page_title: History of the Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Photo of the Yemeni mural on the side of the Sheeba Restaurant in Hamtramck, MI Photo of the Yemeni mural on the side of the Sheeba Restaurant in Hamtramck, MI
context_page_description: In 2004, Metro Detroit had one of the largest settlements of Middle Eastern people, including Jews, Chaldo-Assyrians, and Arabs, in the United States. As of 2007 about 300,000 people in Southeastern Michigan traced their descent from the Middle East. Dearborn's sizeable Arab community consists largely of Lebanese and many Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s, and of more recent Yemenis and Iraqis. In 2010 the four Metro Detroit counties had at least 200,000 people of Middle Eastern origin, excluding Jews. Bobby Ghosh of TIME said that some estimates gave much larger numbers. From 1990 to 2000 the percentage of people speaking Arabic in the home increased by 106% in Wayne County, 99.5% in Macomb County, and 41% in Oakland County.
  From 1990 to 2000 Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties had a combined increase of 16,632 people who were born in Iraq. The publication "Arab, Chaldean, and Middle Eastern Children and Families in the Tri-County Area" of the From a Child's Perspective: Detroit Metropolitan Census 2000 Fact Sheets Series states that "Arab and Chaldean representation cannot be determined" in that figure.
context_section_description: As of 2014 Dearborn's population was about 40% of Arab origin. At first Arabs mainly settled the Southend and east Dearborn and the main concentration is in those areas. By 2005 a popular Arab restaurant had opened in west Dearborn, and a group of Arab Americans had settled in adjacent in Warrendale, Detroit, most of whom were Lebanese. By 2014 Arab Americans had been moving into Dearborn Heights, with the north end having more Arabs compared to the south end. Many Arab businesses in Dearborn established branch operations in Dearborn Heights. In 2014 the Dearborn Heights director of community and economic development, Ron Amen, stated that Arabs are about 25% of the city's population.
  Many Arabs have been moving to Macomb County, Oakland County, and Canton in Wayne County.
  As of 2014 about 25% of the population of Hamtramck was of Arab origin. Yemenis form the majority of that city's Arabs. Hakim Almasmari wrote in 2006 that "Several streets seem to be populated exclusively by Yemeni Americans, and Yemeni culture pervades the city’s social, business, and political life." Many Yemeni restaurants are in Hamtramck, and the Yemeni community operates the Mu'ath bin Jabal Mosque (Arabic: مسجد معاذ بن جبل‎), which was established in 1976. 
  According to Almasmari, Yemeni people first arrived in Hamtramck in the 1960s. The "Building Islam in Detroit: Foundations/Forms/Futures" project of the University of Michigan stated that Yemenis began arriving in the 1970s. In 2013 Dasic Fernandez, a Chilean artist, created a 90-foot (27 m) by 30-foot (9.1 m) mural on the Sheeba restaurant celebrating the Yemeni population. The mural depicts a girl in a veil decorated with the blue sky, a farmer wearing a turban, and a woman in a hijab. The Arab American and Chaldean Council and the coalition OneHamtramck commissioned the mural.
  Lebanese American Christians had settled in several areas of Metro Detroit, including the Grosse Pointes. Many of them do not consider themselves as Arab. By 2014 many Lebanese American Christians had assimilated into American culture.
  By 1985 many Palestinian Christians had settled in Farmington, Livonia, and Westland. The Palestinians in Livonia, many of whom operated small and medium-sized businesses, originated from Ramallah.
caption: Yemeni mural by Dasic Fernandez in Hamtramck, Michigan
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