Muslim Population by State [Updated May 2023]

Islam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic faith regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah. Islam’s religious text is the Quran, believed by Muslims to be the verbatim words of God and Muhammad's teachings and normative examples.

Islam is the world’s second-largest religion, with over 1.9 billion followers known as Muslims. The countries with the highest Muslim populations are Indonesia, Pakistan, and India. Islam is the world’s fastest-growing religion and is forecasted to grow faster than Christianity by 2050.

Islam is the third-largest religion in the United States after Christianity and Judaism. There are a total of 3.45 million Muslims in the United States, according to a 2017 study, comprising about 1.1% of the total US population. American Muslims are one of the most racially diverse religious groups in the US with no majority race, split as 25% black, 24% white, 18% Asian, 18% Arab, 7% mixed race, and 5% Hispanic.

It is unclear when Islam first arrived in the United States. Approximately 10-20% of slaves brought to colonial America arrived as Muslims but were suppressed on plantations. During the 20th century, the United States saw the largest increase in the Muslim population. Between 1991 and 2012, approximately 1.7 million Muslims entered the United States as legal permanent residents. Approximately 72% of American Muslims are immigrants or “second generation.”

States With Large Muslim Populations

In terms of raw numbers, the states with the largest Muslim populations are New York (724,475), California (504,056), Illinois (473,792), New Jersey (321,652), and Texas (313,209). This is expected as these are some of the states with the highest overall populations.

Illinois, New York, and New Jersey are also the states with the highest percentage of Muslim residents. Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, and Minnesota are the other states with a Muslim population of at least two percent.

On the other end of the spectrum, six states have Muslim populations below 1,000 residents. North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, West Virginia, Wyoming, Montana, and Hawaii do not have large Muslim populations.