US Catholic Church Data (CARA)

United States (dioceses, eparchies in 50 states, DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands)

Clergy, Religious, and Lay Leaders 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021 Pandemic 2025
Total priests 59426 59192 58909 58398 57317 52124 49054 45699 41399 39993 37578 35513 34923 33462
Diocesan priests 36467 37272 36005 35627 35052 34114 32349 30607 28094 27182 25868 24653 24204 23259
Religious priests 22762 21920 22904 22771 22265 18010 16705 15092 13305 12811 11710 10308 10709 10279
Priestly ordinations -- 805 771 593 533 595 511 442 454 459 515 495 441 426
Permanent deacons na na 898 4093 7204 9356 10932 12378 14574 16649 18082 18036 18619 18425
Religious sisters 178740 160931 135225 126517 115386 102504 90809 79814 68634 57544 48546 41357 39452 33135
Religious brothers 12096 11623 8625 7941 7544 6721 6535 5662 5451 4690 4200 3801 3832 3290
Parishes and the Catholic Population 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021 Pandemic 2025
Parishes 17763 18224 18515 18794 19244 19620 19331 19236 18891 17958 17337 16703 16579 16125
Parishes without a resident priest pastor 530 571 702 791 1051 1812 2161 2843 3251 3353 3533 3544 3356 3674
Parishes where a bishop has entrusted the pastoral care of the parish to a deacon or some other person -- -- 7 11 93 249 314 447 553 469 451 298 312 136
Percentage of diocesan priests active in ministry 0.95 0.9 0.88 0.85 0.84 0.8 0.76 0.74 0.7 0.68 0.66 0.65 0.66 0.65
Active diocesan priests per parish 2 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.2 1.2 1 1 1 1 0.959 0.9
Catholic population (The Official Catholic Directory; parish-connected Catholics) 44.3m 47.9m 48.7m 50.5m 52.3m 55.7m 57.4m 59.9m 64.8m 65.6m 68.1m 67.7m 66.8m 66.3m
Catholic population (self-identified, survey-based estimate) -- 54.1m 54.6m 56.4m 64.0m 61.4m 64.4m 71.7m 81.2m 78.3m 75.4m 72.4m 73.0m 73.7m
Foreign-born adult Catholics (survey-based estimate) -- -- -- 4.1m 5.4m 5.6m 7.1m 11.1m 17.6m 13.7m 13.1m 15.6m 11.7m 16.1m
Adult converts to Catholicism (survey-based estimate) -- 2.9m 4.9m 4.5m 5.5m 5.0m 4.7m 4.8m 4.3m 6.1m 4.7m 4.4m 3.6m 4.3m
Religious Education 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021 Pandemic 2025
Primary school-age children in parish religious education 4.2m 3.9m 3.4m 3.1m 3.1m 3.3m 3.6m 3.4m 3.0m 2.6m 2.1m 1.7m 1.6m
Catholic elementary schools 9366 8414 8022 7764 7395 6964 6793 6122 5889 5302 4903 4853 4606
Students in Catholic elementary schools 3.4m 2.6m 2.2m 2.0m 2.0m 1.8m 1.8m 1.6m 1.5m 1.4m 1.2m 1.1m 1.2m
Secondary school-age teens in parish religious education 1.3m 1.0m 959935 831331 736188 749377 760644 787033 656722 635170 550170 442526 449095
Catholic secondary schools 1986 1624 1549 1425 1324 1280 1297 1325 1205 1200 1199 1174 1178
Students in Catholic secondary schools 1.008m 884181 838136 774216 606000 638440 653723 653226 611723 583885 555901 535844 526575
Catholic colleges and universities 279 245 235 243 228 231 230 229 234 226 225 221 213
Students in Catholic colleges and universities 411111 432597 536799 545461 619300 653927 683768 752718 783407 784790 763170 730803 701456
Sacraments and Rites 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021 Pandemic 2025
Baptisms of infants in previous year 1.237m 1.089m 894992 943632 953323 986308 981444 996199 929545 806138 693914 545710 411482 471717
Baptisms of other minors in previous year -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 60927 66458 78854 38816 59515
Baptisms of adults in previous year 118622 84534 80035 88942 87996 85600 66886 77578 76605 41600 42751 35799 25356 34501
Receptions into full communion in previous year -- -- -- -- -- -- 76176 95003 73402 70318 67140 53540 45440 55656
Confirmations in previous year -- -- -- -- -- 491360 555767 630465 610282 597402 566143 537283 409491 467769
First Communions in previous year -- -- -- -- -- 849919 794576 881321 807066 802300 726887 614655 434889 518101
Marriages in previous year 347179 426309 369133 350745 348300 326079 294144 261626 207112 168400 148134 131827 97200 107271
Annulments initiated in previous year -- -- -- -- 60691 72308 57018 49973 33727 26025 23302 19500 13891 TBA
Funerals in previous year 390018 417779 406497 417047 446822 452526 455477 472789 445616 417387 391131 372866 356521 350028
Catholics who attend Mass every week (survey-based estimate) -- 0.549 0.42 0.422 0.399 0.325 0.264 0.308 0.256 0.242 0.234 0.173 0.173 0.176
Catholics praying at least once a week (survey-based estimate) -- -- -- 0.808 0.838 0.761 0.855 0.825 0.827 0.798 0.825 0.719 0.719 0.76
Catholics who say their religious affiliation is "strong" (survey-based estimate) -- 0.458 0.384 0.441 0.443 0.362 0.347 0.367 0.299 0.323 0.337 -- -- 0.365
Health Services 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021 Pandemic 2025
Catholic hospitals 804 727 657 642 631 633 600 594 571 553 541 512 534 521
Patients served in Catholic hospitals in previous year 17.1m 21.5m 29.9m 36.5m 36.6m 43.4m 56.4m 79.0m 84.7m 89.9m 87.9m 91.8m 92.3m 80.8m
Clergy Sexual Abuse of Minors 1960-69 1970-74 1975-79 1980-84 1985-89 1990-94 1995-99 2000-04 2005-09 2010-14 2015-19 2020-22 2021 Pandemic 2025
Allegations made since 2004 (i.e., when abuse occurred) 4216 2813 2712 2113 1086 516 266 179 132 136 99 36 included in 2020-22 TBA
1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000-02
Allegations reported in 2002 or earlier (i.e., when abuse occurred) 2533 3445 2074 431 172 -- -- -- -- -- --
Notes: The Official Catholic Directory, from which the sacraments data is drawn, is based on the state of the Church as of January 1 of the year it is published. The sacramental data in these volumes are totals from the previous year. The abuse allegation data are not equivalent to numbers of clergy accused. There are more allegations than accused clergy as some of the priests have multiple victims making allegations of abuse against them.