Demographics of New York City

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9.4%

6%

4%

5.5%

13.1%

New York City compared
2000 Census Data	New York	LA	Chicago	New York State	United States
Total population	8,168,388	3,819,951	2,869,121	18,976,457	281,421,906
Population, percent change, 1990 to 2000
Population density	26,402.9/mi²	7,876.8/mi²	12,750.3/mi²	402/mi²	80/mi²
Median household income (1999)	,293	,687	,625	,393	,994
Per capita income (1999)	,402	,671	,175	,389	,587
Bachelor's degree or higher	27%	26%	26%	27%	24%
Foreign born	36%	41%	22%	20%	11%
White	45%	47%	42%	62%	69%
Black	27%	11%	37%	16%	12%
Hispanic	27%	46%	26%	15%	13%
Asian	10%	10%	4%	6%	4%

New York City is the second largest city in North America and one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, and has a long history of absorbing immigrants from nations all over the globe.

The population density was 10,194.2/km² (26,402.9/mi²). There were 3,200,912 housing units at an average density of 4,074.6/km² (10,553.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 44.66% White, 26.59% Black or African American, 0.52% Native American, 9.83% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 13.42% from other races, and 4.92% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26.98% of the population. 35.9% of the population was born outside the United States of America (18.9% born in Latin America, 8.6% Asia, 7.0% Europe). The ethnic makeup was 11.9% Jewish, 11.5% African-American, 9.8% Puerto Rican, 8.7% Italian, 5.3% Irish, 5.1% Dominican, 4.5% Chinese, 2.1% Asian Indian, 1.8% Filipino and 1.6% Korean.

New York City is also home to the nation's largest community of American Jews, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, with an estimate of 972,000 in 2002, and is the worldwide headquarters of the Hasidic Lubavitch movement and the Bobover and Satmar branches of Hasidism.

The city has a long tradition of attracting international immigration and Americans seeking careers in certain sectors. As of 2005, New York City has ranked number one for six consecutive years as the U.S. city people would most like to live in or near.[California and New York City Most Popular Places People Would Choose to Live], Harris Poll, August 11, 2005

Current demographics

Wealth was not uniform across the boroughs; shown here was 1999 per capita income. Family income was much higher in each borough.

Population growth (blue) and population loss (red) from 1990 to 2000. (Click on image to see full key and data.)

As of the census of 2000, there were 8,008,278 people, 3,021,588 households, and 1,852,233 families residing in the city. This is roughly equivalent to the combined populations of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia—America's second, third, and fifth most populous cities, respectively. The population density was 10,194.2/km² (26,402.9/mi²). There were 3,200,912 housing units at an average density of 4,074.6/km² (10,553.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 44.66% White, 26.59% Black or African American, 0.52% Native American, 9.83% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 13.42% from other races, and 4.92% from two or more races. 26.98% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 35.9% of the population was foreign born (18.9% born in Latin America, 8.6% Asia, 7.0% Europe).

There were 3,021,588 households with a median income of $38,293; 29.7% contained children under the age of 18 and 37.2% were married couples living together. 19.1% have a single female householder, and 38.7% were non-families. 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% were single residents 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.32.

Per capita income was $22,402; men and women had a median income of $37,435 and $32,949 respectively. 21.2% of the population and 18.5% of families were below the poverty line, of whom 30.0% were under the age of 18 and 17.8% were 65 and older.

In the city, the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.9 males.

New York City's unemployment rate in March of 2005 was 5.2%, identical to the nationwide rate.

According to the U.S. Census, New York City had the largest estimated daytime population, at more than 8.5 million persons. The increase of more than half a million people over the night-time population was bigger than that found in any other area. However, the seven percent increase puts New York in the middle of the pack on percentage change among cities with more than a million residents.

Future demographics

The Urbanomics projections estimate a continuing decline of non-Hispanic whites, although births will again outnumber deaths among non-Hispanic whites after 2010; the number of black residents will also begin to decline in 2015. Hispanics and Asians will drive overall population growth until 2025; New York's population is then expected to expand more slowly, to nearly 9.5 million in 2030. That would represent a 16% increase from 2004.

According to Urbanomics, between 2025 and 2030 among Asians the total of births over deaths will more than double. The projections also expect the net migration to New York — people arriving versus leaving — will more than triple. New York's economic makeup is also projected to change, becoming generally wealthier; 36% of households are expected to earn more than $100,000 in 2025 compared with 14% now after adjusting for inflation.[By 2025, Planners See a Million New Stories in the Crowded City], The New York Times, February 19, 2006

Historic population figures

The percentage of New York City population residing in each borough. The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island

New York City's population with each borough's, in millions. New York City, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island

Each borough's historical population in millions. The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island

Each borough's historical population growth, decade over decade. The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island

Historical Population of New York City pre-Greater New York City''' [Historical Census Browser]
Year	Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens*	Westchester**	Staten Is.	Total
1790	33,111	4,549	16,013	23,978	3,827	81,478
1800	60,489	5,740	16,893	27,428	4,563	115,113
1810	96,373	8,303	19,336	30,272	5,347	159,631
1820	123,706	11,187	21,519	32,638	6,135	195,185
1830	202,589	20,535	22,460	36,456	7,082	289,122
1840	312,710	47,613	30,324	48,686	10,965	450,298
1850	515,547	138,882	36,833	58,263	15,061	764,586
1860	813,669	279,122	57,391	99,497	25,492	1,275,171
1870	942,292	419,921	73,803	131,348	33,029	1,600,393
1880	1,206,299	599,495	90,574	108,988	38,991	2,044,347
1890	1,515,301	838,547	128,059	146,772	51,693	2,680,372
* Queens County included modern day Nassau County. ** Westchester County included modern day Bronx County.

Historical Population of New York City post-Greater New York City''' [Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990], United States Census Bureau, Last Revised: November 2, 2000
Year	Manhattan	Brooklyn	Queens	The Bronx	Staten Is.	Total
1900	1,850,093	1,166,582	152,999	200,507	67,021	3,437,202
1910	2,331,542	1,634,351	284,041	430,980	85,969	4,766,883
1920	2,284,103	2,018,356	469,042	732,016	116,531	5,620,048
1930	1,867,312	2,560,401	1,079,129	1,265,258	158,346	6,930,446
1940	1,889,924	2,698,285	1,297,634	1,394,711	174,441	7,454,995
1950	1,960,101	2,738,175	1,550,849	1,451,277	191,555	7,891,957
1960	1,698,281	2,627,319	1,809,578	1,424,815	221,991	7,781,984
1970	1,539,233	2,602,012	1,986,473	1,471,701	295,443	7,894,862
1980	1,428,285	2,230,936	1,891,325	1,168,972	352,121	7,071,639
1990	1,487,536	2,300,664	1,951,598	1,203,789	378,977	7,322,564
2000	1,537,195	2,465,326	2,237,216	1,332,650	443,728	8,085,742

Nationalities and ethnicities in New York

German New York

See also: German Americans

Carl Schurz, a refugee from the unsuccessful first German democratic revolution of 1848, served as United States Secretary of the Interior and as United States Senator from Missouri. Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan is named after him.

The influence of German immigration can still be felt in are as of New York City. The Yorkville neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan was a center of German-American culture.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Little Germany, in what is now Alphabet City, was the first non-English speaking urban enclave in the United States.

Irish New York

The Irish community is one of New York's major ethnic groups, and has been a significant proportion of the City's population since the waves of immigration in the late 1800s.

As a result of the Irish Potato Famine, many Irish families were forced to emigrate from the country. By 1854, between 1.5 and 2 million Irish left their country. In the United States, most Irish became city-dwellers. With little money, many had to settle in the cities that the ships they came on landed in. By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The Irish play a significant role in city politics, the Roman Catholic Church and the New York City Fire Department and Police Department.

According to a 2006 genetic survey by Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, about one in 50 New Yorkers of European origin carry a distinctive genetic signature on their Y chromosomes inherited from Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish high king of the fifth century A.D."If Irish Claim Nobility, Science May Approve." The New York Times 18 Jan. 2006.[link]

Italian New York

See also: Italian-American

In some Italian-American communities, Saint Joseph's Day (March 19) is marked with celebrations and parades. Columbus Day is also widely celebrated in these communities, as are the feasts of some regional Italian patron saints, most notably Feast of San Gennaro (September 19) by those claiming Neapolitan heritage, and Santa Rosalia (September 4) by Sicilians.

Italian families first settled in Little Italy's neighborhoods, the most famous one being the one around Mulberry Street, in Manhattan. However, since the 1960s, Italian-American families tend to spread to the suburbs, mainly Westchester County, Nassau County (where a quarter of the population is of Italian origins), and in Staten Island, with almost half of the borough residents having Italian blood.

• Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York
• Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York
• Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, New York
• Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New York
• Mulberry Street, Manhattan (New York's Little Italy)
• Pleasant Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan, New York
• Arthur Avenue, Bronx, New York
• Howard Beach, Queens, New York

Jewish New York

See also: American Jews

The Jewish presence in the City dates back to the 1600's, when a Jewish community relocated from Recife seeking freedom of worship.

Major immigration of Jews in New York started in the 1880s, with the increase of anti-semitism in Central and Eastern Europe. Therefore, the number of Jews in New York soared throughout the beginning of the 20th Century to reach a peak of 2,000,000 Jews in New York in the 1950s, then one-quarter of the city's population. This number has since plummeted because of a low fertility rate and migration to other states (mainly California and Florida) and the suburbs.

The first Jewish immigrants setteled mainly in the Lower East Side's slums, but now Jews live almost everywhere in the city: Brooklyn's Jewish population is estimated in 2003 at 456,000, and Manhattan's at 243,000. The most recent wave of Jewish immigrants to New York occurred in the 1980s and the 1990s, with immigration from the former Soviet Union (mainly Russia and Ukraine) to south Brooklyn.

While a quarter of New York Jews are not religious, the Orthodox community is rapidly growing, while the numbers of Conservative and Reform Jews are declining.

Like the Irish, the Jewish community has an important role in the city's politics: Indeed, Jews traditionally vote in significant numbers, and the community has mainly supported politically liberal ideas.

Chinese New York

See also: Chinese American and Chinatown, Manhattan.

Cooks at rest in New York's Chinatown. The Chinatown in Flushing, Queens, New York City is the largest Chinese community in the United States.

Like other Chinatown districts in American cities, the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan is an ethnic enclave with a large population of Chinese immigrants.

By the 1980s, it had surpassed San Francisco's Chinatown to become the largest enclave of Chinese immigrants in the Western hemisphere, but in the last few years it too has been outgrown by the lesser-known but larger New York City Chinatown community in nearby Flushing, Queens.

African Americans and Blacks in New York

According to the 2000 Census, New York City has the largest population of self-defined African-American and black residents of any US city, at over 2 million within the city's boundaries. It has one of the largest populations of black immigrants and descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean (especially from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, Bahamas, and Haiti), and of sub-Saharan Africans. An April 3, 2006 New York Times article noted, however, that for the first time since the U.S. Civil War, the African-American population was declining, based on emigration to other regions, a declining African-American birthrate in New York, and decreased immigration of Blacks from the Caribbean and Africa. [link]

Indian New York

New York is home to nearly a quarter of the nation's Asian Indian-Americans. It is the second Asian American ethnic group in Ne York city. This population is growing steadily, with a 118% increase between 1990 and 2000 census, from 94,590 to 206,228. Out of them, 157,140, or 77% were foreign-born. As of 2000, Indian tend to mainly settle in Queens, where they were 129,715, and numbered 32,498 in Brooklyn, 19,305 in The Bronx, 17,592 in Manhattan and 7,118 in Staten Island.[link]

Gay New Yorkers

There is significant controversy over the number of gay people living in the city. The 2000 US Census recorded 25,906 gay households, or about 52,000 people, three times larger than was reported in 1990. Demographers contest the methodolgy used by the Census Bureau and suggest the widely fluctuating numbers it reports are evidence of flawed counting procedures. New York population experts conservatively estimate that the real number is between 360,000 and 500,000."Counting Gay New York." July 2001 Gotham Gazette[link]

References