Opportunities for imams in the United States should be good during the next decade. The Pew Research Center (PRC) predicts that "by 2050, the U.S. Muslim population is projected to reach 8.1 million, or 2.1 percent of the nation’s total population—nearly twice the share of today [2018]. By 2040, Muslims will replace Jews as the nation’s second-largest religious group after Christians."
There are many opportunities for imams outside of the United States. The PRC predicts that the world’s Muslim population will increase by 35 percent from 2010 to 2030.
There is currently a shortage of imams in the United States. Factors influencing this shortage include the low pay, lack of full-time positions, and the trend toward Muslim immigrants steering their children away from a career as an imam toward higher-paying jobs in medicine, engineering, and business. Imams who are fluent in English and who have experience working with Western followers of Islam will have the best job prospects.