The numbers at a glance
43,465,026 citizens
Past 10 years (2015-2025)
Across Western nations
Active mayors in 2025
By Country
By Region
Population: 10,850,591
Population: 32,374,945
Population: 239,490
Key Insights
- •Over 43.5 million people are currently governed by Muslim mayors in Western cities
- •The USA leads with 11 cities, concentrated heavily in Michigan
- •London (8.8M) and NYC (8.8M) are the largest cities with Muslim mayors
- •This trend has accelerated since 2015, with multiple "firsts" recorded in recent years
A decade in one chart
When each "first Muslim mayor" milestone happened, plotted against cumulative population governed.
Growth Over Time (2006-2026)
This chart shows the dramatic growth in both the number of cities with Muslim mayors and the total population governed by them over the past 20 years.
Total Population Under Muslim Mayors
Number of Cities with Muslim Mayors
Key Milestones
Mohamed Khairullah becomes mayor of Prospect Park, NJ - one of the earliest Muslim mayors
Ahmed Aboutaleb becomes mayor of Rotterdam - first major European city
Sadiq Khan elected London mayor - first Muslim mayor of a Western capital (8.8M pop.)
Acceleration: 10+ "first Muslim mayor" milestones recorded across USA and Europe
From ~1.7M (2010) to ~20.9M (2025)
From 2 cities (2010) to 20 cities (2025)
Spread across USA, UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium
The interactive map
Click any city marker to see the mayor, term length, population, and source.
What the data actually says
The American story is mostly Michigan
The United States leads with eleven cities that have elected Muslim mayors over the past decade. The concentration is striking: most of these are clustered in Michigan, in the Detroit metropolitan area, where Dearborn, Hamtramck, and Dearborn Heights have all elected Muslim mayors since 2021.
Hamtramck made history in 2021 by becoming the first American city with an all-Muslim city council, followed by the election of Mayor Amer Ghalib. The demographic transformation over the past two decades has been dramatic: once predominantly Polish-American, the city is now majority-Muslim, mostly Yemeni and Bangladeshi immigrants.
Europe: capital cities, not just suburbs
Sadiq Khan has led Greater London (population 8.8 million) since 2016, the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. Re-elected in 2021 and 2024, his tenure now spans nearly a decade.
The Netherlands is particularly notable: Ahmed Aboutaleb served as mayor of Rotterdam from 2009 to 2024 - one of the longest tenures of any Muslim mayor in the West. Ahmed Marcouch has been mayor of Arnhem since 2017.
Germany elected Belit Onay as the first Muslim Lord Mayor of Hanover in 2019. France has Muslim mayors in several Paris suburbs, including Trappes and L'Île-Saint-Denis.
The "first Muslim mayor" wave (2019-2025)
In just six years, the milestones piled up:
- 2019: Belit Onay - first Muslim Lord Mayor of Hanover, Germany
- 2020: Sumbul Siddiqui - first Muslim mayor in Massachusetts (Cambridge)
- 2020: Farrah N. Khan - first Muslim woman to lead Irvine, California
- 2021: Bill Bazzi - first Muslim mayor of Dearborn Heights, Michigan
- 2021: Hamtramck elects all-Muslim city council
- 2022: Abdullah Hammoud - first Muslim and Arab-American mayor of Dearborn
- 2023: S. M. Fazlul Kabir - first Muslim mayor in Maryland (College Park)
- 2025: Zohran Mamdani - first Muslim mayor of New York City
- 2025: Amir Omar - serving Muslim mayor of Richardson, Texas
Demographic context
These elections did not happen in a vacuum. They reflect the broader demographic curve:
- 01The Muslim population of the United States grew from roughly 2.4 million in 2007 to 3.5 million in 2020.
- 02In the UK, Muslims now make up approximately 6.5% of the population (4.4 million), up from 4.9% in 2011.
- 03Several European cities - Rotterdam, Leicester, Marseille - have Muslim populations exceeding 20%.
- 04Michigan's Arab-American population is the largest in the United States, concentrated in metro Detroit.
Complete city list
Browse, search and filter every city documented between 2015 and 2025.
Istanbul
TurkeyMayor: Kadir Topbaş
Term: 2004–2017
Former mayor of Istanbul
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
New York City, NY
USAMayor: Zohran Mamdani
Term: Elected Nov 2025 (term starts 2026)
First Muslim NYC mayor
Photo: Photo: Kara McCurdy
London (Greater London)
UKMayor: Sadiq Khan
Term: 2016–present
First Muslim mayor of a major Western capital
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Calgary, AB
CanadaMayor: Naheed Nenshi
Term: 2010–2021
First Muslim mayor of a major Canadian city; won World Mayor prize 2014
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Birmingham
UKMayor: Muhammad Afzal
Term: 2021–2022
Fifth Muslim Lord Mayor of Birmingham
Amsterdam
NetherlandsMayor: Femke Halsema
Term: 2018–present
First female mayor of Amsterdam
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Amsterdam
NetherlandsMayor: Eberhard van der Laan
Term: 2010–2017
Former mayor of Amsterdam
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Rotterdam
NetherlandsMayor: Ahmed Aboutaleb
Term: 2009–2024
First Muslim mayor of a major Dutch city
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Bradford
UKMayor: Naveeda Ikram
Term: 2011–2012
First Muslim woman Lord Mayor in UK
Bradford
UKMayor: Mohammed Ajeeb
Term: 1985–1986
First Muslim Lord Mayor in Britain (historic)
Hanover (Hannover)
GermanyMayor: Belit Onay
Term: 2019–present
First Muslim Lord Mayor of Hanover
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Bristol
UKMayor: Marvin Rees
Term: 2016–2024
First directly elected Black mayor in Europe
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Leicester
UKMayor: Abdul Razak Osman
Term: 2012–2013
First Muslim Lord Mayor of Leicester
Newham (London Borough)
UKMayor: Rokhsana Fiaz
Term: 2018–present
Directly elected borough mayor
Sandwell
UKMayor: Syeda Khatun
Term: 2024–2025
First female Muslim mayor of Sandwell
Tower Hamlets (London Borough)
UKMayor: Lutfur Rahman
Term: 2010–2015; 2022–present
Directly elected borough mayor
Irvine, CA
USAMayor: Farrah N. Khan
Term: 2020–2024
First Muslim woman to lead Irvine
Brighton & Hove
UKMayor: Mohammed Asaduzzaman
Term: 2024–2025
First Muslim mayor of Brighton & Hove
Liverpool, NSW
AustraliaMayor: Ned Mannoun
Term: 2012–2016; 2021–present
First Muslim mayor in Australia; re-elected 2024
Arnhem
NetherlandsMayor: Ahmed Marcouch
Term: 2017–present
Moroccan-Dutch Muslim mayor
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Richardson, TX
USAMayor: Amir Omar
Term: 2025–present
Muslim mayor of Richardson
Cambridge, MA
USAMayor: Sumbul Siddiqui
Term: 2020–2023
First Muslim mayor in Massachusetts
Dearborn, MI
USAMayor: Abdullah Hammoud
Term: 2022–present
First Arab-American & Muslim Dearborn mayor
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Solihull
UKMayor: Shahin Ashraf
Term: 2024–2025
First Muslim mayor of Solihull
Dearborn Heights, MI
USAMayor: Bill Bazzi
Term: 2021–2024
First Muslim mayor of Dearborn Heights
College Park, MD
USAMayor: S. M. Fazlul Kabir
Term: 2023–present
Bangladeshi-American Muslim mayor
Trappes (Yvelines)
FranceMayor: Ali Rabeh
Term: 2020–present
French-Moroccan Muslim mayor
Hamtramck, MI
USAMayor: Amer Ghalib
Term: 2021–present
City with first all-Muslim council
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (Brussels)
BelgiumMayor: Emir Kir
Term: 2012–present
Turkish-Belgian Muslim mayor
Artesia, CA
USAMayor: Ali Sajjad Taj
Term: Various terms incl. 2020
Pakistani-American Muslim mayor
L'Île-Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
FranceMayor: Mohamed Gnabaly
Term: 2016–present
Re-elected 2020
Prospect Park, NJ
USAMayor: Mohamed Khairullah
Term: 2006–2015; 2019–present
Longest-serving Muslim mayor in NJ
Kountze, TX
USAMayor: Charles Bilal
Term: 1991–2001
First Muslim mayor in U.S. municipality
Methodology and sources
Every entry has been cross-referenced against multiple sources. Where data conflicted, the most recent official record was used.
- Official municipal and city government websites
- U.S. Census Bureau (2020 Census)
- UK Office for National Statistics (2021 Census)
- INSEE (France), CBS (Netherlands), Destatis (Germany)
- Electoral commission records and official election results
- Verified news reports (AP, Reuters, BBC, Guardian, CNN, local press)
- Mayors serving between 2015 and 2025 (past or current)
- Publicly identified as Muslim or with documented Muslim heritage
- Elected or appointed mayors (not ceremonial positions)
- Western democracies in Europe and North America
- Verified through multiple independent sources
This list focuses on documented cases where the mayor's Muslim identity has been publicly reported or self-identified. Additional cases may exist that are not yet verified. Population figures reflect the most recent census available for each jurisdiction.
Read the thesis this data sits inside
These figures only matter inside the larger pattern. The thesis page explains why the trend matters and which civilizational outcomes it rhymes with.
Read: Civilizations Islam Destroyed