Chicago vs LA: which has more Middle Eastern culture/flavor (population)

[LordHomunculus]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

I love the topic of Arab diaspora in the US. Im Arab myself.

Here are the largest Middle Eastern Communities in the US.

Detroit - 228,216
New York - 201,181
Los Angeles - 108,987
Chicago - 101,548
Washington DC - 81,044
Houston - 58,830
Dallas/Fort Worth - 56,419
Boston - 51,005
San Diego - 47,035
San Francisco - 47,501
Miami/Fort Lauderdale - 38,241
Philadelphia - 35,469
Phoenix - 34,557
Riverside - 31,490
Cleveland - 28,879
Atlanta - 28,877
Nashville - 26,365
Seattle/Tacoma - 19,094
Minneapolis/St. Paul - 18,608
Austin - 17,876
San Antonio - 17,021
Pittsburgh - 15,966
Columbus - 15,254
Portland, OR - 14,676
Sacramento - 14,552
Baltimore - 13,659
Charlotte - 13,302
San Jose - 13,031
Denver - 12,659
St. Louis - 11,432
Las Vegas - 10,439

Honestly, there is no close 2nd place for Detroit. That is our homeland in the US.

I honestly was expecting Philly to be higher for some reasons

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by LordHomunculus

I honestly was expecting Philly to be higher for some reasons

! think the main reason for that is the curse of Philly being so close to NYC. The New York/North Jersey area just draws so many immigrants. It's a little similar to DC and Baltimore in that DC has over 81,000 Arabs while Baltimore has only 14,000 Arabs despite the major cities being only 40 miles apart.

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by personone

And technically Pakistan is part of the Middle East in most definitions, I believe, which would give Chicago a significant visible presents in the city in the Devon area (Little India/Pakistan), although that may be West Rodger's Park, which you already referenced.

But LA has a huge Armenian population and a very sizable Persian/Iranian population. So I think overall I think LA would have a larger presence.

You do point out though, that Chicagoland does have a sizable presence throughout the suburbs.

Pakistan is NOT middle Eastern. Let's remember that until post WWII, it was India!

[dodeca]

I live in Toledo, 50 miles south of Detroit, and the Middle Eastern/Arab communities are strong here too.

Dearborn is one of the few old-style immigrant communities I've seen in the US - densely populated, lively, multilingual.

Detroit's importance was also clear when i visited Amman, Jordan about 10 years ago, and frequently saw men wearing very local Detroit T-shirts - like from festivals, fundraisers, schools, and quite a few Tigers caps.

Middle Eastern food is everywhere in metro Detroit and Toledo; it must be the best in the country.

[jas75]

Nashville ranks relatively high on the list of metro areas with Middle Eastern residents, on a per capita basis. There is a substantial Kurdish (from Iraq) and Egyptian population in the area, who are generally from Christian religious backgrounds rather than Muslim.

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by ForeignCrunch

I am interested in areas with a lot of Arabic culture and language specifically from the Levantine region of Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and I guess Iraq (the last one is less explicitly Levantine, technically speaking, but whatever). My understanding is that in Chicago it is far more concentrated while in Southern California it is all pretty spread out, so even though the actual community is much bigger in LA it does not necessarily feel like it. Is it better to move to Southwest Chicago or is Los Angeles better for someone interested in Arabic shops, food, language, etc.? And more specifically, which is better for Arab Christians?

If you’re limiting it to Arabs, and especially Arab Christians, then the answer is frankly neither. Detroit would be what you’re looking for.

If you expand your question to what the title of the thread is though, then the answer is LA due to the Persians/Iranians and the Armenians (although there’s a number of Armenians who will say they have no connection to the Middle East, so that’s another story). Iranians aren’t going to be Christian dominant, but the Armenians will be. The Armenian Church is distinct, however, so it’s not going to be the same as Christian Arab churches.

Chicago comes back into the running with its Assyrian population, who are also predominantly Christian, but they are not Arab and their church is also distinct.

[mraza9]

Bay ridge in Brooklyn, Astoria in Queens, Jersey City/Patterson in New Jersey - all huge Arab enclaves in NYC Metro area. But most appear to be Muslim as opposed to Christian Arab.

Tons of Persians and Armenians in LA. Chicago has a ton of Pakistanis. But neither are fully considered to be part of the ME (especially Pakistan which is very distinct in culture and heritage).

[rural & red]

Yeah, Iranians and Armenians (along with Anatolians from Turkey) would be best classified as West Asian/Caucasian than 'Middle Eastern', which tends to denote Arabic-speaking areas. They (West Asian Caucasians) predominate in LA whereas the Arabic groups predominate in the Midwest.

Pakistan is definitely South Asian in DNA and the people that make up the population are not even always endemic to there, what with the creation of the country and all and population swap with India.

[personone]

Originally Posted by walker1962

Pakistan is NOT middle Eastern. Let's remember that until post WWII, it was India!

Yes, I know that Pakistan was very recently part of Indian and would be considered South Asian. But sometimes Pakistan is included in definitions of the Middle East. I shouldn’t have said many definitions include it, but some consider it part of the “greater” Middle East. It is clearly part of South Asia.

It shares a lot culturally with the Middle East, which is kind of what I was getting at with my comment.

https://teachmideast.org/teaching_to...bout-pakistan/

[dtran103]

LA has the largest Iranian population outside or Iran. 20% of Beverly Hills’s population are Iranian. Orange county has a sizable middle eastern population as well, im guessing biggest after asians, whites, and hispanics.