Arab Americans by the numbers, and what it means for dating
HeyArab, Editorial teamUpdated Oct 22, 20266 min read
The 2020 Census was the first to count Arab Americans in any detail. It found more than 3.5 million people with roots in the Middle East and North Africa, most of them under 45, spread across a few big cities and thin everywhere else. That shape explains a lot about dating as an Arab in North America, and it's what we built HeyArab around.
How many Arab Americans are there?
For most of the last century nobody really knew. The census filed Arab Americans under "White" and only asked about ancestry on a sample survey. The 2020 Census changed that. It added Lebanese, Egyptian and other examples under the race question, and for the first time the Census Bureau published a count for each group.
The count came to 3,522,478 people who reported a Middle Eastern or North African background, alone or along with another one. That bucket includes Iranians, Israelis, Armenians and Chaldeans, so the Arab share is somewhat lower. The Arab American Institute, which adjusts for people the forms miss, puts Arab Americans at 3.7 million. Either way it's about the population of Connecticut, and it grew around 43% between 2010 and 2024. A Middle Eastern or North African checkbox is coming to the 2030 Census, so expect the next count to be higher.
Where our families come from
Lebanese Americans are the largest group by a wide margin. Egyptians are second. After that it flattens out: Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Moroccans, Jordanians and Yemenis each number between 90,000 and 225,000. Another 239,000 people simply wrote "Arab".
- Lebanese685,672
- Egyptian396,854
- Arab (unspecified)238,921
- Syrian222,196
- Iraqi212,875
- Palestinian174,887
- Moroccan147,528
- Jordanian121,917
- Yemeni91,288
- Algerian38,186
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Detailed DHC-A, Table 1. Arab groups only; Iranian, Israeli, Assyrian and Chaldean responses are counted separately.
The chart hides two things. The Lebanese number is lifted by third and fourth generation families who still write it down, so a young Lebanese single you meet is probably not a recent arrival. And the Yemeni figure understates a community that is growing fast: 42% of Yemeni Americans were under 18 in 2020, the second highest share of any group.
Where Arab Americans live
Ten states hold most of the community. California has the most people, but Michigan has the highest concentration, and that difference matters when you're trying to meet someone.
- California740,219
- Michigan310,087
- New York304,739
- Texas249,362
- Florida204,069
- Illinois163,426
- New Jersey162,988
- Virginia128,643
- Ohio114,024
- Massachusetts113,892
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Detailed DHC-A, Table 2. Alone or in any combination; includes Iranian and Israeli respondents.
In California, Iranians are the largest group, then Lebanese and Egyptians. In Michigan it's Lebanese, Chaldean and Iraqi. New York and New Jersey are Egyptian first. In Illinois, Palestinians come first, around Chicago's southwest suburbs. Texas and Florida are Lebanese first.
Then there's Dearborn, where 54.5% of residents reported Middle Eastern or North African origin in 2020, almost all of them Arab. Wayne County as a whole is 7.8%, the highest share of any county in the US, and the next towns over, Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck, are close to 40%. Dearborn is probably the one place where an Arab single's problem is too many options, and everyone knows your aunt.
Everywhere else is the opposite. About 95% of Arab Americans live in metro areas, but outside Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and the Bay Area, Arabs are 1% or 2% of the city.
A young community
Arab Americans skew young. In 2020, 26% were under 18 and another 42% were between 18 and 44. Only 11% were 65 or older, so more than two thirds of the community is under 45.
- Under 1826%
- 18 to 4442%
- 45 to 6422%
- 65 and older11%
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Detailed DHC-A. Shares of the alone or in any combination population; rounding means they don't sum to 100.
Canada's numbers are younger still. The median Arab Canadian is 30.2 years old, against 41.2 for the country as a whole. That is a lot of people in their dating years at the same time.
Faith, school and language
Faith is mixed, and it depends on where a family came from. Canada's 2021 census shows the split clearly: people born in Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq are close to half Muslim and half Christian, while those born in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are over 90% Muslim. Among Arab Canadians born in Canada to Canadian-born parents, 31% report no religion at all. The last national survey of Arab American religion, run by Zogby for the Arab American Institute, found 63% Christian and 24% Muslim. That survey is from 2002, and immigration since then has been more Muslim, so the gap has narrowed. Still, anyone who assumes Arab means Muslim has the picture wrong.
Arab Americans are also among the most educated groups in the country. Around 49% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, against 32% of Americans overall, and the Canadian figures are almost identical.
Arabic survives, unevenly. In Canada, 78% of Arabs can hold a conversation in both Arabic and English or French, and 58% of those born in Canada still can. The US has no equivalent census figure, but the American Community Survey has counted Arabic as one of the fastest growing home languages since 2010, with well over a million speakers. Ask around and most second generation Arab Americans will tell you they understand far more than they speak. If you've ever answered your teta in English while she asks in Arabic, you're in good company.
Arab Canadians, briefly
Since HeyArab runs in both countries, the Canadian numbers belong here too. Statistics Canada counted 795,665 people of Arab origin in 2021, or 2.2% of the country, and the population more than tripled between 2001 and 2021. Quebec and Ontario each hold a little over four in ten Arab Canadians. More than 80% of those born in Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia live in Quebec, while Ontario has most of those born in Iraq and Egypt. That is why HeyArab runs in French as well as English and Arabic, and why a deck in Montreal will look nothing like one in Mississauga.
What the numbers mean for Arab American dating
Pew found that 53% of American adults under 30 have used a dating site or app, and one in five partnered adults under 30 met their partner that way. Open Hinge in Houston or Phoenix, though, and you can scroll a long time before you see someone who knows what a sahra is.
If Arab Americans are 1.5% of a city, then in a pool of 10,000 nearby profiles you'll find about 150 Arabs, before filtering for age, gender, faith and whether they want what you want. The big apps let you filter on religion and sometimes ethnicity, and nothing finer than that. The faith-first apps solve the pool problem by narrowing to Muslims who want to marry soon, which rules out many Arab Americans, including most Christians and most of the people who want to date before they decide.
There's a second problem the numbers hint at. Because so much of the community is second or third generation, two Arab Americans on a first date can be very far apart. One speaks Arabic at home and spends summers in Amman. The other has a Lebanese grandfather and a Lebanese last name and that's about it.
How HeyArab is built for Arab Americans
We designed HeyArab for that community: small, scattered and mixed. So your profile says where your family is from, not just "Arab", and the app covers all of it, Palestinian and Egyptian and Sudanese and Khaleeji. If you want to start with one community, we wrote pages for Lebanese, Egyptian, Iraqi, Palestinian, Yemeni, Moroccan and Sudanese singles.
Faith is optional. You can show it, filter on it, or leave it out, because a community that is half Christian in some cities and 90% Muslim in others can't be served by an app that assumes either. We wrote more on Arab Christian dating and dating across sects.
You say what you're looking for, marriage, something long term, either, or friends, and it shows on your profile. The second generation Arab who wants to date for a year isn't swiping through people who want a ring by Eid, and the person who does want the ring can see that too. You also say how involved your family is, from involved early to private until it's serious. Both are normal here. More on why HeyArab isn't a marriage app.
A 30 second voice intro tells people whether you speak Arabic, Franco-Arabic or English with a few words of Arabic thrown in, which no checkbox can. Friends and cousins can vouch for you with a few lines you approve. And since in most cities Arabs are 1% or 2% of the population, someone's cousin's wife will eventually see your profile, so you can hide every phone contact from your deck in one tap.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A, summarized in its MENA population story (Tables 1 and 2): group counts, state counts, age shares.
- Arab American Institute: the 3.7 million estimate, the growth rate and the metro share. The religion split is from the 2002 Zogby International survey it commissioned, and the US education figure is from the 2017 ACS as compiled in its Quick Facts.
- Detroit Free Press: 2020 Census shares for Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck.
- Statistics Canada, Portrait of the Arab populations in Canada (2021 Census): every Canadian figure.
- Pew Research Center (2023): online dating use.
- Office of Management and Budget, 2024 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: the 2030 Census checkbox.