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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tzeltal of United States

The Tzeltal of United States, numbering approximately 86,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Maya people indigenous to the highlands of chiapas in Mexico. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Tzeltal is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Tzeltal

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: United States
People Cluster: Maya
Primary Language(s): Tzeltal (tzh)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 86,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG049313
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Pray for the Tzeltal of United States

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

51%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tzeltal
Language Family: Mayan

91%
%
Tzeltal Speakers

Media Resources in Tzeltal:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tzeltal:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2006 Bible Society of Mexico✓
2001 Bible Society of Mexico✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tzeltal bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tzeltal are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Tzeltal:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Tzeltal of United States

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
readMark 10:14b

Praise Jesus for the way He loves children, asking that many will learn the truth about Him and come to Him unhindered.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
readPsalm 51:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Him, and God will help them to proclaim His praise and declare His goodness all day long.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
readPsalm 15:1-2

Ask God to send believers who will go and, with integrity, walk blamelessly and do what is right, speaking truth about the Lord with those who need to learn about His redemption plan.

Tzeltal Across Countries (ROP3 - 103775) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▲CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TzeltalPG039165TzeltalMexico860,000No Longer UnreachedTzeltalFolk Catholicism
TzeltalPG049313TzeltalUnited States86,000No Longer UnreachedTzeltalRoman Catholicism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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