{"id":262792,"date":"2025-06-18T11:19:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T15:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?post_type=short-read&p=262792"},"modified":"2025-06-23T13:38:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T17:38:26","slug":"how-us-muslims-compare-with-other-americans-religiously-and-demographically","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/06\/18\/how-us-muslims-compare-with-other-americans-religiously-and-demographically\/","title":{"rendered":"How U.S. Muslims compare with other Americans religiously and demographically"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Muslims
Muslims leave the Diyanet Center of America, a Turkish mosque and community center in Lanham, Maryland, after performing Eid al-Fitr prayers on March 30, 2025. (Hanna Leka\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Muslims have been the focus of considerable public attention in recent decades, but the American public knows relatively little about Islam and most Americans don\u2019t know a Muslim personally, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey<\/a>. Muslims make up only about 1% of the adult population in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Muslims make up a relatively small share of the overall U.S. population, most surveys can\u2019t describe the ways in which they are similar to, or different from, other Americans. Pew Research Center\u2019s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) is an exception. With more than 36,000 total respondents, this survey is able to provide a closer look at Muslims in the U.S.<\/a> \u2013 and reveals a rich diversity within the U.S. Muslim population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, some Muslims are highly religious while others say religion is not at all important in their lives (which is also the case among the majority-Christian population in the U.S.). Many Muslims were born outside the U.S., but no one racial or ethnic group forms a majority of Muslim Americans. And while roughly a third of all Muslim adults are under the age of 30 \u2013 making Muslims much younger, on average, than Americans as a whole \u2013 there are still hundreds of thousands of Muslim ages 65 and older in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this analysis, we\u2019ll take a closer look at the religious habits and demographic characteristics of U.S. Muslims, based on the RLS and other Center surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/summary>\n

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to explore the basic demographic traits and religious characteristics of U.S. Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis draws on data from the Center\u2019s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)<\/a>, a nationally representative survey of 36,908 U.S. adults. It was conducted in English and Spanish from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024. It is the largest single survey that the Center conducts, which allows us to describe the religious and demographic profile of many religious groups in the United States, including Muslims. For more details, refer to the study\u2019s Methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RLS was made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which received support from the Lilly Endowment Inc., Templeton Religion Trust, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Religious commitment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Six-in-ten Muslim adults say religion is very important in their lives. By this measure, Muslims are about as religious as Christians, 55% of whom say religion is very important in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims also are about as likely as Christians to say they believe in God. Around nine-in-ten Muslims (93%) say they believe in God or a higher power, including 72% who say they are absolutely certain that God exists. By comparison, 97% of Christians say they believe in God or a higher power. This includes 73% who are absolutely certain in their belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims and Christians also attend religious services at similar rates: 39% and 37%, respectively, say they go at least once a week. This similarity in attendance is noteworthy because the weekly Muslim communal prayer takes place during the work week (midday on Friday).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RLS also asked Americans how often they pray. Canonically, Muslims are encouraged to perform the salah<\/em> prayer ritual five times each day. The RLS found that 59% of Muslims say they pray \u201cseveral times a day,\u201d while 28% pray regularly, but less often than that. The remaining 13% say they seldom or never pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the RLS did not distinguish between the salah prayer ritual and more informal prayers, the share of Muslims who say they pray several times a day is roughly the same as the share who said in a previous Center survey<\/a> that they perform at least some of the five salah daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Race and country of birth<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Most Christians and religiously unaffiliated Americans are White, but no one racial or ethnic group forms a majority among U.S. Muslims. Roughly 30% are White, 30% are Asian, 20% are Black, 11% are Hispanic and 8% either identify with a different race or more than one racial group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Charts<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There also is a great deal of ethnic diversity that our survey questions do not capture. For example, Arabs from the Middle East or North Africa are classified as \u201cWhite\u201d racially, in accordance with the Census Bureau\u2019s approach<\/a>. The classification of ethnic groups including Arabs, Turks and Iranians has an especially large impact on U.S. Muslims because more than half of all Muslim adults in the U.S. (59%) were born in another country. In contrast, 17% of Christians and 16% of religious unaffiliated Americans were born outside the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education, age and parenthood<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Bar<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Muslims tend to be more highly educated than Christians or unaffiliated Americans. Some 44% of Muslim adults are college graduates, including 26% who have a master\u2019s, doctorate or other postgraduate degree. In comparison, 14% of Christians and 16% of religiously unaffiliated adults have advanced degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims also are much more likely than Americans of other religious backgrounds to be current students. Three-in-ten Muslim adults don\u2019t have a college degree but are current students, compared with 6% of Christians and 10% of religiously unaffiliated adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One reason such a large share of Muslims are current students may be that Muslims tend to be significantly younger than other U.S. adults. Roughly one-in-three Muslim adults (35%) are ages 18 to 29, compared with 14% of Christians and 28% of religiously unaffiliated Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In turn, Christians and \u201cnones\u201d (i.e., those who identify religiously as atheist, agnostic or \u201cnothing in particular\u201d) are more likely than Muslims to be 50 or older. Just 8% of Muslims are at least 65 years old. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relative youth of Muslim adults also may help explain why a large share of them are currently raising children. About four-in-ten Muslims (42%) say they are the parent of a minor child living in the home. That compares with 27% of Christians and 29% of religious unaffiliated adults.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Muslims tend to be younger and more highly educated than other Americans. But they’re similar to Christians on many religiousness measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":262799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-06-18T15:19:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"0bb1a1ce-692f-465e-87da-819cc9685090","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-06-23T17:38:43Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AC7GhzmkvRl6H2oGcyWhQkA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[189,190,174,432],"bylines":[922],"collection":[2625],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"class_list":["post-262792","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islam","category-muslim-americans","category-religious-demographics","category-us-religious-demographics","bylines-besheer-mohamed","collection-religious-landscape-study","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":989,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/06\/18\/how-us-muslims-compare-with-other-americans-religiously-and-demographically\/","art_direction":{"A2":{"id":262799,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/06\/SR_25.06.18_muslim-demos_featured.jpg","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/06\/SR_25.06.18_muslim-demos_featured.jpg?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"caption":"Muslims leave the Diyanet Center of America, a Turkish mosque and community center in Lanham, Maryland, after performing Eid al-Fitr prayers on March 30, 2025. 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