Demographics of New York City
Encyclopedia
The demographics of New York City
are evidence of a large and ethnically diverse
metropolis
. It is the largest city in the United States
with a population defined by a long history of international immigration
. New York City is home to more than 8 million people, accounting for about 40% of the population of New York State and a similar percentage of the New York metropolitan area
, home to about 20 million. Over the last decade the city has been growing faster than the region. The New York region continues to be the leading metropolitan gateway for legal immigrants admitted into the United States.
Throughout its history New York City has been a major point of entry for immigrants; the term "melting pot
" was coined to describe densely populated immigrant neighborhoods on the Lower East Side
. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. English remains the most widely spoken language and New York is one of the largest cities in the English-speaking world
, although there are areas of Queens
and Brooklyn
in which up to 20% of people speak English only a little or not at all. Neighborhoods such as Flushing
, Sunset Park
and Corona
are the least English
-speaking communities.
and cultural diversity
. The city's population density of 26,403 people per square mile (10,194/km²), makes it the densest of any American municipality with a population above 100,000. Manhattan's population density is 66,940 people per square mile (25,846/km²), highest of any county in the United States.
New York City is multicultural. About 36% of the city's population is foreign-born., one of the highest among US cities. The ten nations constituting the largest sources of modern immigration to New York City are the Dominican Republic
, China
, Jamaica
, Guyana
, Mexico
, Ecuador
, Haiti
, Trinidad and Tobago
, Colombia
, and Russia
.
The New York City metropolitan area is home to the largest Jewish community
outside Israel
. It is also home to nearly a quarter of the nation's Indian Americans and 15% of all Korean Americans and the largest Asian Indian population in the Western Hemisphere
; the largest African American
community of any city in the country; and including 6 Chinatown
s in the city proper, comprised as of 2008 a population of 659,596 overseas Chinese
, the largest outside of Asia
. New York City alone, according to the 2010 Census, has now become home to more than one million Asian Americans, greater than the combined totals of San Francisco and Los Angeles
. New York contains the highest total Asian population of any U.S. city proper. 6.0% of New York City is of Chinese ethnicity
, with about forty percent of them living in the borough of Queens alone. Koreans make up 1.2% of the city's population, and Japanese
at 0.3%. Filipinos are the largest southeast Asian ethnic group at 0.8%, followed by Vietnamese
who make up only 0.2% of New York City's population. Indian
s are the largest South Asian group, comprising 2.4% of the city's population, and Bangladeshi
s and Pakistani
s at 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.
The nine largest ethnic groups as of the 2005 census estimates are: African
, Puerto Ricans
, Italians
, West Indians
, Dominicans
, Chinese, Irish
, Russian
, and German
. The Puerto Rican population of New York City is the largest outside Puerto Rico
. Italians
emigrated to the city in large numbers in the early 20th century, establishing several "Little Italie
s". The Irish
also have a notable presence
, along with Germans
.
New York City has a high degree of income variation. In 2005 the median household income in the highest census tract was reported to be $188,697, while in the lowest it was $9,320. The variance is driven by wage growth in high income brackets, while wages have stagnated for middle and lower income brackets. In 2006 the average weekly wage in Manhattan was $1,453, the highest and fastest growing among the largest counties in the United States. The borough is also experiencing a "baby boom" among the wealthy that is unique among U.S. cities. Since 2000, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan has grown by more than 32%.
In 2000, about 3 out of every 10 New York City housing units were owner-occupied, compared to about 2 owner-occupied units out of every 3 units in the U.S. as a whole. Rental vacancy is usually between 3% and 4.5%, well below the 5% threshold defined to be a housing emergency, justifying the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization
. About 33% of rental units fall under rent stabilization, according to which increases are adjudicated periodically by city agencies. Rent control covers only a very small number of rental units. Some critics point to New York City's strict zoning and other regulations as partial causes for the housing shortage, but during the city's decline in population from the 1960s through the 1980s, a large number of apartment buildings suffered suspected arson fires or were abandoned by their owners. Once the population trend was reversed, with rising prospects for rentals and sales, new construction has resumed, but generally for higher income brackets.
New York is the largest city in the United States, with the city proper's population more than double the next largest city, Los Angeles
(or roughly equivalent to the combined populations of Los Angeles, Chicago
, and Houston, the United States' second, third, and fourth most populous cities respectively). The city has a population more than that of 39 U.S. states. The estimated 2009 population of New York City is 8,391,881 (up from 7.072 million in 1980). This amounts to about 40% of New York State's population and a similar percentage of the metropolitan regional population. Over the last decade the city has been growing rapidly. Demographers estimate New York's population will reach between 9.4 and 9.7 million by 2030.
In 2000 the reported life expectancy of New Yorkers was above the national average. Life expectancy for females born in 2009 in New York City is 80.2 years and for males is 74.5 years.
New York's two key demographic features are its density and diversity. The city has an extremely high population density
of 26,403 people per square mile (10,194/km²), about 10,000 more people per square mile than the next densest large American city, San Francisco
. Manhattan's population density is 66,940 people per square mile (25,846/km²).
The city has a long tradition of attracting international immigration and Americans seeking careers in certain sectors. As of 2006, New York City has ranked number one for seven consecutive years as the city most U.S. residents would most like to live in or near.
. These immigrants often form ethnic enclaves
, neighborhoods dominated by one ethnicity. The city experienced major immigration
from Europe in the 19th century and another major wave in the early 20th century. Since the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and particularly since the 1980s, New York City has seen renewed rates of high immigration. Newer immigrants are from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. 36% of the city's population is foreign-born. Among U.S. cities, this proportion is higher only in Los Angeles and Miami. In New York no single country or region of origin dominates. The ten largest countries of origin are the Dominican Republic
, China
, Jamaica
, Guyana
, Mexico
, Ecuador
, Haiti
, Trinidad and Tobago
, Colombia
, and Russia
. About 170 languages are spoken in the city. Between 1990 and 2000 the city admitted 1,224,524 immigrants. Demographers and city officials have observed that immigration to New York City has been slowing since 1997. This is mostly due to more and more immigrants choosing directly to locate to the city's suburbs and then commute to the city or work in many of its booming edge cities like Fort Lee, NJ, Jersey City, Morristown, NJ, Stamford, CT, White Plains, NY and others. Despite the slowdown in immigration the city's overall immigrant population has continued to increase and in 2006 it numbered 3.038 million (37.0%) up from 2.871 million (35.9%) in 2000.
African American
s make up 25.1% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 2,086,566 African Americans residing in New York City. Percentage wise, approximately two out of every five black residents of New York City resides in Brooklyn (primarily in the Central, Northern, and Eastern sections of the borough), one out of every five resides in Bronx (mainly in the borough's Northeastern, Southeastern and Southern sections) one out of every five resides in Queens (mainly in the borough's Southeastern area), with the remaining black residents residing in Manhattan (primarily in Harlem) and Staten Island (mainly the North Shore of the borough).
Native Americans
make up 0.4% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 29,569 Native Americans residing in New York City. Of 29,569 Native Americans, 2,075 were of the Cherokee
tribal grouping. In addition, 213 were of the Navajo
tribal grouping. Also, 42 people identified themselves as Chippewa, and 47 people identified themselves as Sioux
.
Asian American
s make up 11.8% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 976,807 Asian Americans residing in New York City. Of 976,807 Asian Americans, 445,145 were of Chinese
descent, representing 5.4% of the city's population. In addition, there were 226,888 Indian American
s residing in the city, representing 2.7% of the population. Approximately 103,660 people identified themselves as "Other Asian", a category that includes people of Cambodian
, Laotian
, Hmong
, and Pakistani
descent. Individuals in this category represent 1.2% of the city's population. There were 88,162 Korean American
s residing in the city, representing 1.1% of the population. Other Asian American groups include those of Filipino
(68,826, 0.8%), Japanese
(26,096, 0.3%), and Vietnamese
(18,030, 0.2%) descent.
Pacific Islander American
s make up 0.1% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 4,941 Pacific Islander Americans residing in New York City. Of 4,941 Pacific Islander Americans, 1,992 were Native Hawaiian
. Approximately 904 were of Samoan descent, and 504 were of Guamanian descent. In addition, 1,541 were of other Pacific Islander ancestries.
Multiracial American
s make up 2.1% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 177,643 multiracial Americans residing in New York City. People of black and white ancestry numbered at 37,124, making up 0.4% of the population. People of white and Asian ancestry numbered at 22,242, making up 0.3% of the population. People of white/Native American ancestry (10,762) and black/Native American ancestry (10,221) each made up 0.1% of the city's population.
Hispanics and Latinos
make up 27.5% of New York City's population. According to the American Community Survey, there were 2,287,905 Hispanic or Latino Americans residing in New York City. The Hispanic/Latino population is categorized with four groups, "Mexican" (297,581 or 3.6%), "Puerto Rican" (785,618 or 9.4%), "Cuban
" (42,377 or 0.5%), and "Other Hispanic or Latino" (1,165,576 or 14.0%).
According to the 2006-2007 Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies:
White American
s make up 44.6% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 3,704,243 White Americans residing in New York City. White Americans of non-Hispanic origin
make up 35.1% of the city's population. There are 2,918,976 non-Hispanic whites residing in the city. Much of New York City's European American
population consists of individuals of Italian
, Irish
, German
, Russian
, Polish
, English
, and Greek
ancestry.
Source:
NOTE: This source contains all of the numerical information in the data above.
According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, the top ten White, European ancestries were the following:
Other smaller European ancestries include:
Source:.
According to a 2001 study by Claritas, four of the city's five boroughs ranked among the nation's twenty most diverse counties. Queens
ranked 1st, Brooklyn
3rd, Manhattan
7th, and The Bronx
17th. In addition, Hudson County and Essex County, New Jersey
, both of which are part of the New York Metropolitan Area
, ranked 6th and 15th, respectively.
The city has several demographically unique characteristics. Queens
is the only large county in the United States where the median income among black households, about $52,000 a year, has surpassed that of whites. It is also the nation's most ethnically diverse county.
The New York City metropolitan area is home to the largest Jewish community
outside Israel
. It is also home to nearly a quarter of the nation's Indian American
population, and the largest African American
community of any city in the country. New York City, with about 800,000 Puerto Rican residents, has the largest Puerto Rican population outside of Puerto Rico. Another historically significant ethnic group are Italians
, who emigrated to the city in large numbers in the early 20th century. New York City is home to the largest Italian American population in the United States. The Irish
and Germans
also have a notable presence.
living together. 19% had a single female householder, and 39% were non-families. 32% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10% were single residents 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 persons, and the average family size was 3.32.
The age range was as follows: 24% were under the age of 18, 10% between 18 and 24, 33% between 25 to 44, 21% between 45 to 64, and 12% were 65 or older. The median age in New York City in 2000 was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86 males.
The borough of Manhattan
is experiencing a "baby boom" that is unique among U.S. cities. Since 2000, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan has grown by more than 32%. The increase is driven mostly by affluent white families with median household incomes over $300,000.
New York City's borough of Manhattan is the highest nominal income county in the United States. In particular, ZIP code
10021 on Manhattan's Upper East Side
, with more than 100,000 inhabitants and a per capita income of over $90,000, has one of the largest concentrations of income in the United States. The other boroughs, especially Queens and Staten Island, have large middle-class populations.
New York City's per capita income in 2000 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 had incomes below the federal poverty line; 30.0% of this group were under the age of 18 and 17.8% were 65 and older.
The New Yorker with the highest income is oil magnate David H. Koch
whose net worth an estimated $17 billion in October 2007. Of Forbes Magazine's 400 richest Americans, 72 live in New York City, and they are each worth at least $1 billion. New York City's present mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is himself one of the nation's richest men. As of 2009 New York has regained the number one spot as the city with most billionaires (55), after losing out to Moscow in 2008.
While the city's projected 2030 population will be a new high, only two boroughs, Staten Island and Queens have reached their population peak every year for the last 5 years. The study projects that by 2030, Queens
will have 2.57 million people and Staten Island
552,000. Manhattan
, with 1.83 million, Bronx with 1.46 million and Brooklyn
with 2.72 million, will still be below their population peaks.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
announced that the city would file a formal challenge to the Census results, as a result of alleged undercounting in the boroughs of Queens
and Brooklyn
. The mayor has asserted that the numbers for Queens and Brooklyn, the two most populous boroughs, are implausible. According to the Census, they grew by only 0.1% and 1.6%, respectively, while the other boroughs grew by between 3% and 5%. In addition, the Mayor claims, the census showed improbably high amounts of vacant housing in vital neighborhoods such as Jackson Heights, Queens
.
According to the 2000 Census, New York City has the largest population of self-defined black residents of any U.S. city, with over 2 million within the city's boundaries. New York City had more Black people than the entire state of California
until the 2000 Census. Many of the city's black residents live in Brooklyn
and The Bronx
. Several of the city's neighborhoods are historical birthplaces of urban black culture in America, among them the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant
and Manhattan's Harlem
and various sections of Eastern Queens and The Bronx. Bedford-Stuyvesant is considered to have the highest concentration of black residents in the United States
. New York City has the largest population of black immigrants (at 686,814) and descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean (especially from Jamaica
, Trinidad and Tobago
, Barbados
, Guyana
, Belize
, Grenada
, and Haiti
), and of sub-Saharan Africans. In a news item of April 3, 2006, however, the New York Times noted that for the first time since the American Civil War
, the recorded African American population was declining, because of emigration to other regions, a declining African American birthrate in New York, and decreased immigration of blacks from the Caribbean and Africa.
In 2005, the median income among black households in Queens
was almost $52,000 a year, surpassing that of whites. However, while some of this is because of middle class African American neighborhoods in Queens it also is because of white emigration from Queens and comparison to elderly whites who are left behind who may be on retirement or fixed incomes and no longer working.
The New York metropolitan area
contains the largest ethnic Chinese
population outside of Asia
, enumerating 659,596 individuals as of the 2008 American Community Survey Census statistical data, including at least six Chinatowns, comprising the original Manhattan Chinatown, two in Queens
(the Flushing Chinatown and the Elmhurst
Chinatown), two in Brooklyn
(the Sunset Park Chinatown
and the Avenue U
Chinatown), and one in Edison, New Jersey
, not to mention fledgling ethnic Chinese enclaves emerging throughout the New York metropolitan area. Chinese Americans, as a whole, have had a (relatively) long tenure in New York City
. The first Chinese immigrants came to Lower Manhattan
around 1870, looking for the "gold" America had to offer. By 1880, the enclave around Five Points
was estimated to have from 200 to as many as 1,100 members. However, the Chinese Exclusion Act, which went into effect in 1882, caused an abrupt decline in the number of Chinese who immigrated to New York and the rest of the United States. Later, in 1943, the Chinese were given a small quota, and the community's population gradually increased until 1968, when the quota was lifted and the Chinese American population skyrocketed.
Manhattan's Chinatown
is one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia. Within Manhattan's expanding Chinatown lies a "Little Fuzhou
" on East Broadway and surrounding streets, occupied predominantly by immigrants from the Fujian Province of Mainland China. Areas surrounding the "Little Fuzhou" consist mostly of Cantonese
immigrants from Guangdong Province, the earlier Chinese settlers, and in some areas moderately of Cantonese immigrants. In the past few years, however, the Cantonese dialect that has dominated Chinatown for decades is being rapidly swept aside by Mandarin
, the national language of China and the lingua franca
of most of the latest Chinese immigrants. The energy and population of Manhattan's Chinatown are fueled by relentless, massive immigration from Mainland China, both legal and illegal in origin, propagated in large part by New York's high density, extensive mass transit system, and huge economic marketplace.
The early settlers of Manhattan
's Chinatown
were mostly from Taishan
and Hong Kong
of the Guangdong
Province of China, which are the Cantonese speakers, and also from Shanghai
. They form most of the Chinese population of the area surrounded by Mott and Canal
Streets. The later settlers, from Fuzhou, Fujian
, form the Chinese population of the area bounded by East Broadway
. Chinatown's modern borders are roughly Delancey/Kenmare Street
on the north, Broadway
on the west, Chamber Street on the east, and East Broadway to the south.
The Flushing Chinatown, in the Flushing
area of the borough of Queens
in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. Main Street and the area to its west, particularly along Roosevelt Avenue, have become the primary nexus of Flushing Chinatown. However, Chinatown continues to expand southeastward along Kissena Boulevard and northward beyond Northern Boulevard. In the 1970s, a Chinese community established a foothold in the neighborhood of Flushing, whose demographic constituency had been predominantly non-Hispanic white. Taiwanese
began the surge of immigration, followed by other groups of Chinese. By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population. However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population as well as of the overall population in Flushing and its Chinatown. A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone. Mandarin Chinese (including Northeastern Mandarin
), Fuzhou dialect
, Min Nan
Fujianese
, Wu Chinese, Beijing dialect
, Wenzhounese, Shanghainese
, Cantonese
, Taiwanese, and English are all prevalently spoken in Flushing Chinatown. Even the relatively obscure Dongbei style of cuisine indigenous to Northeast China
is now available in Flushing Chinatown. Given its rapidly growing status, the Flushing Chinatown may surpass in size and population the original New York City Chinatown in the borough of Manhattan within a few years, and it is debatable whether this has already happened.
By 1988, 90% of the storefronts on Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn
, were abandoned. Chinese immigrants then moved into this area, not only new arrivals from China, but also members of Manhattan's Chinatown, seeking refuges from high rents, who fled to the cheap property costs and rents of Sunset Park and formed the Brooklyn Chinatown, which now extends for 20 blocks along 8th Avenue, from 42nd to 62nd Streets. This relatively new but rapidly growing Chinatown located in Sunset Park was originally settled by Cantonese immigrants like Manhattan's Chinatown in the past. However, in the recent decade, an influx of Fuzhou immigrants has been pouring into Brooklyn's Chinatown and supplanting the Cantonese at a significantly higher rate than in Manhattan's Chinatown, and Brooklyn's Chinatown is now home to mostly Fuzhou immigrants. In the past, during the 1980s and 1990s, the majority of newly arriving Fuzhou immigrants were settling within Manhattan's Chinatown, and the first Little Fuzhou community emerged in New York City within Manhattan's Chinatown; by the first decade of the 21st century, however, the epicenter of the massive Fuzhou influx had shifted to Brooklyn Chinatown, which is now home to the fastest growing and perhaps largest Fuzhou population in New York City. Unlike the Little Fuzhou in the Manhattan Chinatown, which remains surrounded by areas which continue to house significant populations of Cantonese, all of Brooklyn's Chinatown is swiftly consolidating into New York City's new Little Fuzhou. However, a growing community of Wenzhounese immigrants from China's Zhejiang Province is now also arriving in Brooklyn Chinatown. Also in contrast to Manhattan's Chinatown, which still successfully continues to carry a large Cantonese population and retain the large Cantonese community established decades ago in the western section of Manhattan's Chinatown, where Cantonese residents have a communal gathering venue to shop, work, and socialize, Brooklyn Chinatown is very quickly losing its Cantonese community
identity.
Elmhurst
, another neighborhood in Queens, also has a large Chinese community. Previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, this new Chinatown in Elmhurst, Queens has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue.
Avenue U
in Homecrest, Brooklyn
supports New York City's newest Chinatown, as evidenced by the growing number of Chinese-run fruit markets, restaurants, beauty and nail salons, and computer and general electronics dealers.
. Immigration from the Philippines
began mainly after 1965, when immigration quotas that prevented Filipino immigration
for many years were abolished. While there was earlier immigration from the Philippines
, it was in low numbers and mainly concentrated in Hawaii
and California
. Since then, Filipinos have settled in Northeastern
cities, mainly in New York City. Most of these immigrants have been professionals (doctors, nurses, other medical professions, accountants and engineers).
New York City annually hosts the Philippine Independence Day Parade
, which is traditionally held on the first Sunday of June at Madison Avenue. The celebration occupies nearly twenty-seven city blocks which includes a 3.5-hour parade and an all-day long street fair and cultural performances.
A "Little Manila" can be found in Woodside
, in the borough of Queens.
Filipinos are also concentrated in Jackson Heights
and Elmhurst
. There are also smaller Filipino communities in Jamaica
and parts of Brooklyn. The Benigno Aquino triangle is located in Hillside Avenue of Hollis
to commemorate the large Filipino American population in the area.
Although not technically part of New York City, other large Filipino populations just outside of the City's borders can be found in neighboring Northeastern New Jersey, particularly in Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties.
Queens Village
is seeing a growing Filipino population.
, which includes the countries of India
(236,117), Pakistan
(39,002), Bangladesh
(34,332), and Sri Lanka
(5,010). South Asians constitute 3.8% of New York City's population. The New York City Metropolitan Area is home to approximately 600,000 Indian Americans, representing the largest Asian Indian population in the Western Hemisphere. A majority of the South Asian residents are concentrated in Queens neighborhoods such as Jackson Heights
, Flushing
, Glen Oaks, Kew Gardens, and Elmhurst. In the borough of Queens, the South Asian population is approximately 186,000, where they constitute 8.2% of the population. South Asians from the Caribbean majority from Guyana
, Trinidad
, and a small number from Jamaica
are also large in number.
The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan
community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population. The Little Sri Lanka in the Tompkinsville
neighborhood of the borough of Staten Island
is one of the largest Sri Lankan communities outside of the country of Sri Lanka itself.
and Lebanon
. From 1880 to 1960 the overwhelming majority (90%) of Lebanese and Syrians were of the Christian
faith. After 1960, especially after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Arab Muslims from other Arab countries and territories like Palestine
, Jordan
, and Egypt
started arriving in New York. The Syrian/Lebanese mother colony was located around Washington street in Lower Manhattan
. After the construction of the Brooklyn battery tunnel, a large percentage of the community moved to the area around downtown Brooklyn
; and set up shops and businesses on Atlantic Avenue
. Two long time established businesses on Atlantic Avenue are still there. Damascus Bakery is still in business since 1936, and Sahadi's has had a strong loyal customer base since 1948. By the 1960s the community was to move yet again this time to Park Slope and Bay Ridge.
The New York metro area contains the largest concentration of populations with Arab and Middle Eastern ancestry in the U.S., with 230,899 residents of the metro area claiming Arab ancestry in the 2000 U.S. Census. An estimated 70,000 lived in New York City proper as of 2000. New York City holds the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival , founded in 2003 by comedian Dean Obeidallah
and comedienne Maysoon Zayid
.
The New York metropolitan area
is home to the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel
. The New York metropolitan area's Jewish population in 2001 was approximately 1.97 million, 600,000 fewer than in Israel's largest metropolitan area, denoted as Gush Dan
. In 2002, an estimated 972,000 Ashkenazic Jews lived in New York City and constituted about 12% of the city's population. New York City is also home to the world headquarters of the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch
group and the Bobover, Pupa
, iznitz]and Satmar
branches of Hasidism
, ultra-Orthodox sects of Judaism.
The Jewish presence in New York City dates to the 17th century, when a Jewish community relocated from Recife
in Brazil, seeking freedom of worship. Major immigration of Jews to New York began in the 1880s, with the increase of antisemitic actions in Central and Eastern Europe. The number of Jews in New York City soared throughout the beginning of the 20th century and reached a peak of 2 million in the 1950s, when Jews constituted one-quarter of the city's population. New York City's Jewish population then began to decline because of low fertility rates and migration to suburb
s and other states, particularly California
and Florida
. A new wave of Ashkenazi, Bukharian, and Georgian Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union
began arriving in the 1980s and 1990s. Sephardic Jews including Syrian and other Jews of non-European origin have also lived in New York City since the 17th century. Many Jews, including the newer immigrants, have settled in Queens, south Brooklyn, and the Bronx, where at present most live in middle-class neighborhoods such as Riverdale
.
19th-century Jewish immigrants settled mainly in the tenement houses of the Lower East Side
of Manhattan. Today New York City's Jewish population is dispersed among all the boroughs; Brooklyn's Jewish population in 2003 was estimated as 456,000, and Manhattan's as 243,000.
While three-quarters of New York Jews do not consider themselves religiously observant, the Orthodox community is rapidly growing due to higher birthrates among Orthodox (especially Hasidic) Jews, while the numbers of Conservative and Reform Jews are declining.
Like the Irish, the Jewish community has played an important role in New York City's politics; Jewish voters traditionally vote in large numbers and have often supported politically liberal policies.
, 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 areas of New York City. The Yorkville
neighborhood on the Upper East Side
of Manhattan was a center of German-American culture. As of the 2000 census 255,536 New Yorkers reported German ancestry.
In the middle of the 19th century, Little Germany
, in what is now termed Alphabet City
, was the first non-English-speaking urban enclave in the United States.
rule, the Balkan Wars
and World War I
. Greek immigration to New York City
took place between 1890 until around 1917. In the latter years more women arrived and communities began to grow, especially in Astoria, Queens
. Greeks again began to arrive in large numbers after 1945, as they fled the economic devastation caused by World War II
and the Greek Civil War
.
In the first immigration wave, most of the Greek immigrants were men. Many of them worked in industrial labor jobs and others created a niche in the fur business. This immigration wave brought 450,000 Greeks
to the Northeast, largely concentrated in New York City
. The second immigration wave taking place after 1945 and 1982, was smaller with a total of 211,000 immigrants, mostly within the Northeast
. However, new immigrants helped revive assimilating Greek communities and added new energy to a sense of ethnic identity.
The largest concentration of Greeks can still be found in Astoria. The Greek community there was established in the early 20th century immigration. The neighborhood still has many Greek food stores and restaurants. Residents of Greek descent make up 1.0% of New York City's population.
During the Great Irish Famine (1845–1851), Irish families were forced to emigrate from the country. By 1854, between 1.5 and 2 million people left Ireland - about a quarter of the pre-famine population. In the United States, most of the recently-arrived Irish became city dwellers as that was where work was. In addition, arriving with little money, many settled in the cities at which their ships made port. By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population in Boston
, New York City
, Philadelphia, and Baltimore
. Their arrival in the United States before other waves of Catholic immigrants meant that ethnic Irish long dominated the Roman Catholic Church in America. They created a strong network of churches and parochial schools to support their communities.
The Irish have long played a significant role in city politics, the Roman Catholic Church
, and the New York City Fire Department
and Police Department
. As of the 2000 census, 420,810 New Yorkers reported Irish ancestry.
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 5th century A.D.
New York City has a large population of Italian Americans, many of whom inhabit ethnic enclaves in Brooklyn
, the Bronx
, Queens
, and Staten Island
.
The largest wave of Italian immigration to the United States took place in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Between 1820 and 1978, 5.3 million Italians immigrated to the United States, including over two million between 1900 and 1910. Only the Irish and Germans immigrated in larger numbers. Italian families first settled in Little Italy
's neighborhoods, the first and most famous one being the one around Mulberry Street, in Manhattan. This settlement, however, is rapidly becoming part of the adjacent Chinatown as the older Italian residents die and their children move elsewhere. As of the 2000 census, 692,739 New Yorkers reported Italian ancestry, making them the largest European ethnic group in the city. New York metropolitan area is home to 3,372,512 Italians, which is among the largest concentration in the world after Sao Paulo
, Buenos Aires
, Milan
and Rome
metropolitan areas.
(Greenpoint
and Williamsburg
) *Ridgewood, Queens
, & *Maspeth, Queens
. The combined neighborhood of Greenpoint/Williamsburg is sometimes referred to as "Little Poland
" because of its large population of primarily working-class Polish immigrants, reportedly the second largest concentration in the United States
, after Chicago
. As of the 2000 census, 213,447 New Yorkers reported Polish ancestry.
New York is home to a number of Polish and Polish-American cultural, community, and scientific institutions, including the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
(PIASA) and the Polish Cultural Institute. Polish-language publications with circulation reaching outside the city include The Polish Review
, an English-language scholarly journal published since 1956 by PIASA
; Nowy Dziennik
http://dziennik.com/www/index.htm, founded in 1971, considered the leading Polish-language daily newspaper in the U.S.; and Polska Gazeta http://www.polskagazeta.com/, a Polish-language daily newspaper with headquarters in Brooklyn. The Polish Newspaper SuperExpress http://www.seusa.info/nyse/, covering New York, New Jersey & Connecticut started publication in 1996.
The Pulaski Day Parade in New York on Fifth Avenue has been celebrated since 1937 to commemorate Kazimierz Pułaski, a Polish hero of the American Revolutionary War
. It closely coincides with the October 11 General Pulaski Memorial Day
, a national observance of his death at the Siege of Savannah
, and his held on the first Sunday of October. In these parades march Polish dancers, Polish soccer teams and their mascots, Polish Scouts - ZHP and Polish school ambassadors and representatives, such as Mikolaj Pastorino (Nicholas Pastorino) and Lech Wałęsa
. The Pulaski Day Parade is one of the largest parades in New York City.
. The 2000 Census
reported 161,900 Romanians were living in New York City. They are mainly concentrated in The Bronx
, as well as in parts of Manhattan
and Staten Island
. The Romanian Day Festival, for which the City closes a section of Broadway, demonstrates the strong sense of community of Romanians living in New York.
, mostly in neighborhoods of Southern Brooklyn most famously Brighton Beach "Little Odessa" where there are a lot of business and billboards with signage entirely in the Russian language
.
population. New York's Ukrainian population was traditionally centered around the East Village
in Manhattan
, as well as Little Odessa
, also known as Brighton Beach
, in Brooklyn
. Urban flight and recent waves of new immigration have spread Ukrainians throughout the boroughs, with a heavy concentration in Brooklyn
.
founded the first Muslim organization in New York City
, the American Mohammedan Society.
In recent times, the Muslim population has grown rapidly: before 1970 there were fewer than ten mosques in New York City; as of 2001, there were well over a hundred. Today, Muslims number an estimated 600,000 and are one of the fastest growing religious communities in the city.
New York City has the largest Puerto Rican population outside of Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans, because of the changing citizenship status of the island's residents, can technically be said to have come to the City first as immigrants and subsequently as migrants. The first group of Puerto Ricans moved to New York in the mid-19th century, when Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony and its people Spanish subjects. The following wave of Puerto Ricans to move to New York did so after the Spanish-American War
of 1898 made Puerto Rico a U.S. possession and after the Jones-Shafroth Act
of 1917 gave Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, which allows travel without the need of a passport between the island and the United States mainland. The largest wave of migration came in the 1950s, in what became known as "The Great Migration"; as a result, more than a million Puerto Ricans once called New York City home. Presently the Puerto Rican population is around 800,000.
Puerto Ricans have historically lived in neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side
(also known in the community as Loisaida), Spanish Harlem
and Williamsburg, Brooklyn
since the 1950s.
In 2006 New York City's Dominican population decreased for the first time since the 1980s, dropping by 1.3% from 609,885 in 2006 to 602,093 in 2007. They are the city's second-largest national group and, in 2009, it was estimated that they compromised 24.9% of New York City's Latino population.
Areas with high a concentration of Dominicans are in Washington Heights
, Corona
, and certain areas in the Bronx
. Certain areas seeing an increasing number of Dominicans are in Bushwick, Brooklyn
and Ridgewood, Queens
.
Dominicans in 2023 to become the city’s largest national Latino sub-group, and that Dominicans will surpass
Puerto Ricans in 2030 to become the second largest Latino nationality.
, specifically in Jackson Heights
, Corona
, Elmhurst
and Murray Hill
.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
are evidence of a large and ethnically diverse
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
. It is the largest city in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with a population defined by a long history of international immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
. New York City is home to more than 8 million people, accounting for about 40% of the population of New York State and a similar percentage of the New York metropolitan area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
, home to about 20 million. Over the last decade the city has been growing faster than the region. The New York region continues to be the leading metropolitan gateway for legal immigrants admitted into the United States.
Throughout its history New York City has been a major point of entry for immigrants; the term "melting pot
Melting pot
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...
" was coined to describe densely populated immigrant neighborhoods on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. English remains the most widely spoken language and New York is one of the largest cities in the English-speaking world
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
, although there are areas of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
in which up to 20% of people speak English only a little or not at all. Neighborhoods such as Flushing
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
, Sunset Park
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the west...
and Corona
Corona, Queens
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States...
are the least English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking communities.
Population
New York is the most populous city in the United States, with 2010 population of 8,175,133 (up from 8.0 million in 2000 and 7.3 million in 1990). New York's two key demographic features are its population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
and cultural diversity
Cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is having different cultures respect each other's differences. It could also mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole...
. The city's population density of 26,403 people per square mile (10,194/km²), makes it the densest of any American municipality with a population above 100,000. Manhattan's population density is 66,940 people per square mile (25,846/km²), highest of any county in the United States.
New York City is multicultural. About 36% of the city's population is foreign-born., one of the highest among US cities. The ten nations constituting the largest sources of modern immigration to New York City are the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The New York City metropolitan area is home to the largest Jewish community
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
outside Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It is also home to nearly a quarter of the nation's Indian Americans and 15% of all Korean Americans and the largest Asian Indian population in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
; the largest African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community of any city in the country; and including 6 Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
s in the city proper, comprised as of 2008 a population of 659,596 overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
, the largest outside of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. New York City alone, according to the 2010 Census, has now become home to more than one million Asian Americans, greater than the combined totals of San Francisco and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. New York contains the highest total Asian population of any U.S. city proper. 6.0% of New York City is of Chinese ethnicity
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
, with about forty percent of them living in the borough of Queens alone. Koreans make up 1.2% of the city's population, and Japanese
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
at 0.3%. Filipinos are the largest southeast Asian ethnic group at 0.8%, followed by Vietnamese
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
who make up only 0.2% of New York City's population. Indian
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
s are the largest South Asian group, comprising 2.4% of the city's population, and Bangladeshi
Bangladeshi American
Bangladeshi Americans are Americans of Bangladeshi descent. The overwhelming majority of Bangladeshi Americans are Bengalis. Most of them have immigrated from Sylhet region with a long trading history. Bangladeshi immigrants arrived in the United States especially since the early 1990s to become...
s and Pakistani
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
s at 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.
The nine largest ethnic groups as of the 2005 census estimates are: African
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, Puerto Ricans
Puerto Ricans in the United States
Stateside Puerto Ricans are American citizens of Puerto Rican origin, including those who migrated from Puerto Rico to the United States and those who were born outside of Puerto Rico in the United States...
, Italians
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
, West Indians
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, Dominicans
Dominican American
A Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
, Chinese, Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
, Russian
Russian American
Russian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
, and German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
. The Puerto Rican population of New York City is the largest outside Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican migration to New York
Puerto Ricans have both immigrated and migrated to New York. The first group of Puerto Ricans moved to New York in the mid-19th century when Puerto Rico was a Spanish Colony and its people Spanish subjects and therefore they were immigrants. The following wave of Puerto Ricans to move to New York...
. Italians
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
emigrated to the city in large numbers in the early 20th century, establishing several "Little Italie
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
s". The Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
also have a notable presence
Irish Americans in New York City
The Irish community is one of New York's major and important ethnic groups, and has been a significant proportion of the city's population since the waves of immigration in the late 19th century....
, along with Germans
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
.
New York City has a high degree of income variation. In 2005 the median household income in the highest census tract was reported to be $188,697, while in the lowest it was $9,320. The variance is driven by wage growth in high income brackets, while wages have stagnated for middle and lower income brackets. In 2006 the average weekly wage in Manhattan was $1,453, the highest and fastest growing among the largest counties in the United States. The borough is also experiencing a "baby boom" among the wealthy that is unique among U.S. cities. Since 2000, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan has grown by more than 32%.
In 2000, about 3 out of every 10 New York City housing units were owner-occupied, compared to about 2 owner-occupied units out of every 3 units in the U.S. as a whole. Rental vacancy is usually between 3% and 4.5%, well below the 5% threshold defined to be a housing emergency, justifying the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization
Rent control in New York
Rent control in New York refers to rent control and rent stabilization programs in New York State, USA. Each city may choose whether to participate or not, and , 51 municipalities participated in the program, including Albany, Buffalo and most famously, New York City, where over one million...
. About 33% of rental units fall under rent stabilization, according to which increases are adjudicated periodically by city agencies. Rent control covers only a very small number of rental units. Some critics point to New York City's strict zoning and other regulations as partial causes for the housing shortage, but during the city's decline in population from the 1960s through the 1980s, a large number of apartment buildings suffered suspected arson fires or were abandoned by their owners. Once the population trend was reversed, with rising prospects for rentals and sales, new construction has resumed, but generally for higher income brackets.
New York is the largest city in the United States, with the city proper's population more than double the next largest city, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(or roughly equivalent to the combined populations of Los Angeles, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and Houston, the United States' second, third, and fourth most populous cities respectively). The city has a population more than that of 39 U.S. states. The estimated 2009 population of New York City is 8,391,881 (up from 7.072 million in 1980). This amounts to about 40% of New York State's population and a similar percentage of the metropolitan regional population. Over the last decade the city has been growing rapidly. Demographers estimate New York's population will reach between 9.4 and 9.7 million by 2030.
In 2000 the reported life expectancy of New Yorkers was above the national average. Life expectancy for females born in 2009 in New York City is 80.2 years and for males is 74.5 years.
| New York City compared | |||||
| 2010 Census Data United States Census, 2010 The Twenty-third United States Census, known as Census 2010 or the 2010 Census, is the current national census of the United States. National Census Day was April 1, 2010 and is the reference date used in enumerating individuals... |
New York City | Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... |
Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles... |
New York State New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... |
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
| Total population | 8,175,133 | 3,792,820 | 2,695,598 | 19,378,102 | 308,745,538 |
| Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010 |
|||||
| Population density | 27,012 /sq. mi. |
8,092 /sq. mi. |
11,864 /sq. mi. |
408,7 /sq. mi. |
87,4 /sq. mi. |
| Median household income (1999) | $38,293 | $36,687 | $38,625 | $43,393 | $41,994 |
| Per capita income Per capita income Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population... (1999) |
$22,402 | $20,671 | $20,175 | $23,389 | $21,587 |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 27% | 26% | 26% | 27% | 24% |
| Foreign born | 36% | 41% | 21.7% | 20% | 13% |
| White White American White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa... |
44.6% | 49.8% | 45.0% | 66.4% | 72.4% |
| Black African American African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States... |
25.1% | 9.6% | 32.9% | 15.5% | 12.6% |
| Hispanic Hispanic and Latino Americans Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins... (any race) |
27.5% | 48.5% | 28.9% | 17.3% | 16.3% |
| Asian Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,... |
11.8% | 11.3% | 5.5% | 5.9% | 4.8% |
New York's two key demographic features are its density and diversity. The city has an extremely high population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 26,403 people per square mile (10,194/km²), about 10,000 more people per square mile than the next densest large American city, San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. Manhattan's population density is 66,940 people per square mile (25,846/km²).
The city has a long tradition of attracting international immigration and Americans seeking careers in certain sectors. As of 2006, New York City has ranked number one for seven consecutive years as the city most U.S. residents would most like to live in or near.
Immigration
Throughout its history New York City has been a principal entry point for immigration to the United StatesImmigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
. These immigrants often form ethnic enclaves
New York City ethnic enclaves
Since its founding in 1625 by Dutch traders as New Amsterdam, New York City has been a major destination for immigrants of many nationalities, naturally forming ethnic enclaves, neighborhoods dominated by one ethnicity. Freed African American slaves also moved to New York City in the Great...
, neighborhoods dominated by one ethnicity. The city experienced major immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
from Europe in the 19th century and another major wave in the early 20th century. Since the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and particularly since the 1980s, New York City has seen renewed rates of high immigration. Newer immigrants are from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. 36% of the city's population is foreign-born. Among U.S. cities, this proportion is higher only in Los Angeles and Miami. In New York no single country or region of origin dominates. The ten largest countries of origin are the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. About 170 languages are spoken in the city. Between 1990 and 2000 the city admitted 1,224,524 immigrants. Demographers and city officials have observed that immigration to New York City has been slowing since 1997. This is mostly due to more and more immigrants choosing directly to locate to the city's suburbs and then commute to the city or work in many of its booming edge cities like Fort Lee, NJ, Jersey City, Morristown, NJ, Stamford, CT, White Plains, NY and others. Despite the slowdown in immigration the city's overall immigrant population has continued to increase and in 2006 it numbered 3.038 million (37.0%) up from 2.871 million (35.9%) in 2000.
African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s make up 25.1% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 2,086,566 African Americans residing in New York City. Percentage wise, approximately two out of every five black residents of New York City resides in Brooklyn (primarily in the Central, Northern, and Eastern sections of the borough), one out of every five resides in Bronx (mainly in the borough's Northeastern, Southeastern and Southern sections) one out of every five resides in Queens (mainly in the borough's Southeastern area), with the remaining black residents residing in Manhattan (primarily in Harlem) and Staten Island (mainly the North Shore of the borough).
Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
make up 0.4% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 29,569 Native Americans residing in New York City. Of 29,569 Native Americans, 2,075 were of the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
tribal grouping. In addition, 213 were of the Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
tribal grouping. Also, 42 people identified themselves as Chippewa, and 47 people identified themselves as Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
.
Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
s make up 11.8% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 976,807 Asian Americans residing in New York City. Of 976,807 Asian Americans, 445,145 were of Chinese
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
descent, representing 5.4% of the city's population. In addition, there were 226,888 Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
s residing in the city, representing 2.7% of the population. Approximately 103,660 people identified themselves as "Other Asian", a category that includes people of Cambodian
Cambodian American
A Cambodian American is an American who is born, raised, or from Cambodia usually of Khmer descent but also including Chinese Cambodians, Vietnamese Cambodians, Cham people and other ethnicities of Cambodia...
, Laotian
Laotian American
A Laotian American is a resident of the United States who was originally from Laos, a person of Laotian descent residing in America, or a citizen born in the United States whose parents were originally from Laos. Laotian Americans are included in the larger category of Asian Americans...
, Hmong
Hmong American
A Hmong American is a resident of the United States who is of ethnic Hmong descent. Hmong Americans are one group of Asian Americans. Many Lao Hmong war refugees resettled in the U.S. following the communist takeover of Laos in 1975...
, and Pakistani
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
descent. Individuals in this category represent 1.2% of the city's population. There were 88,162 Korean American
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
s residing in the city, representing 1.1% of the population. Other Asian American groups include those of Filipino
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
(68,826, 0.8%), Japanese
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
(26,096, 0.3%), and Vietnamese
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
(18,030, 0.2%) descent.
Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...
s make up 0.1% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 4,941 Pacific Islander Americans residing in New York City. Of 4,941 Pacific Islander Americans, 1,992 were Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
. Approximately 904 were of Samoan descent, and 504 were of Guamanian descent. In addition, 1,541 were of other Pacific Islander ancestries.
Multiracial American
Multiracial American
Multiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", were numbered at around 9 million, or 2.9% of the population, in the census of 2010. However there is considerable evidence that the real number is far higher. Prior to the mid-20th century many people hid their...
s make up 2.1% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 177,643 multiracial Americans residing in New York City. People of black and white ancestry numbered at 37,124, making up 0.4% of the population. People of white and Asian ancestry numbered at 22,242, making up 0.3% of the population. People of white/Native American ancestry (10,762) and black/Native American ancestry (10,221) each made up 0.1% of the city's population.
Hispanics and Latinos
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
make up 27.5% of New York City's population. According to the American Community Survey, there were 2,287,905 Hispanic or Latino Americans residing in New York City. The Hispanic/Latino population is categorized with four groups, "Mexican" (297,581 or 3.6%), "Puerto Rican" (785,618 or 9.4%), "Cuban
Cuban American
A Cuban American is a United States citizen who traces his or her "national origin" to Cuba. Cuban Americans are also considered native born Americans with Cuban parents or Cuban-born persons who were raised and educated in US...
" (42,377 or 0.5%), and "Other Hispanic or Latino" (1,165,576 or 14.0%).
According to the 2006-2007 Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies:
- Puerto RicanPuerto Ricans in the United StatesStateside Puerto Ricans are American citizens of Puerto Rican origin, including those who migrated from Puerto Rico to the United States and those who were born outside of Puerto Rico in the United States...
: (778,628) - DominicanDominican AmericanA Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
: (602,093) - MexicanMexican AmericanMexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
: (289,755) - EcuadorianEcuadorian AmericanAn Ecuadorian American is any person in the United States who is of Ecuadorian ancestry. Ecuadorian Americans can be Mestizo, White, Afro-Ecuadorian, Indigenous, Mulato, or Zambo. Many Ecuadorians are of Lebanese descent...
: (201,708) - ColombianColombian AmericanColombian Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their nationality or heritage from the South American nation of Colombia. They are the largest South American ethnic group in the United States.-Causes of migration:...
: (113,469) - Other Hispanic or Latino: (351,635)
White American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
s make up 44.6% of New York City's population. According to the survey, there were 3,704,243 White Americans residing in New York City. White Americans of non-Hispanic origin
Non-Hispanic Whites
Non-Hispanic Whites or White, Not Hispanic or Latino are people in the United States, as defined by the Census Bureau, who are of the White race and are not of Hispanic or Latino origin/ethnicity. Hence the designation is exclusive in the sense that it defines who is not included as opposed to who is...
make up 35.1% of the city's population. There are 2,918,976 non-Hispanic whites residing in the city. Much of New York City's European American
European American
A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
population consists of individuals of Italian
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
, Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
, German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
, Russian
Russian American
Russian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
, Polish
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
, English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
, and Greek
Greek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
ancestry.
Source:
NOTE: This source contains all of the numerical information in the data above.
According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, the top ten White, European ancestries were the following:
- ItalianItalian AmericanAn Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
: 8.2% (684,230) - IrishIrish AmericanIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
: 5.3% (443,364) - GermanGerman AmericanGerman Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
: 3.6% (296,901) - RussianRussian AmericanRussian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
: 3.1% (260,821) - PolishPolish AmericanA Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
: 2.8% (237,919) - EnglishEnglish AmericanEnglish Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
: 1.9% (160,472) - GreekGreek AmericanGreek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
: 1.0% (83,575) - FrenchFrench AmericanFrench Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 1.6 million speak French at home.An additional 450,000 U.S...
: 0.9% (73,587) - HungarianHungarian AmericanHungarian Americans Hungarian are American citizens of Hungarian descent. The constant influx of Hungarian immigrants was marked by several waves of sharp increase.-History:...
: 0.7% (59,225) - Ukrainian: 0.6% (49,643)
Other smaller European ancestries include:
- ScottishScottish AmericanScottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...
: 0.5% (41,787) - Scotch-Irish: 0.3% (28,770)
- Dutch: 0.3% (24,776)
- NorwegianNorwegian AmericanNorwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...
: 0.3% (24,737) - SwedishSwedish AmericanSwedish Americans are Americans of Swedish descent, especially the descendants of about 1.2 million immigrants from Sweden during 1885-1915. Most were Lutherans who affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ; some were Methodists...
: 0.3% (22,206)
Source:.
According to a 2001 study by Claritas, four of the city's five boroughs ranked among the nation's twenty most diverse counties. Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
ranked 1st, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
3rd, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
7th, and The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
17th. In addition, Hudson County and Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
, both of which are part of the New York Metropolitan Area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
, ranked 6th and 15th, respectively.
The city has several demographically unique characteristics. Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
is the only large county in the United States where the median income among black households, about $52,000 a year, has surpassed that of whites. It is also the nation's most ethnically diverse county.
The New York City metropolitan area is home to the largest Jewish community
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
outside Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It is also home to nearly a quarter of the nation's Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
population, and the largest African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community of any city in the country. New York City, with about 800,000 Puerto Rican residents, has the largest Puerto Rican population outside of Puerto Rico. Another historically significant ethnic group are Italians
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
, who emigrated to the city in large numbers in the early 20th century. New York City is home to the largest Italian American population in the United States. The Irish
Irish Americans in New York City
The Irish community is one of New York's major and important ethnic groups, and has been a significant proportion of the city's population since the waves of immigration in the late 19th century....
and Germans
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
also have a notable presence.
| Borough | 1970 |
1980 |
1990 |
2000 |
2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | 17.5 | 23.8 | 29.2 | 37.8 | 37.8 |
| Queens | 21.0 | 28.6 | 36.2 | 46.1 | 48.5 |
| Manhattan | 20.0 | 24.4 | 25.8 | 29.4 | 28.7 |
| Bronx | 15.6 | 18.4 | 22.8 | 29.0 | 31.8 |
| Staten Island | 9.0 | 9.8 | 11.8 | 16.4 | 20.9 |
| Total | 18.2 | 23.6 | 28.4 | 35.9 | 37.0 |
| Jurisdiction |
Population 2000 census |
% white |
% black or African American |
% Asian |
% Other |
% mixed race |
% Hispanic/ Latino of any race |
% Catholic Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity... |
% not affiliated |
% Jewish |
% Protestant |
Estimate of % not reporting |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race | Ethnicity | Religious groups | |||||||||||
| Brooklyn | 2,465,326 | 41.2 | 36.4 | 7.5 | 10.6 | 4.3 | 19.8 | 37 | 4 | 15 | 8 | 33 | |
| Queens | 2,229,379 | 44.1 | 20.0 | 17.6 | 12.3 | 6.1 | 25.0 | 29 | 37 | 11 | 5 | 15 | |
| Manhattan | 1,537,195 | 54.4 | 17.4 | 9.4 | 14.7 | 4.1 | 27.2 | 37 | 11 | 20 | 9 | 19 | |
| Bronx | 1,332,650 | 29.9 | 35.6 | 3.0 | 25.7 | 5.8 | 48.4 | 44 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 29 | |
| Staten Island | 443,728 | 77.6 | 9.7 | 5.7 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 12.1 | 60 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 14 | |
| NYC Total | 8,008,278 | 44.7 | 26.6 | 9.8 | 14.0 | 4.9 | 27.0 | 37 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 24 | |
| NY State | 18,976,457 | 67.9 | 15.9 | 5.5 | 7.5 | 3.1 | 15.1 | 42 | 20 | 9 | 10 | 16 | |
| USA | 281,421,906 | 75.1 | 12.3 | 3.6 | 6.5 | 2.4 | 12.5 | 22 | 37 | 2 | 23 | 12 | |
| Source: 2000 Census American Indian, Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander make up 2.9% of the population of NYC, and have been included with "Other". |
|||||||||||||
| Source for religious groups: ARDA | |||||||||||||
Households
The 2000 census counted 3,021,588 households with a median income of $38,293. 30% of households had children under the age of 18, and 37% were married couplesMarriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together. 19% had a single female householder, and 39% were non-families. 32% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10% were single residents 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 persons, and the average family size was 3.32.
The age range was as follows: 24% were under the age of 18, 10% between 18 and 24, 33% between 25 to 44, 21% between 45 to 64, and 12% were 65 or older. The median age in New York City in 2000 was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86 males.
The borough of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
is experiencing a "baby boom" that is unique among U.S. cities. Since 2000, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan has grown by more than 32%. The increase is driven mostly by affluent white families with median household incomes over $300,000.
Income
Overall, nominal household income in New York City is characterized by large variations. This phenomenon is especially true of Manhattan, which in 2005 was home to the highest incomes U.S. census tract, with a household income of $188,697, as well as the lowest, where household income was $9,320. The disparity is driven in part by wage growth in high income brackets. In 2006 the average weekly wage in Manhattan was $1,453, the highest among the largest counties in the United States. Wages in Manhattan were the fastest growing among the nation's 10 largest counties. Among young adults in New York who work full time, women now earn more money than men — approximately $5,000 more in 2005. Nationally, women's wages still lag behind men.New York City's borough of Manhattan is the highest nominal income county in the United States. In particular, ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
10021 on Manhattan's Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
, with more than 100,000 inhabitants and a per capita income of over $90,000, has one of the largest concentrations of income in the United States. The other boroughs, especially Queens and Staten Island, have large middle-class populations.
New York City's per capita income in 2000 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 had incomes below the federal poverty line; 30.0% of this group were under the age of 18 and 17.8% were 65 and older.
The New Yorker with the highest income is oil magnate David H. Koch
David H. Koch
David Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He is a co-owner and an executive vice president of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S...
whose net worth an estimated $17 billion in October 2007. Of Forbes Magazine's 400 richest Americans, 72 live in New York City, and they are each worth at least $1 billion. New York City's present mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is himself one of the nation's richest men. As of 2009 New York has regained the number one spot as the city with most billionaires (55), after losing out to Moscow in 2008.
| Area | Median House- hold Income |
Mean House- hold Income |
Percent- age in Poverty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronx | $34,156 | $46,298 | 27.1% |
| Brooklyn Brooklyn Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated... |
$41,406 | $60,020 | 21.9% |
| Manhattan Manhattan Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York... |
$64,217 | $121,549 | 17.6% |
| Queens Queens Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States.... |
$53,171 | $67,027 | 12.0% |
| Staten Island Staten Island Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay... |
$66,985 | $81,498 | 9.8% |
| New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... |
$48,631 | $75,809 | 18.5% |
| New York State | $53,514 | $77,865 | 13.7% |
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
$50,140 | $69,193 | 13.0% |
Projections
New York has ranked first in population among American cities since the first census in 1790. New York will maintain this position, although there are varying forecasts on how much the population will increase. The most realistic population projections from the Department of City Planning anticipate a 1.1 million increase by 2030, bringing the city's population total to 9.1 million.While the city's projected 2030 population will be a new high, only two boroughs, Staten Island and Queens have reached their population peak every year for the last 5 years. The study projects that by 2030, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
will have 2.57 million people and Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
552,000. Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, with 1.83 million, Bronx with 1.46 million and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
with 2.72 million, will still be below their population peaks.
Disputed 2010 Census data
On March 27, 2011, New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
announced that the city would file a formal challenge to the Census results, as a result of alleged undercounting in the boroughs of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. The mayor has asserted that the numbers for Queens and Brooklyn, the two most populous boroughs, are implausible. According to the Census, they grew by only 0.1% and 1.6%, respectively, while the other boroughs grew by between 3% and 5%. In addition, the Mayor claims, the census showed improbably high amounts of vacant housing in vital neighborhoods such as Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
.
Historical data
| Historical Population of the present area of New York City and its boroughs * | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Manhattan | Brooklyn | Queens | Bronx | Staten Is. | Total |
| 1698 | 4,937 | 2,017 | n/a | n/a | 727 | |
| 1771 | 21,863 | 3,623 | n/a | n/a | 2,847 | |
| 1790 | 33,131 | 4,549 | 6,159 | 1,781 | 3,827 | 49,447 |
| 1800 | 60,515 | 5,740 | 6,642 | 1,755 | 4,563 | 79,215 |
| 1810 | 96,373 | 8,303 | 7,444 | 2,267 | 5,347 | 119,734 |
| 1820 | 123,706 | 11,187 | 8,246 | 2,782 | 6,135 | 152,056 |
| 1830 | 202,589 | 20,535 | 9,049 | 3,023 | 7,082 | 242,278 |
| 1840 | 312,710 | 47,613 | 14,480 | 5,346 | 10,965 | 391,114 |
| 1850 | 515,547 | 138,882 | 18,593 | 8,032 | 15,061 | 696,115 |
| 1860 | 813,669 | 279,122 | 32,903 | 23,593 | 25,492 | 1,174,779 |
| 1870 | 942,292 | 419,921 | 45,468 | 37,393 | 33,029 | 1,478,103 |
| 1880 | 1,164,673 | 599,495 | 56,559 | 51,980 | 38,991 | 1,911,698 |
| 1890 | 1,441,216 | 838,547 | 87,050 | 88,908 | 51,693 | 2,507,414 |
| †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 | 2,229,379 | 1,332,650 | 443,728 | 8,008,278 |
| 2010 | 1,585,873 | 2,504,700 | 2,230,722 | 1,385,108 | 468,730 | 8,175,133 |
| * All population figures are consistent with present-day boundaries. † First census after the consolidation of the five boroughs Borough (New York City) New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county... |
||||||
African
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
until the 2000 Census. Many of the city's black residents live in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
. Several of the city's neighborhoods are historical birthplaces of urban black culture in America, among them the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Formed in 1930, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3, Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The neighborhood is patrolled by the NYPD's 79th and 81st...
and Manhattan's Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
and various sections of Eastern Queens and The Bronx. Bedford-Stuyvesant is considered to have the highest concentration of black residents in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. New York City has the largest population of black immigrants (at 686,814) and descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean (especially from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
, Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
, and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
), and of sub-Saharan Africans. In a news item of April 3, 2006, however, the New York Times noted that for the first time since the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the recorded African American population was declining, because of emigration to other regions, a declining African American birthrate in New York, and decreased immigration of blacks from the Caribbean and Africa.
In 2005, the median income among black households in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
was almost $52,000 a year, surpassing that of whites. However, while some of this is because of middle class African American neighborhoods in Queens it also is because of white emigration from Queens and comparison to elderly whites who are left behind who may be on retirement or fixed incomes and no longer working.
Chinese
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
contains the largest ethnic Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
population outside of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, enumerating 659,596 individuals as of the 2008 American Community Survey Census statistical data, including at least six Chinatowns, comprising the original Manhattan Chinatown, two in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
(the Flushing Chinatown and the Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
Chinatown), two in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
(the Sunset Park Chinatown
Chinatown, Brooklyn
Chinatown, Brooklyn, or Brooklyn Chinatown , in the Sunset Park area of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...
and the Avenue U
Avenue U
Avenue U is a street located in Brooklyn, New York City. This avenue is a main thoroughfare throughout its length. Avenue U begins at Stillwell Avenue and ends at Bergen Avenue...
Chinatown), and one in Edison, New Jersey
Edison, New Jersey
Edison Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. What is now Edison Township was originally incorporated as Raritan Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870, from portions of both Piscataway Township and Woodbridge Township...
, not to mention fledgling ethnic Chinese enclaves emerging throughout the New York metropolitan area. Chinese Americans, as a whole, have had a (relatively) long tenure in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The first Chinese immigrants came to Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
around 1870, looking for the "gold" America had to offer. By 1880, the enclave around Five Points
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
was estimated to have from 200 to as many as 1,100 members. However, the Chinese Exclusion Act, which went into effect in 1882, caused an abrupt decline in the number of Chinese who immigrated to New York and the rest of the United States. Later, in 1943, the Chinese were given a small quota, and the community's population gradually increased until 1968, when the quota was lifted and the Chinese American population skyrocketed.
Manhattan's Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
is one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia. Within Manhattan's expanding Chinatown lies a "Little Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
" on East Broadway and surrounding streets, occupied predominantly by immigrants from the Fujian Province of Mainland China. Areas surrounding the "Little Fuzhou" consist mostly of Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
immigrants from Guangdong Province, the earlier Chinese settlers, and in some areas moderately of Cantonese immigrants. In the past few years, however, the Cantonese dialect that has dominated Chinatown for decades is being rapidly swept aside by Mandarin
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, the national language of China and the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of most of the latest Chinese immigrants. The energy and population of Manhattan's Chinatown are fueled by relentless, massive immigration from Mainland China, both legal and illegal in origin, propagated in large part by New York's high density, extensive mass transit system, and huge economic marketplace.
The early settlers of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
were mostly from Taishan
Taishan
Taishan is a coastal county-level city in Guangdong Province, China. The city is part of the Greater Taishan Region....
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
of the Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
Province of China, which are the Cantonese speakers, and also from Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. They form most of the Chinese population of the area surrounded by Mott and Canal
Canal Street (Manhattan)
Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west to Brooklyn in the east . It forms the main spine of Chinatown, and separates it from Little Italy...
Streets. The later settlers, from Fuzhou, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, form the Chinese population of the area bounded by East Broadway
East Broadway (Manhattan)
East Broadway is a two-way east-west street in the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Broadway begins at Chatham Square and runs eastward under the Manhattan Bridge, continues past Seward Park and the eastern end of Canal Street, and ends...
. Chinatown's modern borders are roughly Delancey/Kenmare Street
Grand Street (Manhattan)
Grand Street is a street in Manhattan, New York City. It runs east-west parallel to and south of Delancey Street, from SoHo through Chinatown, Little Italy, the Lower East Side to the East River....
on the north, Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
on the west, Chamber Street on the east, and East Broadway to the south.
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
area of the borough of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. Main Street and the area to its west, particularly along Roosevelt Avenue, have become the primary nexus of Flushing Chinatown. However, Chinatown continues to expand southeastward along Kissena Boulevard and northward beyond Northern Boulevard. In the 1970s, a Chinese community established a foothold in the neighborhood of Flushing, whose demographic constituency had been predominantly non-Hispanic white. Taiwanese
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
began the surge of immigration, followed by other groups of Chinese. By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population. However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population as well as of the overall population in Flushing and its Chinatown. A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone. Mandarin Chinese (including Northeastern Mandarin
Northeastern Mandarin
Northeastern Mandarin is the dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in what historically was Manchuria. It is very similar to the Beijing dialect upon which Standard Chinese is based.-Geographical spread:...
), Fuzhou dialect
Fuzhou dialect
Fuzhou dialect , also known as Foochow dialect, Foochow, Foochowese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it ' , meaning the language spoken in...
, Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
Fujianese
Fujianese
Fujianese refers to someone or something related to or originating in Fujian. This may be:* The Minbe di of Northern Fujian, This is the customary use of the word in English....
, Wu Chinese, Beijing dialect
Beijing dialect
Beijing dialect, or Pekingese , is the dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, which is used by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China , and Singapore....
, Wenzhounese, Shanghainese
Shanghainese
Shanghainese , or the Shanghai language , is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is largely not mutually intelligible with other Chinese varieties...
, Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
, Taiwanese, and English are all prevalently spoken in Flushing Chinatown. Even the relatively obscure Dongbei style of cuisine indigenous to Northeast China
Northeast China
Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...
is now available in Flushing Chinatown. Given its rapidly growing status, the Flushing Chinatown may surpass in size and population the original New York City Chinatown in the borough of Manhattan within a few years, and it is debatable whether this has already happened.
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Greenwood Heights to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the west...
, were abandoned. Chinese immigrants then moved into this area, not only new arrivals from China, but also members of Manhattan's Chinatown, seeking refuges from high rents, who fled to the cheap property costs and rents of Sunset Park and formed the Brooklyn Chinatown, which now extends for 20 blocks along 8th Avenue, from 42nd to 62nd Streets. This relatively new but rapidly growing Chinatown located in Sunset Park was originally settled by Cantonese immigrants like Manhattan's Chinatown in the past. However, in the recent decade, an influx of Fuzhou immigrants has been pouring into Brooklyn's Chinatown and supplanting the Cantonese at a significantly higher rate than in Manhattan's Chinatown, and Brooklyn's Chinatown is now home to mostly Fuzhou immigrants. In the past, during the 1980s and 1990s, the majority of newly arriving Fuzhou immigrants were settling within Manhattan's Chinatown, and the first Little Fuzhou community emerged in New York City within Manhattan's Chinatown; by the first decade of the 21st century, however, the epicenter of the massive Fuzhou influx had shifted to Brooklyn Chinatown, which is now home to the fastest growing and perhaps largest Fuzhou population in New York City. Unlike the Little Fuzhou in the Manhattan Chinatown, which remains surrounded by areas which continue to house significant populations of Cantonese, all of Brooklyn's Chinatown is swiftly consolidating into New York City's new Little Fuzhou. However, a growing community of Wenzhounese immigrants from China's Zhejiang Province is now also arriving in Brooklyn Chinatown. Also in contrast to Manhattan's Chinatown, which still successfully continues to carry a large Cantonese population and retain the large Cantonese community established decades ago in the western section of Manhattan's Chinatown, where Cantonese residents have a communal gathering venue to shop, work, and socialize, Brooklyn Chinatown is very quickly losing its Cantonese community
identity.
Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
, another neighborhood in Queens, also has a large Chinese community. Previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, this new Chinatown in Elmhurst, Queens has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue.
Avenue U
Avenue U
Avenue U is a street located in Brooklyn, New York City. This avenue is a main thoroughfare throughout its length. Avenue U begins at Stillwell Avenue and ends at Bergen Avenue...
in Homecrest, Brooklyn
Homecrest, Brooklyn
Homecrest is a neighborhood situated in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It borders Kings Highway to the north, Avenue X to the south, Coney Island Avenue to the west, and Ocean Avenue to the east. Homecrest uses the ZIP Code, 11229. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15...
supports New York City's newest Chinatown, as evidenced by the growing number of Chinese-run fruit markets, restaurants, beauty and nail salons, and computer and general electronics dealers.
- Chinatown, ManhattanChinatown, ManhattanManhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
- Chinatown, FlushingChinatown, FlushingChinatown, Flushing, or Flushing Chinatown , in the Flushing area of the borough of Queens in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...
- Chinatown, BrooklynChinatown, BrooklynChinatown, Brooklyn, or Brooklyn Chinatown , in the Sunset Park area of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself...
- ElmhurstElmhurst, QueensElmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
, QueensQueensQueens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States.... - Avenue UHomecrest, BrooklynHomecrest is a neighborhood situated in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It borders Kings Highway to the north, Avenue X to the south, Coney Island Avenue to the west, and Ocean Avenue to the east. Homecrest uses the ZIP Code, 11229. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15...
, BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
Filipino
New York City is home to about 68,000 FilipinosFilipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
. Immigration from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
began mainly after 1965, when immigration quotas that prevented Filipino immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
for many years were abolished. While there was earlier immigration from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, it was in low numbers and mainly concentrated in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Since then, Filipinos have settled in Northeastern
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
cities, mainly in New York City. Most of these immigrants have been professionals (doctors, nurses, other medical professions, accountants and engineers).
New York City annually hosts the Philippine Independence Day Parade
Philippine Independence Day Parade
The Philippine Independence Day Parade is a celebration for the Filipino American community in the Northeast United States, home to more than half a million Filipinos...
, which is traditionally held on the first Sunday of June at Madison Avenue. The celebration occupies nearly twenty-seven city blocks which includes a 3.5-hour parade and an all-day long street fair and cultural performances.
A "Little Manila" can be found in Woodside
Woodside, Queens
Woodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside and on the east by Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Some areas are widely residential and very quiet, while others are...
, in the borough of Queens.
Filipinos are also concentrated in Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
and Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
. There are also smaller Filipino communities in Jamaica
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
and parts of Brooklyn. The Benigno Aquino triangle is located in Hillside Avenue of Hollis
Hollis, Queens
Hollis is a neighborhood within the southeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. A predominantly African American community, the boundaries are considered to be the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road to the west, Hillside Avenue to the north, Francis Lewis Boulevard to...
to commemorate the large Filipino American population in the area.
Although not technically part of New York City, other large Filipino populations just outside of the City's borders can be found in neighboring Northeastern New Jersey, particularly in Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties.
Queens Village
Queens Village, Queens
Queens Village is mostly a residential neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens.The Queens Village Post Office serves the ZIP codes of 11427 , 11428 , and 11429...
is seeing a growing Filipino population.
South Asian
According to 2007 American Community Survey estimates, New York City is home to approximately 315,000 people from the Indian subcontinentIndian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, which includes the countries of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(236,117), Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
(39,002), Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
(34,332), and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
(5,010). South Asians constitute 3.8% of New York City's population. The New York City Metropolitan Area is home to approximately 600,000 Indian Americans, representing the largest Asian Indian population in the Western Hemisphere. A majority of the South Asian residents are concentrated in Queens neighborhoods such as Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
, Flushing
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
, Glen Oaks, Kew Gardens, and Elmhurst. In the borough of Queens, the South Asian population is approximately 186,000, where they constitute 8.2% of the population. South Asians from the Caribbean majority from Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, and a small number from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
are also large in number.
The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan
Sri Lankan diaspora
The Sri Lankan diaspora are Sri Lankan emigrants from Sri Lanka and their descendants that reside in a foreign country.-Expatriate workers:Expatriate workers to Sri Lankan have been a valuable export for the country. The number of expatriate workers have been ever growing as well as the remittances...
community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population. The Little Sri Lanka in the Tompkinsville
Tompkinsville, Staten Island
Tompkinsville is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City in the United States. Though the neighborhood sits on the island's eastern shore, along the waterfront facing Upper New York Bay — between St...
neighborhood of the borough of Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
is one of the largest Sri Lankan communities outside of the country of Sri Lanka itself.
Arab
Arabs first immigrated to New York city in the 1880s, the vast majority of them came from modern day SyriaSyria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. From 1880 to 1960 the overwhelming majority (90%) of Lebanese and Syrians were of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
faith. After 1960, especially after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Arab Muslims from other Arab countries and territories like Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
started arriving in New York. The Syrian/Lebanese mother colony was located around Washington street in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
. After the construction of the Brooklyn battery tunnel, a large percentage of the community moved to the area around downtown Brooklyn
Downtown Brooklyn
Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City , and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn...
; and set up shops and businesses on Atlantic Avenue
Atlantic Avenue (New York City)
Atlantic Avenue is an important street in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. It stretches from the Brooklyn waterfront on the East River all the way to Jamaica, Queens...
. Two long time established businesses on Atlantic Avenue are still there. Damascus Bakery is still in business since 1936, and Sahadi's has had a strong loyal customer base since 1948. By the 1960s the community was to move yet again this time to Park Slope and Bay Ridge.
The New York metro area contains the largest concentration of populations with Arab and Middle Eastern ancestry in the U.S., with 230,899 residents of the metro area claiming Arab ancestry in the 2000 U.S. Census. An estimated 70,000 lived in New York City proper as of 2000. New York City holds the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival , founded in 2003 by comedian Dean Obeidallah
Dean Obeidallah
Dean Obeidallah is a Palestinian-American/Italian-American comedian, who was born in Lodi, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Paramus. His father was born in Battir, Palestine- a small village near Bethlehem; his mother's parents were born in Sicily...
and comedienne Maysoon Zayid
Maysoon Zayid
Maysoon Zayid is an actress, comedian and activist. She was born in New Jersey in 1974. She described herself in a BBC interview as "a Palestinian Muslim virgin with cerebral palsy, from New Jersey, who is an actress, comedian and activist". Zayid has been a resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey...
.
Jewish
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
is home to the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The New York metropolitan area's Jewish population in 2001 was approximately 1.97 million, 600,000 fewer than in Israel's largest metropolitan area, denoted as Gush Dan
Gush Dan
The Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area , or Gush Dan , is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Tel Aviv and the Central Districts of Israel. The area is closely linked to the city of Tel Aviv through social, economic, and cultural ties. It is located along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline...
. In 2002, an estimated 972,000 Ashkenazic Jews lived in New York City and constituted about 12% of the city's population. New York City is also home to the world headquarters of the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch is a Chasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's larger and best-known Chasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York...
group and the Bobover, Pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
, iznitz]and Satmar
Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)
Satmar is a Hasidic movement comprising mostly Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum , who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary...
branches of Hasidism
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
, ultra-Orthodox sects of Judaism.
The Jewish presence in New York City dates to the 17th century, when a Jewish community relocated from Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
in Brazil, seeking freedom of worship. Major immigration of Jews to New York began in the 1880s, with the increase of antisemitic actions in Central and Eastern Europe. The number of Jews in New York City soared throughout the beginning of the 20th century and reached a peak of 2 million in the 1950s, when Jews constituted one-quarter of the city's population. New York City's Jewish population then began to decline because of low fertility rates and migration to suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s and other states, particularly California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. A new wave of Ashkenazi, Bukharian, and Georgian Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
began arriving in the 1980s and 1990s. Sephardic Jews including Syrian and other Jews of non-European origin have also lived in New York City since the 17th century. Many Jews, including the newer immigrants, have settled in Queens, south Brooklyn, and the Bronx, where at present most live in middle-class neighborhoods such as Riverdale
Riverdale, Bronx
Riverdale is an affluent residential neighborhood in the northwest portion of the Bronx in New York City. Riverdale contains the northernmost point in New York City.-History:...
.
19th-century Jewish immigrants settled mainly in the tenement houses of the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan. Today New York City's Jewish population is dispersed among all the boroughs; Brooklyn's Jewish population in 2003 was estimated as 456,000, and Manhattan's as 243,000.
While three-quarters of New York Jews do not consider themselves religiously observant, the Orthodox community is rapidly growing due to higher birthrates among Orthodox (especially Hasidic) Jews, while the numbers of Conservative and Reform Jews are declining.
Like the Irish, the Jewish community has played an important role in New York City's politics; Jewish voters traditionally vote in large numbers and have often supported politically liberal policies.
German
Carl SchurzCarl Schurz
Carl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate.His wife,...
, a refugee from the unsuccessful first German democratic revolution of 1848
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
, served as United States Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
and as United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. Carl Schurz Park
Carl Schurz Park
Carl Schurz Park is a 14.9 acre public park on the Upper East Side of New York City, named for German-born Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz in 1910, at the edge of what was then a solidly German-American community of Yorkville....
in Manhattan is named after him.
The influence of German immigration can still be felt in areas of New York City. The Yorkville
Yorkville, Manhattan
Yorkville is a neighborhood in the greater Upper East Side, in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City. Yorkville's boundaries include: the East River on the east, 96th Street on the north, Third Avenue on the west and 72nd Street to the south. However, its southern boundary is a subject of...
neighborhood on the Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
of Manhattan was a center of German-American culture. As of the 2000 census 255,536 New Yorkers reported German ancestry.
In the middle of the 19th century, Little Germany
Little Germany, New York
Little Germany, known in German as Kleindeutschland and Deutschländle and called Dutchtown by contemporary non-Germans, was a German immigrant neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City...
, in what is now termed Alphabet City
Alphabet City, Manhattan
Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the Lower East Side and East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is also known as Loisaida, a Spanglish adaptation of 'Lower East Side'. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter...
, was the first non-English-speaking urban enclave in the United States.
Greeks
Greek immigration to New York City began mainly in the 1890s. The push factors for immigration were hardship under OttomanOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule, the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Greek immigration to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
took place between 1890 until around 1917. In the latter years more women arrived and communities began to grow, especially in Astoria, Queens
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
. Greeks again began to arrive in large numbers after 1945, as they fled the economic devastation caused by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
.
In the first immigration wave, most of the Greek immigrants were men. Many of them worked in industrial labor jobs and others created a niche in the fur business. This immigration wave brought 450,000 Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
to the Northeast, largely concentrated in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The second immigration wave taking place after 1945 and 1982, was smaller with a total of 211,000 immigrants, mostly within the Northeast
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
. However, new immigrants helped revive assimilating Greek communities and added new energy to a sense of ethnic identity.
The largest concentration of Greeks can still be found in Astoria. The Greek community there was established in the early 20th century immigration. The neighborhood still has many Greek food stores and restaurants. Residents of Greek descent make up 1.0% of New York City's population.
Irish
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 mid-19th century. New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade dates to 1762.During the Great Irish Famine (1845–1851), Irish families were forced to emigrate from the country. By 1854, between 1.5 and 2 million people left Ireland - about a quarter of the pre-famine population. In the United States, most of the recently-arrived Irish became city dwellers as that was where work was. In addition, arriving with little money, many settled in the cities at which their ships made port. By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Philadelphia, and Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. Their arrival in the United States before other waves of Catholic immigrants meant that ethnic Irish long dominated the Roman Catholic Church in America. They created a strong network of churches and parochial schools to support their communities.
The Irish have long played a significant role in city politics, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, and the New York City Fire Department
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...
and Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
. As of the 2000 census, 420,810 New Yorkers reported Irish ancestry.
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
Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...
, an Irish high king of the 5th century A.D.
- Woodlawn, BronxWoodlawn, BronxWoodlawn is a neighborhood at the very north end of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Unlike some neighborhoods in New York City, its boundaries are fairly well-defined, as it is bounded by McLean Avenue to the north, which is approximately the New York City / Westchester County line, the...
- Woodside, QueensWoodside, QueensWoodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside and on the east by Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Some areas are widely residential and very quiet, while others are...
- Maspeth, QueensMaspeth, QueensMaspeth is a small community in the borough of Queens in New York City. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside and Sunnyside to the north, Long Island City to the northwest, Greenpoint to the west, East Williamsburg to the southwest, Fresh Pond and Ridgewood to the south, and...
- Sunnyside, QueensSunnyside, QueensSunnyside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens, in New York state, in the United States. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south...
- North Riverdale, BronxNorth Riverdale, BronxNorth Riverdale is the northernmost part of the Riverdale section of the Bronx borough of New York City, particularly above 254th Street. It has many German, Irish residents and is home to the College of Mount Saint Vincent. North Riverdale shares its north border with Yonkers....
- Riverdale, BronxRiverdale, BronxRiverdale is an affluent residential neighborhood in the northwest portion of the Bronx in New York City. Riverdale contains the northernmost point in New York City.-History:...
- Bay Ridge, BrooklynBay Ridge, BrooklynBay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...
- Marine Park, BrooklynMarine Park, BrooklynMarine Park is a public park located in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Its 798 acres surround the westernmost inlet of Jamaica Bay. Most of the land for Marine Park, Brooklyn was donated to New York City to be turned into public park land by the Whitney family in 1920 and by Frederic B....
- Gerritsen Beach, BrooklynGerritsen Beach, BrooklynGerritsen Beach is a small town/community in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located near Marine Park and Sheepshead Bay. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15.-Geography:...
- Vinegar Hill, BrooklynVinegar Hill, BrooklynVinegar Hill is a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City on the East River waterfront between DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The neighborhood is served by Brooklyn Community Board 2. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 84th Precinct....
- Belle Harbor, QueensBelle Harbor, QueensBelle Harbor is an upscale neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is a tightly-knit, upper class community located on the western half of the Rockaway Peninsula, the southernmost area of the borough. While there are no formal boundaries for the area, Belle Harbor is often used to...
- Breezy Point, QueensBreezy Point, QueensBreezy Point is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, between Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay on the landward side, and the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood is governed by Queens Community Board 14...
- Rockaway Beach, QueensRockaway Beach, QueensRockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the South Shore of Long Island. The neighborhood is bounded by Arverne to the east and Rockaway Park to the west...
- Roxbury, QueensRoxbury, QueensRoxbury is a community on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is just west of the Marine Parkway Bridge and adjoins Fort Tilden...
- St. George, Staten IslandSt. George, Staten IslandSt. George is a neighborhood on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City, where the Kill Van Kull enters Upper New York Bay. It is the most densely developed neighborhood on Staten Island, and the location of the administrative center for the borough and for the coterminous Richmond...
- Middle Village, QueensMiddle Village, QueensMiddle Village is a neighborhood in central Queens, a borough of New York City. The neighborhood is located in the western central section of Queens, bounded to the north by Eliot Avenue, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue, and to the west by Fresh Pond Road...
, New York
Italian
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, and Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
.
The largest wave of Italian immigration to the United States took place in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Between 1820 and 1978, 5.3 million Italians immigrated to the United States, including over two million between 1900 and 1910. Only the Irish and Germans immigrated in larger numbers. Italian families first settled in Little Italy
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
's neighborhoods, the first and most famous one being the one around Mulberry Street, in Manhattan. This settlement, however, is rapidly becoming part of the adjacent Chinatown as the older Italian residents die and their children move elsewhere. As of the 2000 census, 692,739 New Yorkers reported Italian ancestry, making them the largest European ethnic group in the city. New York metropolitan area is home to 3,372,512 Italians, which is among the largest concentration in the world after Sao Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
metropolitan areas.
- Arthur Avenue (Bronx)Arthur Avenue (Bronx)Arthur Avenue is a street in the Fordham section of New York City's northernmost borough, The Bronx. It was once the heart of the Bronx's "Little Italy"...
, New York - Bensonhurst, BrooklynBensonhurst, BrooklynBensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
, New York - Morris Park, BronxMorris Park, BronxMorris Park is a neighborhood in the Bronx borough of New York City . The neighborhood is part of Community Board 11 in the East Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Pelham Parkway to the north, the Amtrak Northeast Corridor tracks to the east and south, and...
, New York - Cobble Hill, BrooklynCobble Hill, BrooklynCobble Hill is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. Bordered by Atlantic Avenue on the north, Hicks Street to the west, Smith Street on the east and Degraw Street to the south, Cobble Hill sits adjacent to Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights with Carroll Gardens to the south...
, New York - Carroll Gardens, BrooklynCarroll Gardens, BrooklynCarroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. The area is named for Charles Carroll, a revolutionary war veteran who was also the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence...
, New York - Mulberry StreetMulberry Street (Manhattan)Mulberry Street is a principal thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York. The street was listed on maps of the area since at least 1755. The "Bend" in Mulberry in which the street changes direction from southwest to northeast to a northerly direction was to avoid the wetlands surrounding the Collect Pond...
, Manhattan (New York's Little ItalyLittle ItalyLittle Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
) - Pleasant Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan, New York
- Howard Beach, QueensHoward Beach, QueensHoward Beach is a suburban neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bordered in the north by the Belt Parkway and South Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park, the south by Jamaica Bay in Broad Channel, the east by 102nd-104th streets, and the west by 78th...
, New York - Staten IslandStaten IslandStaten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, New York - Mill Basin, BrooklynMill Basin, BrooklynMill Basin is a neighborhood in New York City in the southern portion of the borough of Brooklyn lying along Jamaica Bay and bounded to the north by Avenue U, and to the east, south, and west by the Mill Basin/Mill Island Inlet...
, New York - Whitestone, QueensWhitestone, QueensWhitestone is a residential neighborhood in the northernmost part of the City of New York borough of Queens. Located between the East River to the north and 25th Avenue to the south. Whitestone is surrounded by College Point, Flushing, Bayside, Auburndale, Linden Hill, and Murray Hill...
, New York - Ozone Park, QueensOzone Park, QueensOzone Park is a working class neighborhood located in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens bordering Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and City Line, Brooklyn....
, New York - Bergen Beach, BrooklynBergen Beach, BrooklynBergen Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.What is now Bergen Beach was an island off the coast of Canarsie that was connected to the mainland in the early 1900s using landfill....
, New York
Polish
Polish immigration to New York City began at the end of the 19th century. In the 1980s, as a result of the Polish government's crackdown on the burgeoning Solidarnosc labor and political movement, Polish migration to the U.S. swelled. Polish-Americans and Polish immigrants in the city generally reside in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
(Greenpoint
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at the Bushwick inlet, on the southeast by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg, on the north by Newtown Creek and Long Island City, Queens at the...
and Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
) *Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
, & *Maspeth, Queens
Maspeth, Queens
Maspeth is a small community in the borough of Queens in New York City. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside and Sunnyside to the north, Long Island City to the northwest, Greenpoint to the west, East Williamsburg to the southwest, Fresh Pond and Ridgewood to the south, and...
. The combined neighborhood of Greenpoint/Williamsburg is sometimes referred to as "Little Poland
Little Poland, Brooklyn
Little Poland is an informal name for part of a neighborhood in Greenpoint, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The name "Little Poland" came to be applied to it following an influx of Polish immigrants after 1900...
" because of its large population of primarily working-class Polish immigrants, reportedly the second largest concentration in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, after Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. As of the 2000 census, 213,447 New Yorkers reported Polish ancestry.
New York is home to a number of Polish and Polish-American cultural, community, and scientific institutions, including the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America is a Polish-American scholarly institution headquartered in Manhattan , at 208 East 30th Street.-History:...
(PIASA) and the Polish Cultural Institute. Polish-language publications with circulation reaching outside the city include The Polish Review
The Polish Review
The Polish Review is an English-language scholarly journal published quarterly in New York City by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America.The Polish Review has been appearing since 1956.-Editors in Chief:*Stanisław Skrzypek...
, an English-language scholarly journal published since 1956 by PIASA
Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America is a Polish-American scholarly institution headquartered in Manhattan , at 208 East 30th Street.-History:...
; Nowy Dziennik
Nowy Dziennik
Nowy Dziennik , with an English subtitle Polish Daily News, is a Polish-language daily newspaper published daily except Sundays and Holidays in New York City by Bicentennial Publishing and Outwater Media Group ....
http://dziennik.com/www/index.htm, founded in 1971, considered the leading Polish-language daily newspaper in the U.S.; and Polska Gazeta http://www.polskagazeta.com/, a Polish-language daily newspaper with headquarters in Brooklyn. The Polish Newspaper SuperExpress http://www.seusa.info/nyse/, covering New York, New Jersey & Connecticut started publication in 1996.
The Pulaski Day Parade in New York on Fifth Avenue has been celebrated since 1937 to commemorate Kazimierz Pułaski, a Polish hero of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. It closely coincides with the October 11 General Pulaski Memorial Day
General Pulaski Memorial Day
General Pulaski Memorial Day is a United States holiday in honor of General Kazimierz Pułaski , a Polish hero of the American Revolution. This holiday is held every year on October 11 by Presidential Proclamation, to commemorate his death from wounds suffered at the Siege of Savannah on October 9,...
, a national observance of his death at the Siege of Savannah
Siege of Savannah
The Siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The siege itself consisted of a joint...
, and his held on the first Sunday of October. In these parades march Polish dancers, Polish soccer teams and their mascots, Polish Scouts - ZHP and Polish school ambassadors and representatives, such as Mikolaj Pastorino (Nicholas Pastorino) and Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
. The Pulaski Day Parade is one of the largest parades in New York City.
Romanian
The Romanian community of New York City is the largest such community in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The 2000 Census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
reported 161,900 Romanians were living in New York City. They are mainly concentrated in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, as well as in parts of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
. The Romanian Day Festival, for which the City closes a section of Broadway, demonstrates the strong sense of community of Romanians living in New York.
Russian
New York City contains a very large, and growing Russian-Jews population around 300,000. There are large numbers of Russian-Jews in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, mostly in neighborhoods of Southern Brooklyn most famously Brighton Beach "Little Odessa" where there are a lot of business and billboards with signage entirely in the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
Ukrainian
New York City contains a large and growing UkrainianUkrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
population. New York's Ukrainian population was traditionally centered around the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, as well as Little Odessa
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is an oceanside neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. As of 2000, it has a population of 75,692 with a total of 31,228 households.-Location:...
, also known as Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is an oceanside neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. As of 2000, it has a population of 75,692 with a total of 31,228 households.-Location:...
, in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. Urban flight and recent waves of new immigration have spread Ukrainians throughout the boroughs, with a heavy concentration in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
.
Muslims
In 1907, Lipka Tatar immigrants from the Podlasie region of PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
founded the first Muslim organization in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the American Mohammedan Society.
In recent times, the Muslim population has grown rapidly: before 1970 there were fewer than ten mosques in New York City; as of 2001, there were well over a hundred. Today, Muslims number an estimated 600,000 and are one of the fastest growing religious communities in the city.
Puerto Rican
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
of 1898 made Puerto Rico a U.S. possession and after the Jones-Shafroth Act
Jones-Shafroth Act
The Jones–Shafroth Act was a 1917 Act of the United States Congress by which Puerto Ricans were collectively made U.S. citizens, the people of Puerto Rico were empowered to have a popularly-elected Senate, established a bill of rights, and authorized the election of a Resident Commissioner to a...
of 1917 gave Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, which allows travel without the need of a passport between the island and the United States mainland. The largest wave of migration came in the 1950s, in what became known as "The Great Migration"; as a result, more than a million Puerto Ricans once called New York City home. Presently the Puerto Rican population is around 800,000.
Puerto Ricans have historically lived in neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
(also known in the community as Loisaida), Spanish Harlem
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
and Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
since the 1950s.
Dominican
Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s. From the 1960s onward, after the fall of the Rafael Trujillo military regime, large waves of migration have thoroughly transnationalized the Dominican Republic, metaphorically blurring its frontier with the United States.In 2006 New York City's Dominican population decreased for the first time since the 1980s, dropping by 1.3% from 609,885 in 2006 to 602,093 in 2007. They are the city's second-largest national group and, in 2009, it was estimated that they compromised 24.9% of New York City's Latino population.
Areas with high a concentration of Dominicans are in Washington Heights
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
, Corona
Corona, Queens
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States...
, and certain areas in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
. Certain areas seeing an increasing number of Dominicans are in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
and Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
.
Mexican
At the 2010 Census, there were 319,263 Mexican Americans living in New York City. In 2009, it was estimated that of the city's Hispanic population, 13.5% was of Mexican origin. Mexicans are the fastest growing group of Hispanic population. Some estimates suggest that Mexicans will surpass both Puerto Ricans andDominicans in 2023 to become the city’s largest national Latino sub-group, and that Dominicans will surpass
Puerto Ricans in 2030 to become the second largest Latino nationality.
Ecuadorian
In 2009, it was estimated that 211,378 Ecuadorian Americans lived in New York City, representing 8.9% of the city's Hispanic population. They are the fourth largest sub-group of Hispanics, after Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans.Colombian
Colombians have come in small numbers to New York City since the 1960s. The major exodus of Colombians from Colombia came in the early 1980s when many of Colombias cities were facing hardships from drug traffickers, crime and lack of emplyoment. 75% of Colombians in New York City live in QueensQueens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, specifically in Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
, Corona
Corona, Queens
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States...
, Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
and Murray Hill
Murray Hill, Queens
Murray Hill is a small neighborhood within Flushing in the New York City borough of Queens. Traditionally the home of families of Irish and Italian immigrants, many Korean and Chinese immigrants have since moved into the area in recent years...
.
See also
- Demographics of The BronxDemographics of The BronxThe demographics of the Bronx are characterized by a Hispanic majority and by the lowest percentage of Whites among all boroughs....
- Demographics of BrooklynDemographics of BrooklynThe demographics of Brooklyn are very diverse, with the borough being a melting pot for many cultures.According to the 2010 Census, 35.7% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 31.9% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 10.4% non-Hispanic Asian, 0.4% from some other race and 1.6% of two or...
- Demographics of ManhattanDemographics of ManhattanNew York County, also known as Manhattan, is the most densely populated state county in the United States, with a density of 70,595.3/mi2 as of 2007...
- Demographics of QueensDemographics of QueensThe demographics of Queens are one of the most diverse in the United States. No racial or ethnic group holds a majority.-General statistics:...
- Demographics of Staten IslandDemographics of Staten IslandRichmond County, also known as Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States. Staten Island is the least populated of the five boroughs with 468, 730 people but is the third largest in area at ....
- Crime in New York CityCrime in New York CityViolent crime in New York City has decreased in the last fifteen years, and the murder rate in 2007 was at its lowest since at least 1963 when reliable statistics were first kept. Crime rates spiked in the 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic hit the city...
- Illegal immigration in New York CityIllegal immigration in New York CityAn illegal immigrant refers to a foreign individual who either entered the country without official authorization from the United States Government or who entered the country with official authorization but then overstayed his or her temporary visa...
External links
- New York City Department of City Planning Population Division http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/census/popdiv.shtml
- New York City Department of City Planning Census Fact Finder http://gis.nyc.gov/dcp/pa/address.jsp
- Jewish communities in New York City
- The Newest New Yorkers, 2000, by the NYC Population Division, uses Census information and other federal and local data to take a detailed look at the origins, spatial settlement, and other characteristics of the foreign-born population in New York City and in the larger metropolitan region.http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/census/nny.shtml
- http://www.muninetguide.com/index.php