Demographic Profile of Muslims in
Minnesota
Dr. Bruce Corrie
Associate Vice President

Terms
• Islam refers to a religion
• Muslims are people who follow Islam
• Middle east includes major groups such as
Arabs, Turks, Persians (and Jews)
• Middle East very diverse in many aspects

Population
• Difficult to come with a good number
• 20,221 (Arab American Institute Foundation)
• 16, 796 ( US Census of Religions 2010)
• 21, 803 ACS estimate of Somalis in Minnesota
• Obviously an underestimate of actual numbers.
• Even though less than 1 percent of Minnesota’s population – 16 th in the nation

Arabic Speakers – Metro Area http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/language_map.html
1 Dot =
10 People

Students 2013
Minnesota Schools 2013
Language
Arabic
Farsi
Somali
Kurdish
Turkish
Students
2053
133
14876
205
63

Population – Top MSAs
– Mankato
– Minneapolis-St. Paul
– Rochester
– Lacrosse
– Fargo
– Duluth
– Grand Forks

Foreign Born Population MN
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Yemen
Turkey
Armenia
Other Western Asia
Eritrea
Ethiopia/Oromo
Egypt
Morocco
Sudan
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
India
Iran
Kazakhstan
Pakistan
Uzbekistan
Other Eastern Africa/Somali
306
543
51
557
1,255
13,195
1,840
876
2,036
541
737
562
252
686
298
335
271
782
21,306
1,232
710
1,675
114
23,832

Muslim Population: National
• 0.8 percent of US population in 2010 according to the Pew Center. Projected to grow to 1.7 percent in 2030
• Most Arab Americans are Christian
• http://religions.pewforum.org/affiliations

Muslims: Race and Ethnicity 2011

National Picture (Ancestry) http://www.aaiusa.org/pages/demographics/

Muslims: Education, 2011

Integration

Very American

Quite Satisfied with Life

Most Citizens and Immigrant

Church Attendance

Social Interaction

Pew Research Data, 2011
Entrepreneurs
Homeowners
Satisfied with Country today
Regularly Use Social Media
Regularly watch sports
Yes - conflict between Science and Religion
Agree with Evolution
Do you think of yourself as American first or Muslim
Very Concerned about rise in Islamic Extremism
Citizen
Voted
Satisfies withlife today
Muslim
20%
33%
56%
49%
31%
70%
64%
82%
57%
48%
37%
45%
US
17%
58%
23%
46%
36%
47%
76%
75%
44%
47%
59%
52%

Prominent Arab-American politicians
80. Who are some prominent Arab-American politicians?
• U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine;
• Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham;
• Former secretary of Health and Human Services Donna
Shalala;
• Former New Hampshire governor and White House chief of staff John Sununu,
• 2000 presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/culturalcompetence/arab-americans/

Prominent Arab Americans
• Shakira, pop star
• Christa McAuliffe, the teacher/astronaut who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger;
• Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal;
• Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie;
• creators of radio’s American Top 40 Casey Kasem and Don Bustany;
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving founder Candy Lightner;
• Jacques Nasser, president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor
Co., and
• Helen Thomas, former dean of the White House press corps.
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/culturalcompetence/arab-americans/