The Salinans of United States

The Salinans of United States, numbering approximately 800 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an Indigenous people of central California, whose ancestral territory spans the southern Salinas Valley, the Santa Lucia Range, and the Pacific Coast in what is now Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties Ennesen, Tepotaha, Te'po'ta'ahl They are an Indigenous people, with Salinan as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the North American Indigenous people cluster of the North American Peoples. Their primary religion is Folk Catholicism. They primarily speak English.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Salinan

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: North American Peoples
Country: United States
People Cluster: North American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): English (eng)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 800
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG050637
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Salinans 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

50%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: English
Language Family:

100%
%
English Speakers

Media Resources in English:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Salinans 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 Salinans:
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 Salinans of United States

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
readTitus 3:3

Pray for those who seek worldly pleasures instead of God to flee from sin and choose God’s goodness and lovingkindness by placing their faith in Jesus.

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
readMatthew 16:16

Pray that many will see clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and put their trust in Him.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
readMatthew 16:18b

Pray that God will build and grow His Church among this people.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
readJohn 1:12

Pray that believers will have the opportunity to clearly share the good news with the lost here, so that all people can be invited to trust in Jesus and become children of God.

Salinan Across Countries (ROP3 - 117615) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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