Data Meets Identity
“The Portrait of Arab America” presents the most comprehensive data on Arab and Chaldean Americans*. The report emphasizes the heterogeneity of our communities, highlighting our diversity in numbers and the variation amongst Arab and Chaldean subregions, immigration patterns, and the push/pull factors that urge migration.
In a January 2025 webinar, CAN Director Matthew Jaber Stiffler and noted public health scholar Nadia Abuelezam discussed the implications of the data presented in “The Portrait of Arab America.”
Some key takeaways from the webinar and the discussion of the data report:
- The relationship between acculturation and sociodemographic outcomes is complicated. For example, more acculturation (i.e. longer time residing in the United States) does not necessarily indicate better sociodemographic outcomes; while recent migration does not mean more negative outcomes.
- Patterns in conflict and legacies of imperialism and colonization can further impact sociodemographic outcomes, particularly in health and disability axes.
- Because the unique compositions of key metro areas (e.g. Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles), broad generalizations about the national Arab and Chaldean community cannot be made from only localized analysis.
CAN’s comprehensive report provides an opportunity for researchers to ask new questions. It is a starting point for further research and conversations about poverty, education, workforce, and other key sociodemographic indicators.
*We include data on the large Chaldean population because, alongside those with Arab ancestry, the Chaldean/Assyrian/Syriac ancestry group (as they are so coded in Census data) share many similarities in migration and settlement patterns with other Arab ancestry groups.