No surprise to residents, US census finds Michigan's Dearborn majority is Arab

Recently released data from the 2020 US census has found that most of Dearborn, Michigan's population is Arab. 

This is no surprise to residents, who have long known about their city's demographic composition. The official confirmation allows the city to show its accurate composition in light of a more detailed census survey.

"This is the first time the data show it's majority Arab, but not the first time it's majority Arab," Matt Jaber Stiffler, director of the Center for Arab Narratives, an Arab research organisation in Dearborn, told The New Arab. They have worked closely with the census over the years.

"If you come to Dearborn, you can see it's Arab because of the cultural landscape. You can just see that the community is very well established here. It's not just about the number of people," he said.

He believes Arabs became a majority in Dearborn around 2000 and well over the majority around ten years ago. 

The so-called population increase follows the first census in which respondents were asked to write under the race category. They could decide how they identified, be it Lebanese, Iraqi, Middle Eastern or Arab. 

Until 2020, US census surveys indicated that Arabs and others of Middle Eastern heritage chose white, a category that has come under increasing scrutiny over the years, as many believe it does not reflect their true identity.

With so many detailed responses to process this time, the census took a while to tease out the information. Last month, according to the new data, they found Dearborn to be 54 per cent Arab.

Stiffler estimates the proper proportion of Arabs in Dearborn to be much higher, closer to 70 per cent, based on other public records, such as school enrolment. He believes this likely undercounting is due to underreporting by residents, something that could be addressed in the next census when MENA (Middle East and North Africa) is expected to be an official category.

He sees this as a good start that can be expanded upon to understand further the data of a community that has long been undercounted.