Which US states saw the largest increases in Muslim population share since 2005?

1. Big-state concentration: why New York, California and Illinois top lists

Most compilations that break Muslim numbers down by state place New York, California and Illinois at the top in raw counts — New York roughly 724,475; California roughly 504,056; Illinois roughly 473,792 — which makes them the prime candidates for the largest absolute increases since 2005 because migration and natural increase tend to add more people where populations are already large ^{[1] [2]}. Pew’s national estimates underline that immigration has been a major engine of U.S. Muslim growth, so states that receive larger shares of immigrant arrivals show larger gains in raw numbers ^[3].

2. Growth drivers: immigration, youth and fertility

Pew and related analyses show the U.S. Muslim population’s growth is driven by immigration and a relatively young age profile that favors higher birth rates; Pew estimated about 3.45 million Muslims in 2017 and projects faster growth for Muslims than for some other faith groups ^{[3] [1]}. Other sources note Muslim communities’ younger age distribution and higher fertility relative to the national average, which amplifies growth already seeded by immigration ^{[4] [5]}. Those dynamics disproportionately increase population share where communities are established and growing.

3. What we do not know from the provided reporting

None of the supplied sources give a state-by-state table showing the change in Muslim share of state populations specifically from 2005 to the present; therefore a definitive ranked list of “largest increases in Muslim population share since 2005” is not available in this set of documents (not found in current reporting). The sources provide absolute estimates by state and national growth drivers, but not the precise longitudinal shares by state needed to answer the query as posed ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

4. Alternative interpretations: absolute numbers vs. share

There is an important distinction between largest increases in absolute Muslim population (raw counts) and largest increases in share of state population. States with the biggest raw gains are large, diverse states (New York, California, Illinois) and likely top raw-growth lists ^{[1] [2]}. But smaller states with relatively few residents can show large percentage-point increases in Muslim share from modest numeric gains; the available sources do not supply those small-state trend details, so that alternate scenario cannot be confirmed here (not found in current reporting).

5. Data limits and competing sources

Pew’s work is widely used because the U.S. Census does not collect religion, leaving researchers to combine surveys, demographic methods and local counts; Pew estimated 3.45 million U.S. Muslims in 2017 and documents growth trends but did not publish a 2005–present state-share ranking in the material supplied ^[3]. Other aggregators (WorldPopulationReview, Datapandas) publish state tallies but differ in methodology and also do not publish year‑over‑year state-share deltas in the provided snippets, so comparisons across sources require caution ^{[1] [2]}.

6. How to get a definitive answer

To rank states by increase in Muslim population share since 2005 one needs: baseline 2005 state Muslim-share estimates and current state Muslim-share estimates produced with transparent, comparable methods (surveys, local religion censuses or modeled demographic estimates). The supplied material does not include a comparable 2005 state-share series, so researchers should consult Pew’s full data releases, the U.S. Religion Census (congregational counts), and state-level demographic studies to assemble a defensible change-by-share ranking ^{[3] [1]}.

Sources cited: Pew Research Center and state-level compilations as presented in the supplied search results ^{[3] [1] [2] [4] [5]}.