Muslims in America

Did You Know?

Islam has long been part of the tapestry of American identity; the first Muslims were brought here as slaves in the 16th century, many from West Africa. In the New World, 10 to 20 percent of slaves were Muslim, according to scholars.

The first wave of Muslim immigrants in modern history began in the late 1800s; mostly from the Levant, they sought economic opportunities and settled largely in the Midwest. The first mosque was in North Dakota.

Where do they live?

Muslims in the United States are a racially and ethnically diverse group—and a growing one, despite a recent rise in anti-Muslim hostility. From dozens of different countries and representing multiple branches of their faith, Muslims now total about 3.45 million people, or one percent of the U.S. population.

Muslims in America 

With roots dating back to the 16th century, the Muslim population is currently growing faster in suburbs than in cities, especially in southern and western regions. There are now more than 2,100 mosques in the U.S., up from 962 in 1994.

Source Files and Further Info

• Muslims in America (National Geographic)
• U.S. States - Muslim Populations (Huffington Post)You can click through a slideshow to see most and least Muslim states in America.
• Where do American Muslims live? (Muslim Post)
• Threats, harassment, vandalism at mosques reach record high (CNN)

Religion in America

America's Most (and Least) Religious Metro Areas

Religion in America has an unmistakable geographic dimension

Three of the top five most religious metros are in Alabama — Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville. Jackson, Mississippi, also ranks among the top five.

Burlington, Vermont, and Boulder, Colorado, tie for the title of the nation's least religious metro area. In these two metros, fewer than one in five residents claim to be "very religious." San Francisco and Boston also rank among the least religious metros in America.

These patterns conform to the broader findings of political scientist Ronald Inglehart, whose detailed World Values Surveys identify the shift from religious to secular values as one part of the transition to more economically advanced societies. Politicos on the left and right like to explain religious voters' proclivity purely in terms of values. But this misses a central point - that religion is inextricably bound up with the nation's underlying economic and geographic class divide.

Article >

---

- See the Correlation - 

The Real Boundaries of the Bible Belt

Article >