Pew Research Center profiled the U.S. adult Catholic convert population and noted some of the differences between converts and lifelong Catholics.

Converts to Catholicism account for 1.5% of U.S. adults. Converts make up 8% of the nation’s Catholics, and the remaining 92% of Catholics are “cradle Catholics,” who were raised in the faith and still identify with it today.

Pew detailed “key facts about converts to and from Catholicism” in the U.S. drawn from the center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and previous pew reports.

The RLS is a study intended to provide estimates of the U.S. population’s religious composition, beliefs, and practices. It was conducted from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, with a nationally representative sample of 36,908 respondents.

The survey’s margin of error for results for the full sample is plus or minus 0.8 percentage points and had a 20% response rate.

While Catholic converts account for a small share of the country’s adult population, the number of converts to Catholicism is on par with, or larger, than the number of Americans who identify with some Protestant groups, including Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Reformed Christians.

The research found that the most common reason converts joined the faith was due to a Catholic spouse or a desire to get married in the Church. In the U.S., 1 in 4 married Catholics are married to a non-Catholic, including 1% who are married to someone from a non-Christian religious background.

The RLS found that about two-thirds of Catholic converts were of a different Christian tradition before converting.

More than half (59%) of converts told Pew that they were raised Protestant, and 9% were raised in another Christian tradition, such as Orthodox Christianity or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

About 1 in 5 Catholic converts (22%) did not have any religious affiliation as a child.

Characteristics and practices of cradle Catholics versus converts

Pew noted differences between converts and cradle Catholics, including that converts are more likely than those raised in the faith to be Republican.

Among Catholic registered voters, 60% of converts identified as Republican or leaned toward the Republican Party as of Pew’s 2023-24 study. Of lifelong Catholics, 52% said they identify the same.

Of cradle Catholics, 43% identified as Democratic or Democratic leaning, compared with 35% of Catholic converts who reported the same.

Most Catholic converts who responded are white (67%), compared with 20% who are Hispanic, 3% who are Black, and 4% who are Asian.

In contrast, 53% of cradle Catholics are white and 37% are Hispanic.

The research also found that 79% of converts were born in the U.S. and 18% were born outside of the country, compared with 67% of cradle catholics who were born in the U.S. and 30% who were born outside the nation.

Pew also found that Catholic converts attend Mass more regularly than cradle Catholics.

Of adults, 38% of converts attend Mass at least weekly and 58% receive Communion every time they go to Mass, compared with 28% of cradle Catholics who attend at least weekly and 34% who receive Communion every time.

Converts also go to confession slightly more, with 29% reporting they go at least once a year compared with 23% of cradle Catholics.