How Many Catholic Dioceses Are in the US? 196

There are 196 Catholic dioceses in the US. By the US bishops’ own lists in October 2026, they are 176 Latin dioceses and archdioceses, 18 Eastern Catholic eparchies, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, and the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, which serves Catholics of Anglican heritage. The directory Catholic-Hierarchy also counts 196.

Each of those 196 is a flock with a shepherd. In Los Angeles the flock is nearly four million Catholics; in Fairbanks it is fewer than twelve thousand, spread across the largest diocese in the country. Their bishops carry the charge Paul gave the elders of Ephesus: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God” (Acts 20:28, KJV).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops puts it this way: “In the United States, there are 194 archdioceses/dioceses, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.” The 194 plus those two make 196.

The 143 Latin dioceses include the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which the bishops’ conference lists in its Region IV, alongside Washington, Baltimore and the dioceses of Virginia. The count leaves out the six dioceses of Puerto Rico, which have their own bishops’ conference, and the Archdiocese of Agaña on Guam, the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in the Northern Mariana Islands and the Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago in American Samoa, which belong to the bishops’ conference of the Pacific.

Why do some sources say 194, 195 or 197?

Each number counts something slightly different, and one is simply out of date.

• 194 is the bishops’ conference’s count of archdioceses and dioceses, leaving out the two jurisdictions that are not tied to a territory: the Military Archdiocese and the Ordinariate.
• 195 is GCatholic’s count. It files the U.S. Virgin Islands on a page of its own, among the American dependencies, which appears to explain the difference.
• 197 was right until 19 May 2020, when the Diocese of Juneau was merged into the Archdiocese of Anchorage, renamed Anchorage–Juneau.

The bishops’ conference’s own page also carries a short bulleted summary that gives 144 Latin dioceses and 33 archdioceses, which would make 197. Its full lists, region by region, name 143 dioceses. The likely reason is that the summary still counts Las Vegas as a diocese, although it was made an archdiocese on 30 May 2023.

What is the difference between a diocese, an archdiocese and an eparchy?

A diocese is the local Church gathered around its bishop. The Code of Canon Law defines it this way: “A diocese is a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop for him to shepherd with the cooperation of the presbyterium.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls a diocese a particular church, a community of the faithful “in communion of faith and sacraments with their bishop ordained in apostolic succession.”

An archdiocese is a diocese that leads a group of neighbouring dioceses, called a province. Its archbishop is the metropolitan: “A metropolitan, who is the archbishop of his diocese, presides over an ecclesiastical province.” He does not govern the other dioceses, which keep their own bishops: canon law gives him a duty of vigilance over faith and discipline there and “no other power of governance.” The Archdiocese of Baltimore, for example, heads a province with four other dioceses: Arlington, Richmond, Wheeling–Charleston and Wilmington.

An eparchy is the Eastern Catholic word for a diocese. In the bishops’ conference’s words, “In Eastern Catholic churches, an eparchy is equivalent to a diocese in the Latin Church, and eparch is equivalent to bishop.” An archeparchy is the Eastern counterpart of an archdiocese, and the United States has two: the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh and the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. Eastern eparchies are not drawn like Latin dioceses. Each serves the members of one Eastern Church over a large area, often many states and sometimes Canada too. The Maronite, Chaldean, Melkite, Syro-Malabar and other Eastern Catholic Churches are part of one Catholic Church, as explained in whether there are Catholic denominations.

Two jurisdictions have no map at all:

• The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, based in Washington since John Paul II “reorganized the military vicariate as an archdiocese” on 21 July 1986, serves Catholics in the armed forces, in Veterans Affairs hospitals and in military families. It “has no defined territory.”
• The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, set up on 1 January 2012 and based in Houston, gathers former Anglican groups and clergy who became Catholic. Its parishes are fully Catholic and keep parts of their Anglican heritage.

How many ecclesiastical provinces are there in the US?

There are 35: 33 Latin provinces, each headed by a metropolitan archdiocese, and 2 Eastern Catholic provinces, headed by Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The number of Latin provinces rose from 32 to 33 on 30 May 2023, when Las Vegas became an archdiocese, with the dioceses of Reno and Salt Lake City in its province.

For its own meetings the bishops’ conference also groups the dioceses into 14 geographic regions, from Region I (New England) to Region XIV (Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas). The Eastern Catholic Churches form a fifteenth region of their own.

Which is the largest Catholic diocese in the US?

By people, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, with 3,954,600 Catholics at the end of 2022. By land, the Diocese of Fairbanks in Alaska, which covers 1,061,508 square kilometres, about 409,850 square miles, but had only 11,900 Catholics that year. The figures are as GCatholic reports them, and the end of 2022 is the latest year it gives.

The smallest by area is the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands, about 136 square miles. In the fifty states it is the Diocese of Brooklyn, about 180 square miles, which is also one of the most populous, eighth in the country with 1,532,500 Catholics at the end of 2022. The smallest Latin diocese by number of Catholics is Fairbanks, then Rapid City in South Dakota with 23,668 (2022). Among the Eastern Catholic eparchies, which are much smaller, the largest is the Chaldean Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle, based in Detroit, with 181,400 at the end of 2022, and the smallest is the Ruthenian Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary of Phoenix, with 2,424 the same year.

Added together, the diocesan figures GCatholic gives come to about 72.8 million Catholics at the end of 2022. That is a sum of the figures as GCatholic reports them, not a census, and the Military Archdiocese reports no figure.

How many Catholic bishops are there in the US?

The bishops’ conference counts 440 bishops, active and retired, in the United States. Of the 268 active bishops, 3 are cardinal archbishops, 31 archbishops, 159 diocesan bishops and 75 auxiliary bishops, who assist a diocesan bishop. The other 172 are retired. Church law asks a diocesan bishop who has completed his seventy-fifth year “to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff,” who decides when to accept it.

In October 2026 the conference’s list showed 6 dioceses waiting for a new bishop. It also lists 17 cardinals with ties to the United States. Across the world there were 5,525 Catholic bishops at the end of 2024. How to write to a bishop or greet one in person is set out in how to address a Catholic bishop.

How do you find your diocese?

A Catholic belongs to the diocese where he or she lives. In the words of canon law, “Through both domicile and quasi-domicile, each person acquires his or her pastor and ordinary.” To find it, the bishops’ conference keeps a Diocesan Interactive Map, which finds the diocese and its bishop from a zip code or a state.

Two groups look beyond the map of Latin dioceses. An Eastern Catholic family comes under the eparchy of its own Church, which may be based in another state. Catholics in the armed forces and their families come under the Military Archdiocese, whose reach, the bishops’ conference says, extends wherever American service members serve, including military bases, embassies and other diplomatic missions. So every Catholic, at home or on a base overseas, belongs to a flock and has a shepherd.

Related reading

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• Byzantine vs Roman Catholic: the main difference
• How do you address a Catholic bishop?
• Cathedral vs basilica vs church: a bishop’s seat explained
• Facts and statistics about the Roman Catholic Church
• Facts about the Pope