Islam in the United States

Islam is the third largest religion in the United States (1%), behind Christianity and Judaism, equaling Buddhism and Hinduism percentage wise.[1] A 2017 study estimated that 3.45 million Muslims were living in the United States, about 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population.[2] In 2017, 20 states which were mostly in the South and Midwest reported Islam being the largest non-Christian religion. In 2020, the U.S. Religion Census found there to be 4.45 million Muslims in the country, making up 1.3% of the population.[3]

Islam by country
World percentage of Muslims by country
Africa Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Morocco Western Sahara Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Réunion Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Asia Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China Cyprus East Timor Georgia Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Korea North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Macau Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
Americas Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador French Guiana Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela
Europe Albania Andorra Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Tatarstan San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Oceania Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Fiji Guam Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru New Caledonia New Zealand Northern Mariana Islands Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Islam portal
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While an estimated 10 to 20 percent[4][5] of the slaves brought to colonial America from Africa arrived as Muslims,[6][7] Islam was suppressed on plantations.[4] Nearly all enslaved Muslims and their descendants converted to Christianity during the 18th and 19th centuries. Prior to the late 19th century, the vast majority of documented non-enslaved Muslims in North America were merchants, travelers and sailors.[6]

From the 1880s to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the former territories of the Ottoman Empire and British India.[8] The Muslim population of the U.S. increased dramatically in the second half of the 20th century due to the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished previous immigration quotas.[9] About 72 percent of American Muslims are immigrants or "second generation".[10][11]

In 2005, more people from Muslim-majority countries became legal permanent United States residents—nearly 96,000—than there had been in any other year in the previous two decades.[12][13] In 2009, more than 115,000 Muslims became legal residents of the United States.[14]

American Muslims come from various backgrounds and, according to a 2009 Gallup poll, are one of the most racially diverse religious groups in the United States.[15] According to a 2017 study done by the Institute for Social Policy, “American Muslims are the only faith community surveyed with no majority race, with 26 percent white, 18 percent Asian, 18 percent Arab, 9 percent black, 7 percent mixed race, and 5 percent Hispanic”.[16] The Pew Research Center estimates about 73% of American Muslims are Sunni, while 16% are Shia; the remainder identify with neither group, and may include movements such as the Nation of Islam, Ahmadiyya or non-denominational Muslims.[17] Conversion to Islam in large cities[18] has also contributed to its growth over the years.