Here’s what former Catholics most commonly cite as extremely or very important reasons they no longer identify as Catholics:
- No longer believing in the religion’s teachings (46%)
- Scandals involving clergy or religious leaders (39%)
- Being unhappy about the religion’s teachings about social and political issues (37%)
Read on to explore the following:
- Former Catholics: Why they left the church
- Why some people who grew up Catholic are now Protestant
- Why religious ‘nones’ who grew up Catholic are now unaffiliated
- Experiences with being raised Catholic
The May 2025 survey did not include enough Catholic respondents who were raised in another religion to analyze their responses separately. For more on why some Americans who were raised in another religion become Catholic, read this analysis from the February 2025 survey.
Former Catholics: Why they left the church
The most widely cited reasons people select for leaving Catholicism vary depending on their current religious identity.
For example, among former Catholics who now identify as Protestants, the most commonly cited reasons for having left Catholicism are that their spiritual needs were not being met (52%) and that they felt called to a new faith (49%).
On the other hand, among former Catholics who are now religiously unaffiliated (meaning, they identify religiously as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”), about half say a loss of belief is a major reason they left the church.
When asked why they left the church, former Catholics who are now “nones” also are more likely than former Catholics who are now Protestant to say the church just wasn’t important in their life and to mention scandals, unhappiness with the church’s social/political views, and having just gradually drifted away.
Why some people who grew up Catholic are now Protestant
Protestants who were raised Catholic make up 4% of all U.S. adults. When asked to rate 10 possible reasons why they now identify as Protestants, many of these former Catholics choose statements about belief and spiritualty as extremely or very important.
For example, roughly eight-in-ten former Catholics who have become Protestants say belief in their new religion’s teachings is an important reason they are Protestant. And 76% say they are Protestant because it fulfills their spiritual needs.
Many Catholics-turned-Protestants also say that their current religion gives their life meaning (63%) and that they like the sense of community (56%) when asked why they are Protestants today.
Why religious ‘nones’ who grew up Catholic are now unaffiliated
Religious “nones” who were raised Catholic make up 7% of all U.S. adults. When asked to evaluate reasons why they are not affiliated with a religion, 81% say an extremely or very important reason is that they believe they can be moral without religion.
Many also cite the following as extremely or very important reasons why they no longer have a religion:
- They question a lot of religion’s teachings (67%).
- They don’t need a religion to be spiritual (57%).
- They don’t like religious organizations (53%).
- They distrust religious leaders (52%).
Experiences with being raised Catholic
The May 2025 survey also included several questions about the extent to which people grew up with religion in their lives, and whether their childhood religious experiences were positive or negative.
The majority of lifelong Catholics say they had a mostly positive experience with religion when growing up (73%). Fewer former Catholics say they had a mostly positive experience with religion as children. Those who are now Protestant (56%) are more likely to say this than those who no longer identify with any religion (26%).6
People raised Catholic who, as adults, are either Catholic or Protestant, are generally more likely to have had a religious upbringing than people raised Catholic who are now “nones.” For example, 84% of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic and still identify as Catholic say they grew up attending Mass at least once or twice a month, as did 77% of former Catholics who are now Protestant. By comparison, 68% of former Catholics who are now religious “nones” say they went to Mass weekly as children.
There’s a similar pattern with childhood religious activities. We asked people if they grew up doing five types of religious activities on a regular basis: saying prayers at night, making religious arts and crafts, saying grace or praying before meals, listening to religious music, and reading religious stories. We find that among adults who were raised Catholic, those who are still Catholic or are now Protestant are more likely to have regularly done more of these activities as children than those who are now religious “nones.”
