On the other end, Vermont, Hawaii and Montana have the smallest concentrations of the Muslims—virtually none.
The statistics come from a new study of 236 different faiths in the United States, providing county-by-county documentation on congregations and memberships.
The study found 2.6 million Muslims across the United States, far more than some recent studies that showed only 1 million Muslims, but far less than claims of 7 million adherents made by many Islamic groups.
The study counted an adherent of one of the 236 faiths as anyone with an affiliation with a congregation including not just official members but also children and regular attendees who are not formal members.
The study found that Islam is the largest non-Christian faith in 20 states, mostly in the South and Midwest where there are few Jews.
Those 20 states are: Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming. The major surprise on that list was Florida, which does have a large Jewish population.
In only three states were Muslims found to exceed 2 percent of the population. They were Illinois with 2.8 percent, Virginia with 2.7 percent and New York with 2.0 percent.
At the other end, five states were found with mere token numbers of Muslims—less than 1/10th of 1 percent: North Dakota, Nevada, Vermont, Hawaii and Montana.
Here are the top nine and bottom nine as expressed in the number of Muslims per 100,000 population.
Illinois 2800
Virginia 2663
New York 2028
New Jersey 1827
Texas 1678
Michigan 1218
Florida 877
Delaware 793
California 732
Idaho 110
Oregon 104
West Virginia 103
Maine 100
North Dakota 95
Nevada 63
Vermont 48
Hawaii 45
Montana 34