Young Latinos are abandoning organized religion at a faster rate than any other demographic in the United States, and Catholic churches are taking the hit first. A new Axios analysis found that the religious affiliation of Latinos ages 18 to 29 is falling, with more people identifying as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular." That shift is straining legacy parishes, schools and congregations in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, where church leaders once counted on a growing Latino population to keep Catholic institutions fed for another century.
Who’s Losing Control
Hispanics make up about 15% of the U.S. population, and the numbers show a steady break from the old religious order. The percentage of Hispanic Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated rose from 18% in 2013 to 23% in 2025, according to an Axios review of the latest data from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute. PRRI reported in 2026 that the overall percentage of Americans without religious affiliation had risen to 28%. The hierarchy isn’t holding like it used to. People are leaving.
Among Catholic Latinos, the collapse is sharper. An Axios review of Pew Research Center data found that the share of Latino adults identifying as Catholic fell from 67% in 2010 to 43% in 2022. The percentage of Latinos in U.S. Protestant churches has remained relatively stable at roughly 21% since 2010. So while the institutions scramble to preserve their grip, a growing number of people are simply opting out.
The Exit Is Coming From Below
Analysts say the exodus among Catholics is part of one of the fastest religious shifts in modern history, marked by the rapid increase in religiously unaffiliated people and waves of church closures. The secularization trend is being driven largely by young people and assimilation, and the younger the demographic, the faster the break from institutional religion. That’s the pattern. The bottom is moving first.
The "none" revolution is also heavily driven by gender, with young women of color leading the departure from religion, particularly conservative denominations, the Axios data review found. PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman said, "A lot of young women, including young Latinas, are not buying into the trad wife sort of theme that's often pushed by people on the right to sort of counteract the fact that younger women are more progressive and less religious," and added, "A lot of conservative denominations are doubling down on very patriarchal themes ... and young women, especially, tend to be more vocally supportive of LGBT rights."
That’s the kind of pressure institutions hate. Not a policy memo. Not a committee. Just people refusing the script.
What the Church Can’t Rebuild
The report says the secularization pipeline isn’t just an American assimilation effect. A 2026 Pew Research study in Latin America found that the region is seeing massive net losses in Catholic adherents, meaning many immigrants arriving in the U.S. from there already are detached from the Catholic Church. The old pipeline that once delivered bodies, money and obedience to the institution is breaking down on both sides of the border.
For Catholic leaders in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, that means the future they planned around a booming Latino population is slipping away. Legacy parishes, schools and congregations are left to absorb the damage while the people they were built to govern keep walking. The numbers don’t flatter the hierarchy. They expose it.
The broader picture is even starker. PRRI said in 2026 that 28% of Americans now claim no religious affiliation. That’s not a fringe drift. It’s a mass refusal, one that keeps widening as younger people, especially young women of color, reject conservative religious control and the patriarchal themes wrapped around it. The institutions can call it assimilation, secularization or a generational shift. The result is the same: fewer people willing to kneel.