The face up of Cosmic America is changing. Today, immigrants make up a considerable share of Catholics, and many are Hispanic. At the aforementioned fourth dimension, there has been a regional shift, from the Northeast (long home to a big percentage of the Catholic true-blue) and Midwest to the Western and Southern parts of the U.Southward.

Our inquiry also has documented the decline of Catholics as a share of the U.S. population. Still, roughly one-in-five U.South. adults say their primary religious amalgamation is with the Catholic Church. Here are a few primal demographic characteristics of the American flock that Pope Francis will detect when he visits the U.S. for the first fourth dimension, based on data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study:

Catholics are more likely than other Americans to be immigrants or children of immigrants. Indeed, more than a quarter of U.S. Cosmic adults (27%) were born outside the land, compared with 15% of U.Southward. adults overall; virtually of these Cosmic immigrants (22% of all U.S. Catholics) are from elsewhere in the Americas.

As of 2014, an additional xv% of Cosmic Americans accept at least one foreign-built-in parent. That leaves 57% of Catholics who were built-in in the U.Southward. to ii native-built-in parents. By comparison, nearly iii-quarters (74%) of American adults overall were born in the land to 2 U.Due south.-born parents.

Catholics More Likely Than Other Americans to Be Hispanic, Immigrants

The share of U.S. Catholics who are Hispanic has grown past 5 percentage points since 2007 (from 29% to 34%), while the percent of all U.South. adults who are Hispanic has grown by iii points (from 12% to 15%). And the share of Catholics who are Hispanic is probable to continue to grow; amongst Catholic millennials, as many are Hispanic (46%) as are white (43%).

Catholics are about as various as Americans overall, but their specific racial and ethnic composition is somewhat different. Compared with all U.S. adults, Catholics are made upwardly of fewer non-Hispanic whites (59% vs. 66%) and blacks (3% vs. 12%) and more than heavily fabricated upwards of Hispanics (34% vs. 15%).

Over the last several years, the Cosmic population in the U.S. has shifted somewhat from the Northeast and Midwest toward the South and Westward regions of the state. Catholics yet are more heavily full-bodied in the Northeast than are Americans overall (26% vs. eighteen%). But between 2007 and 2014, the shares of U.S. Catholics living in the Northeast and Midwest have each fallen by 3 percent points (from 29% to 26% and from 24% to 21%, respectively). And the shares living in the S and Due west take each increased by 3 points (from 24% to 27% and from 23% to 26%, respectively).

Catholics Relatively Evenly Distributed Throughout Country

The 3 cities that Pope Francis is visiting this calendar month – Washington, D.C., New York Metropolis and Philadelphia – vary in terms of their Catholic makeup. Fully ane-tertiary of people in the New York Metropolis metropolitan area identify as Catholic (33%), compared with well-nigh a quarter of Philadelphians (26%). Roughly ane-in-five Washington- area residents are Catholic (19%). (See a split up analysis for comparisons with other major U.S. metropolitan areas.)

When information technology comes to race and ethnicity, Catholics in unlike areas of the country are very different. And indeed, the growing share of Hispanics – especially in sure regions – is linked to the shift in Catholic geography. Six-in-ten non-Hispanic Catholics live in the Northeast (32%) or Midwest (28%), while roughly three-quarters of Hispanic Catholics live in the S (33%) or West (44%).

Looked at another way, in the Northeast (75%) and Midwest (82%), three-quarters or more of Catholics are white (and not-Hispanic), while fewer than one-in-v are Hispanic. Simply in the Due south, just 50% of Catholics are white and 42% are Hispanic. And in the West, a clear majority of Catholics are Hispanic (57%), compared with 31% who are white (equally well equally 8% who are Asian).

In the 2 most populous U.Southward. states, even bigger shares of Catholics are Hispanic – fully two-thirds of Catholics in California (67%) and roughly seven-in-ten Catholics in Texas (72%) are Hispanic.

American Catholics are aging. The median age of Catholic adults in the U.S. is 49 years one-time – four years older than it was in 2007. Catholics are significantly older than members of non-Christian faiths (40) and people who are not affiliated with any religion (36).

Merely 17% of Catholic adults are nether the historic period of thirty, compared with 22% of U.South. adults, 35% of religious "nones" and 44% of U.S. Muslims.

Catholic Adults Are Older Than U.S. Adults Overall

For more details on demographic measures including fertility, marital status, teaching and income, encounter Chapter 3 of the 2015 Pew Enquiry Center written report "America's Changing Religious Landscape," and an interactive tool with data from the report.

Michael Lipka is an editorial manager of religion research at Pew Research Center.