The Unholy Truth

The Unholy Truth

Inside the Mormon Church’s $265 Billion Empire

How the LDS Church built a secretive empire of tithes, real estate, and Wall Street investments.

Tanner | Religion & History's avatar
Tanner | Religion & History
May 12, 2025
∙ Paid

A middle-aged man in a suit and red tie sits in a leather armchair, smiling in front of an enormous stack of money, with a Mormon church and golden Angel Moroni statue in the background under warm lighting.

The Mormon Church is a financial juggernaut, as well as a religion. While most people think of churches as places to pray or light a candle, this one’s more like a bank wearing a halo. With an estimated $265 billion in assets as of 2023, the Mormon Church has out-hoarded even the Vatican. And guess what? They only have 16 million members. That’s not even half the population of California.

So how the hell did this small, strange American religion turn into one of the richest religious empires on Earth? Grab your magic rock and let's dig in.

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