By percentage of adults who identify as Catholic, Rhode Island stands out in Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study. Pew’s state profile estimates that 39% of adults in Rhode Island identify as Catholic, compared with 35% in Connecticut, 33% in New Jersey, and 29% in Massachusetts and New York.
Rhode Island has the highest reported Catholic share
Pew’s 2023–24 profile places Catholic adults at 39% of Rhode Island’s adult population. The state has long been associated with a large Catholic presence shaped by Irish, Italian, Portuguese, French Canadian, Latino, and other communities.
Connecticut and New Jersey also report large Catholic shares. These figures describe religious self-identification, not Mass attendance, parish registration, baptismal records, or total baptized population.
Percentage differs from total population
The “most Catholic state” can mean two different things. Rhode Island may rank highest by share of adults, but large states such as California, Texas, New York, and Florida can have far more Catholics in absolute numbers because their populations are much larger.
A state can therefore have a lower Catholic percentage while containing many more Catholic residents.
Survey uncertainty matters
State-level estimates have margins of error. Pew reports a relatively wide margin for Rhode Island because its sample is smaller than the national sample. Differences between nearby states may not always be statistically significant.
For that reason, it is better to say Rhode Island has the highest reported Catholic share in the 2023–24 Pew profiles than to treat the number as a permanent ranking.
Catholic geography changes
Migration, immigration, aging, religious switching, and regional population growth continually reshape Catholic life in the United States. The Northeast remains historically Catholic, while Catholic populations have also grown in parts of the South and West.
Current survey results should therefore be dated rather than mixed with older Religious Landscape Study estimates.
Current answer
Using Pew’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study, Rhode Island is the clearest answer by percentage of adults identifying as Catholic, at about 39%.
