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Factsheet 5 : Arab Americans
• POPULATION •
Q: Who are Arab Americans?
A: Arab Americans are Americans of Arab descent. Arab Americans are persons who were either born in the United States and are U.S. citizens or are permanent residents in the United States. They can trace their ancestry, or they themselves emigrated from the Middle East. Not all people from the Middle East are Arabs.
Q: How many Arab Americans live in the United States?A: There are approximately 3 million Arab Americans living in the United States.
Q: Where do Arab Americans live?A: Arab Americans live in all 50 U.S. states. One-third of Arab Americans are concentrated in California, New York and Michigan. Another one-third live in seven different states including Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Ohio, Texas and Virginia.
Q: What are the major population centers for Arab Americans?A: About 48% of Arab Americans are spread across 20 metropolitan areas. Ninety percent of Arab Americans live in urban areas with the largest population in Detroit and adjacent Wayne and Oakland counties. Substantial numbers live in
Chicago-Cook County and in Brooklyn, New York.
Q: Are Arabs a minority group?A: The United States government does not classify Arabs as a protected class for purposes of enforcement of housing and employment discrimination laws.
• RELIGION•
Q: Do Arabs have a shared religion?A: No, they do not.
Q: What kind of religions do Arab Americans practice?A: Arab Americans have many religions including Islam, Christianity, Druze, and Muslim. Most Arab Americans are Orthodox or Catholic Christians or Muslim.
Q: How many Arab Americans belong to what religions?A: 42% are Catholic (includes Roman Catholic, Maronite, and Melkite); 23% are Muslim (includes Sunni, Shi’a, and Druze); 23% are Orthodox (includes Antiochian, Syrian, Greek, and Coptic). 12% are Protestant.
In contrast, 76 percent of Americans identify as Christian; 13 percent are secular; and 14 percent practice another or no religion and 1.3 percent practice Judaism in the United States.
• ANCESTRY •
Q: Where do Arab Americans trace their ancestry?A: They trace their ancestry mainly from Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and
Yemen. (Iran is not an Arab country.)
Q: How many Arabs came from what countries?A: 47% came from Lebanon.
15% came from Syria.
9% came from Egypt.
6% from Palestine.
3% from Iraq.
2% from Jordan.
18% from 16 other countries.
Q: What race are Arab Americans?A: Most Arab Americans identify themselves more with nationality than with race.
• LANGUAGE •
Q: Is Arabic the only language spoken between Arab Americans?A: No, it is not.
Q: What are other languages that are spoken in the Arab world?A: Berber, Original Aramaic, French, English, and Kurdish
• IMMIGRATION •
Q: When did Arabs first come to the U.S.?A: The first wave of immigration began in 1875 until about 1920 and the second wave began in the late 1940’s.
Q: Why did Arabs first come to the United States?A: Most came because they were seeking opportunity and some came to escape drought and plant diseases,which had led to famine and starvation. The people from the second wave came to get away from the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• EDUCATION •
Q: What is the education level of Arab Americans?A: 82% of Arab Americans have at least a high school diploma. (84 percent of Americans 25 years or older have at least a high school diploma.)
36% have earned a bachelors degree or higher.
15% have earned graduate degrees.
Q: How many Arab Americans are in school ?A: 7% are in pre-primary school.
53% are enrolled in elementary or high school.
39.5% are enrolled in college.
• OCCUPATION •
Q: Where are Arab Americans employed?A: 66% of Arab Americans are in the labor force.
6% are unemployed.
77% work in the private sector.
12% are government employees.
Q: What occupations do Arab Americans hold?A: 73% of employed Arab Americans work in the managerial, technical, professional, sales, or administrative fields.
• POLITICS •
Q: Do Arab Americans vote?A: 86% of Arab Americans are registered to vote. Arab Americans are well represented in 55 congressional districts and make up between 1.5% and 4.5% of the total voting population.
In the 2000 Presidential election, 40 percent of Arab Americans who voted registered as Democrats. 38 percent registered as Republicans and 22 percent registered as Independent voters. In comparison, 49 percent of Americans registered as Democrats, while 48 percent were Republican voters and three percent registered as Independent voters.
• INCOME •
Q: What is the family income of Arab Americans?A: Fewer than 11% of Arab Americans live below the poverty level. On average, the Arab American income is 22% higher than the U.S. national average.
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