Young Latinos are abandoning organized religion at a faster rate than any other demographic in the United States, directly challenging the institutional power of traditional churches. This accelerating decline hits Catholic churches particularly hard. An Axios analysis found that the religious affiliation of Latinos aged 18 to 29 is falling, with a growing number identifying as atheist, agnostic, or "nothing in particular."
This shift strains legacy parishes, schools, and congregations across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Church leaders in these regions once expected a booming Latino population to sustain Catholic institutions for the next century. The material foundations of these institutions are now under pressure.
Hispanics constitute about 15% of the U.S. population. The percentage of Hispanic Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated rose from 18% in 2013 to 23% in 2025, according to an Axios review of Public Religion Research Institute data. PRRI reported this year that the overall percentage of Americans without religious affiliation had risen to 28%.
Among Catholic Latinos, the decline was even sharper. An Axios review of Pew Research Center data found 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.
Challenging Ideological Control
Analysts describe this exodus among Catholics as part of one of the fastest religious shifts in modern history. It's marked by a rapid increase in religiously unaffiliated people and waves of church closures. This secularization trend is largely driven by young people and assimilation, with younger demographics breaking faster from institutional religion.
The "none" revolution is also heavily driven by gender. Young women of color are leading the departure from religion, particularly from conservative denominations, the Axios data review found. This represents a significant rejection of traditional social roles.
PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman noted, "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." She added that "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." This rejection directly challenges the patriarchal structures often reinforced by religious institutions, which serve to maintain specific forms of social reproduction and control over women's labor.
A Global Rejection of Authority
The secularization pipeline isn't just an American assimilation effect. A 2026 Pew Research study in Latin America found the region is seeing massive net losses in Catholic adherents. This means many immigrants arriving in the U.S. from Latin America are already detached from the Catholic Church, reflecting a broader, international shift away from traditional religious authority. The decline in adherence signals a weakening of a long-standing ideological apparatus that has historically shaped social norms and maintained order.