Muslim Population By State

The United States is home to a rapidly growing, incredibly diverse Muslim population. Comprising individuals from a vast array of racial, ethnic, and generational backgrounds—including South Asian and Arab immigrants, refugees, and a deeply established demographic of African American Muslims—Islam is now one of the most prominent religious minority groups in the country.

However, this population is not evenly distributed across the map. 

To accurately track where America's Muslim communities are thriving, it is not enough to simply look at raw population counts. Massive states like California and Texas will almost always top demographic lists simply because they have tens of millions of residents. To find the true cultural hubs of Islam in America, Data Pandas analyzed both the total population counts and the percentage of residents identifying as Muslim in each state.

When we filter the data to look at the percentage of a state's population that identifies as Muslim, a clear geographic pattern emerges. The highest concentrations of Muslims in America are heavily clustered around the Great Lakes and the Northeast Corridor.

The Illinois and Great Lakes Hub

Illinois ranks #1 in the nation for Muslim population density, with 3.71% of the state identifying with the Islamic faith. The Chicagoland metropolitan area is home to one of the oldest and most culturally diverse Muslim communities in the Americas. This density is driven by decades of robust immigration from the Middle East and South Asia, combined with Chicago's historical status as a central hub for African American Muslims.

Similarly, Michigan ranks 5th in the nation at 2.37%. The Detroit metropolitan area—specifically the city of Dearborn—is famously known as the capital of Arab America, boasting the highest concentration of Arab Americans and MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) immigrants in the country. 

The East Coast Corridor

New York, New Jersey, and Maryland form a highly concentrated corridor on the East Coast. Because the New York City and Washington D.C. metropolitan areas serve as primary historical gateways for global immigration, these regions host massive, deeply integrated Islamic communities, driving New York (3.62%) and New Jersey (3.34%) to the absolute top of the national rankings.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, states with the lowest Muslim populations are generally characterized by low overall population density, a lack of major metropolitan immigration hubs, and distance from the East Coast and Great Lakes.

States in the Mountain West (Montana, Wyoming) and non-contiguous states (Hawaii, Alaska) report the lowest percentages of Muslim residents in the country, often registering at fractions of a single percent. These regions historically experience far less international immigration than coastal or Midwestern urban centers, resulting in highly homogenous religious demographics.