Document check
How many Muslims live in Texas — and what do the estimates measure?
The often-repeated 421,972 and 500,000 figures come from different sources and periods.
The document
Can the 421,972 or 500,000 figure be presented as a newly measured, exact 2026 Muslim population?
Final population paragraph of the TSHA entry and the population recital of introduced HCR 18 · Source 1
What the evidence shows
Dates and methods matter
TSHA’s 421,972 figure describes 2010. A proposed Texas resolution in 2025 cites an estimated 500,000. Neither source should be relabeled as a precise 2026 census of Texas Muslims.
Sources checked
Evidence assessment
Needs context
Applies to That any single figure is the current official Muslim population of Texas.
A boundary in the sources changes what the statement means.
- Family
- Population and history
- Scope and date
- TSHA 2010 estimate, introduced HCR 18 (2025), Census total population.
- Also asked as
- How many Muslims live in Texas?
- Is it 500,000 Muslims in Texas?
Editorial search phrases, not documented quotations.
What this does not establish
- TSHA's 421,972 is a 2010 estimate.
- HCR 18 is introduced text, not a census or proof of passage.
Source support
Source 1 · Reference history
Muslims, Handbook of Texas — Texas State Historical Association
Locator Muslims entry
Supports A dated 2010 estimate.
Cannot establish A 2026 count.
Source 2 · Introduced resolution
HCR 18, introduced text, 89th Legislature, 2025 — Texas Legislature
Locator Recitals
Supports That the resolution states 500,000 and over 330 mosques/centers.
Cannot establish That the Legislature counted or adopted it.
Source 3 · Official statistics
QuickFacts: Texas — U.S. Census Bureau
Locator QuickFacts
Supports Total state population.
Cannot establish Any religious count.
Editorial inference
Each figure must keep its date and method; none is a current official religious count. (Our reasoning from the sources, not source text.)
Source checked ; human review pending
There is no current official count. The Handbook of Texas gives 421,972 for 2010, about 1.68 percent of the state. The introduced text of HCR 18, filed November 12, 2024 for the 2025 session, states an estimated 500,000 Muslims and more than 330 mosques and centers. Neither figure is a census. [1][2]
Two familiar population figures are useful only if their dates and source types stay attached. The Texas State Historical Association’s Muslim history entry gives 421,972 for 2010. The introduced text of HCR 18 in the 2025 Legislature cites an estimated 500,000 and more than 330 mosques and Islamic centers. A dated reference estimate and a resolution’s recital are not interchangeable with a new population census. [1][2]
| Figure | Reference year | Source | What was counted | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 421,972 | 2010 | Handbook of Texas, “Muslims” (Texas State Historical Association, entry updated 2017) | An estimate of Muslims in Texas, given alongside 1.68 percent of the state population. | A reference-work estimate for 2010, not a 2026 measurement. The entry also gives roughly 140,000 for 1990; the two are not a growth series. |
| 500,000 | Not stated | Introduced text of HCR 18, 89th Texas Legislature (filed November 12, 2024) | A figure recited in the text of a proposed resolution. | A legislative assertion. The document does not name an observation year, a method or an underlying survey, and the resolution was not adopted. |
| More than 330 | Not stated | Introduced text of HCR 18 | Mosques and Islamic centers, as recited in the same proposed resolution. | Institutions are not people, and this is not a verified 2026 inventory. |
| 31,709,821 | July 1, 2025 | U.S. Census Bureau population estimate | Everyone living in Texas. | A denominator only. The Bureau does not ask about religion, so no share of it can be read off the census itself. |
| No figure | 2020 | U.S. Census Bureau faith-community materials for the 2020 Census | Nothing: the decennial census did not ask respondents their religion. | The absence is the finding. Ancestry, birthplace and language tables cannot be relabelled as religion. |
Three rules follow from the table. Keep the reference year attached to the number. Do not subtract one row from another, because the methods differ. And do not treat a count of buildings as a count of people. Our methodology page explains how we date and label figures, and the companion record on what the Census can and cannot tell us works through the federal side.
A percentage is an additional claim
A claim that 500,000 people are approximately one percent of Texas needs an arithmetic check as well as a source check. Against the Census Bureau’s July 2025 total of 31,709,821, the calculation is about 1.58 percent. That calculation illustrates the denominator problem; it is not a newly measured Muslim population share, because the numerator is an attributed estimate with its own limitations. [3]
What a current count would require
A reliable update would explain who was counted, the geographic boundary, the reference year and how the estimate was produced. A mosque membership count may measure something different from residents who identify as Muslim, and a national adult survey cannot simply be multiplied by a state population without justification. These questions concern measurement, not whether the community is significant.
The Texas Muslim History article uses these numbers with their original labels. This record does not treat a legislative proposal’s ranking of Texas as an independently established current ranking. A number becoming familiar through repetition does not give it a newer date, and an uncertain estimate should not be rounded into a demographic emergency.
How we checked this
Prepared from the linked sources, distinguishing the source statement, question and editorial finding. Source checking does not signify outside legal or scholarly review; this record is not individual legal advice.
- Place covered
- Texas
- Period covered
- A 2010 reference estimate, a 2025 proposed resolution and a July 2025 population estimate.
Sources
- 1Muslims, Handbook of Texas — Texas State Historical Association · retrieved 2026-09-21
- 2HCR 18, introduced text, 89th Legislature, 2025 — Texas Legislature · retrieved 2026-09-21
- 3QuickFacts: Texas — U.S. Census Bureau · retrieved 2026-09-21