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Arab-American Heritage: Background Information

Data & Statistics

As the Arab American Institute notes, "there is no existing category on Census Bureau forms to collect accurate data about Arab Americans. As such, data about the community represent a significant undercount."

  • The 2020 Census reported about 3.5 million Arab identifying people in the United States. 
  • 95% of Arab Americans live in urban areas, with New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., & Minneapolis being the top cities. 
  • About 75% of Arab Americans live in twelve states: California, Michigan, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
  • Most Arab Americans were born in the United States. 85% of Arab Americans are US citizens. 
  • The majority of Arab Americans come from or have familial ties to Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Iraq.   
  • Arab Americans live in all 50 states, but up to 95% live in metropolitan areas. New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis are the top six metropolitan areas. Nearly 75% of all Arab Americans live in just twelve states: California, Michigan, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

 

What does it mean to be Arab American?

Who are Arab Americans? 

  • Arab Americans are immigrants and descendants of immigrants from Arab speaking countries, and they share a linguistic background. Arab Americans are diverse politically, culturally, religiously, & ethnically. 
  • Not all Arabs are Muslim, and not all Muslims are Arab. There are Arab people of all faiths, and there are Muslim people from places outside of Arabic countries. 


Middle East vs. Arab
These terms are not the same & are not interchangeable. The Middle East includes non-Arabic nations, such as Iran and Turkey, and there are Arabic countries outside of the Middle East, such as Egypt and Morocco. 
 

There are 22 Arab countries: Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Yemen. 


Map courtesy of ResearchGate.
Information courtesy of Arab America Institute.

Arab American Heritage Month History

  • Arab American Heritage celebrations began around the 1980s, with cities, schools, and other locations celebrating on various days. 
  • The first official national celebration happened in April 2017 in Washington D.C. Over the years, more and more states began to recognize the month. 
  • In 2019, the Arab American Foundation was launched. 
  • In 2021, President Biden was the first president to recognize April as National Arab American Heritage Month in a letter to the Arab American Foundation.
  • In 2023, President Biden officially announced April as Arab American Heritage Month. 


Information from the Arab America Foundation.
 

Contact

James A. Cannavino Library

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Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
(845) 575-3106

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