The demographics of Brooklyn reveal a very diverse
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and a
melting pot
The melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous throug ...
for many cultures, like the city itself. Since 2010, the population of Brooklyn was estimated by the Census Bureau to have increased 3.5% to 2,592,149 as of 2013, representing 30.8% of New York City's population, 33.5% of
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
's population, and 13.2% of
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
's population. If the boroughs of New York City were separate cities, Brooklyn would be the third largest city in the United States after
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
.
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 (non-Hispanic) and 1.6% of two or more races (non-Hispanic). 19.8% of Brooklyn's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race).
In the 2020 census data from
New York City Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
, there were a total of 2,736,074 residents with 968,427 White residents making up 35.4%, 729,696 Black residents making up 26.7%, 516,426 Hispanic residents making up 18.9%, and 370,776 Asian residents making up 13.6%.
Households
Of its 880,727 households 33.3% have children under the age of 18 living in them, 38.6% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 22.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. Of all households 27.8% are made up of individuals, and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.41.
In the county the population was spread out, with 26.9% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The
median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
age is 33 years. For every 100 females there were 88.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males.
Income
The median income for a household in the county was $32,135, and the median income for a family was $36,188. Males had a median income of $34,317 versus $30,516 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the county was $16,775. About 22.0% of families and 25.1% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 34.0% of those under age 18 and 21.5% of those age 65 or over.
Race and ethnicity
According to the 2009 American Community Survey,
White American
White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
s made up 54.6% of Brooklyn's population.
Black American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s made up 34.2% of Brooklyn's population; non-Hispanic black people made up 32.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.3% of Brooklyn's population.
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
s made up 9.5% of the population;
Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander Americans (also known as Oceanian Americans) are Americans who are of Pacific Islander ancestry (or are descendants of the indigenous peoples of Oceania or of Austronesian descent). For its purposes, the United States census ...
s made up 0.1% of the populace.
Multiracial American
Multiracial Americans are Americans who have mixed ancestry of two or more races. The term may also include Americans of mixed race ancestry who self-identify with just one group culturally and socially (cf. the one-drop rule). In the 2010 Unite ...
s made up 1.4% of Brooklyn's population.
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...
made up 19.6% of Brooklyn's population.
European Americans
According to the 2009 American Community Survey, white Americans made up a majority (54.6%) of Brooklyn's population, of which 51.9% are non-Hispanic whites. Whites (both Hispanic and non-Hispanic) number near 1.3 million individuals, and there are nearly 1,150,000 non-Hispanic whites residing in Brooklyn. Brooklyn's European American population mainly consists of ethnic Europeans who are either from or descendants from Eastern and Southern European countries of Italy, Russia, Poland, Albania, and former Soviet Union countries, as well as Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia. Northwest and the Southern half sections of Brooklyn are predominantly European American communities, and most of the borough's European American residents are of the Catholic or Jewish faith. Amongst Catholics,
Italian American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
s are the predominant ethnic group in neighborhoods such as
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
,
Dyker Heights
Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7th and ...
,
Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...
,
Bath Beach
Bath Beach is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It is located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood borders Bensonhurst and New Utrecht to the northeast across 86th Street; Dyker Beach ...
,
Carroll Gardens
Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Taking up around 40 city blocks, it is bounded by Degraw and Warren Streets (north), Hoyt and Smith Streets (east), Ninth Street or the Gowan ...
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:
Places
*Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia
*Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City
*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California
*Williams ...
,
East Williamsburg
East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Plac ...
,
Bergen Beach
Bergen Beach is a residential neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula abutting Jamaica Bay in the southeastern portion of the borough, and is bordered by Mill Basin and the neighborhood of the sam ...
, and
Mill Basin
Mill Basin is a residential neighborhood in southeastern Brooklyn, New York City. It is on a peninsula abutting Jamaica Bay and is bordered by Avenue U on the northwest and the Mill Basin/Mill Island Inlet on its remaining sides. Mill Basin is ...
.
Polish American
Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...
Russian American
Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United Stat ...
s are the predominant ethnic group in neighborhoods such as
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach i ...
and
Sheepshead Bay
Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to:
Fish
* ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean
* Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central Am ...
; and
Irish American
, image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png
, image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state
, caption = Notable Irish Americans
, population =
36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
s are the predominant ethnic group in neighborhoods such as
Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...
,
Gerritsen Beach
Gerritsen Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located between Sheepshead Bay to the west and Marine Park to the east. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15. The population of the neighborhood is 4,797 as ...
, and Marine Park. Brooklyn is 22.4% Jewish with Jews being the predominant ethnic group in neighborhoods such as Borough Park,
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:
Places
*Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia
*Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City
*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California
*Williams ...
,
Midwood
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City ...
Ocean Hill
Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 16 and was founded in 1890. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233. Ocean Hill's boundaries st ...
Bushwick
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...
Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Prospect Lefferts Gardens is a residential neighborhood in the Flatbush area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The community is bounded by Empire Boulevard (formerly Malbone Street) to the north, Clarkson Avenue to the south, New York A ...
East Flatbush
East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the ...
,
Canarsie
Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and East 108th Street; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on the west by Ralph Aven ...
, and
East New York
East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...
were previously overwhelmingly majority Jewish and Italian with Germans and Irish in some sections in early-mid 20th century, but in the later part of the 20th century they slowly shifted into majority Black communities with a few Puerto Rican communities interspersed in
Bushwick
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...
and a portion of
East New York
East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...
. Though Bedford-Stuyvesant itself at one point in the early part of the 20th century did have large Italian and Jewish populations. However, a section of Crown Heights and a section of Flatbush still have significant remaining small Jewish enclaves. A subsection neighborhood of East New York called
Starrett City
Starrett City (formally known as the Spring Creek Towers) is a housing development in the Spring Creek section of East New York, in Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula on the north shore of Jamaica Bay, bounded by Fresh Creek t ...
or
Spring Creek
A spring creek is a type of free flowing river whose name derives from its origin: an underground spring or set of springs which produces sufficient water to consistently feed a unique river. The water flowing in a spring creek may additionally be ...
still have significant scattered numbers of
European Americans
European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent Eu ...
. However, in recent decades since the 2000s and especially since the 2010s, the White population has started to rapidly regrow in Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Bushwick, and Flatbush, which these areas are undergoing gentrification.
According to the 2009
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
, the six most common European ancestries were the following.
As according to the 2020 census data, the White European American population in Brooklyn increased from 893,306 residents at 35.7% in 2010 to 968,427 residents at 35.4% in 2020 a gain of 75,121 residents or 8.4%, though the percentage portion of White residents out of the total population of Brooklyn slightly declined due to other racial populations increasing adding to the population.
African Americans
According to the 2009 American Community Survey, African Americans made up over one-third (34.2%) of Brooklyn's population. There are over 877,000 African Americans residing in Brooklyn. The historical cultural center of the borough has long been Bedford-Stuyvesant; African Americans became a majority in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the 1930s following the construction of the A line subway between Harlem and Bedford. Bedford-Stuyvesant was the first large African American community to be established in Brooklyn back then. After Bedford-Stuyvesant had largely developed into an African American community in the 1930s-40s, neighborhoods surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant in Northern and Eastern Brooklyn such as
Ocean Hill
Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 16 and was founded in 1890. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233. Ocean Hill's boundaries st ...
Canarsie
Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and East 108th Street; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on the west by Ralph Aven ...
,
East Flatbush
East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the ...
,
Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Prospect Lefferts Gardens is a residential neighborhood in the Flatbush area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The community is bounded by Empire Boulevard (formerly Malbone Street) to the north, Clarkson Avenue to the south, New York A ...
,
East New York
East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...
, and
Fort Greene
Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the west, ...
had continued to be mostly home to Italian and Jewish enclaves with some Germans and Irish intermixed in even though some of the growing African American population also did spillover into some of these neighborhoods, however through the processes of a
Ripple effect
A ripple effect occurs when an initial disturbance to a system propagates outward to disturb an increasingly larger portion of the system, like ripples expanding across the water when an object is dropped into it.
The ripple effect is often used ...
, a
Domino effect
A domino effect or chain reaction is the cumulative effect generated when a particular event triggers a chain of similar events. This term is best known as a mechanical effect and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically ...
, and a
Snowball effect
A snowball effect is a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger (graver, more serious), and also perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous (a vicious circle), though it might be b ...
, starting in the 1950s and throughout the remaining 20th century, these surrounding neighborhoods became the next following areas to slowly transition to majority African American communities going through neighborhood by neighborhood and going through decade by decade, though large West Indian Black communities have also emerged and intertwined in some of these areas. As a result, a very large portion of the northern half of Brooklyn are dominantly populated by African Americans with large West Indian Black populations intertwined in, though Crown Heights and Flatbush continue to have remaining small significant Jewish communities. The roads of Eastern Parkway, Malcolm X Boulevard, Kings Highway, Broadway, Atlantic Avenue, Linden Boulevard, Flatlands Avenue and Jackie Robinson Parkway connect all of these neighborhoods to the point of being very comparatively similar to the city of
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
, which is another Brooklyn neighborhood very far into the very southern tip of Brooklyn also has a significant African American population. Together these neighborhoods have a population of about 940,000 and are roughly 82% African American, making it the largest African-American community in the United States. However, the 2020 census data showed that the Black population in NYC has declined from 1,861,295 residents at 22.8% in 2010 to 1,776,891 residents at 20.2% in 2020 with a loss of -84,404 resident or -4.5%, however, Brooklyn itself had the sharpest declines of the Black population of all of the NYC boroughs going from 799,066 residents at 31.9% in 2010 to 729,696 residents at 26.7% in 2020 with a loss of -69,370 residents at -8.7%. In all of Brooklyn, the Black population was the only population to suffer significant declines while all other populations of racial groups experienced increases. Many of the Black neighborhoods in northern Brooklyn such as Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Ocean Hill, and Flatbush are now undergoing gentrification and experiencing rapid increasing regaining population of White residents, which are wealthier professionals instead of the working class European immigrants and European Americans that were previously majority populations in these neighborhoods. Fort Greene, which has been a majority Black neighborhood since the 1970s though with some significant mixtures of Hispanic and White residents and very limited Asian residents has re-transitioned back to a White population majority since the 2010s though significant amount of Black residents still remain with now a slow increasing population of Asian and Hispanic residents; the last time Fort Greene had a White majority population was back in the 1960s-70s.
Caribbean Americans
According to the 2010 US Census data on brooklyn.com there are approximately 370,000 (16.4%) Caribbean descendants in Brooklyn. That figure includes persons who identify with the Dominican Republic (3.3%), but does not include the (7.4%) Puerto Rican population. Including Puerto Ricans there are approximately 560,000 (23.8%) persons of Caribbean descent in Brooklyn. Similar, but not identical demographics in America can be found in Miami, but there are not as many Cubans in New York. A large population of Brooklyn's Caribbean decedents are of Trinidadian, Jamaican, Barbadian, Haitian, Saint Lucians and Guyanese immigrants. As of 2017, between the neighborhoods of Flatbush,
East Flatbush
East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the ...
, and Crown Heights, it has been given a nickname called, ''Little Caribbean'' due to the large concentrations of Caribbean populations. The adjacent neighborhood
Canarsie
Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and East 108th Street; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on the west by Ralph Aven ...
is also another large Caribbean neighborhood, which emerged more towards the late 1990s whereas the Caribbean communities of East Flatbush, Flatbush, and Crown Heights developed much earlier around the 1960s-70s.
Hispanics and Latinos
According to the 2009 American Community Survey, Hispanics and Latinos made up nearly one-fifth (19.6%) of Brooklyn's population. Over 500,000 Hispanics and Latinos reside in Brooklyn. Nearly 190,000
Puerto Ricans
Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants.
Overview
The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...
call the borough home, and they make up 7.4% of the population. The borough's 91,000
Mexican American
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
s make up 3.6% of its population. Many neighborhoods in the very Northern parts of Brooklyn are home to a high number of Hispanics mainly from
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
, the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
, and
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
. Hispanics are mainly concentrated in neighborhoods in the North Central and Northeast sections of Brooklyn, though there are some spillovers of the Hispanic population into Northwestern Brooklyn such as Williamsburg. Hispanics have become the majority in former African-American neighborhoods such as
Bushwick
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...
,
East Williamsburg
East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Plac ...
and Cypress Hills. Sunset Park, in South Brooklyn is also home to a large Hispanic community. Since the 2000s, especially since the 2010s, other southern Brooklyn neighborhoods such as
Dyker Heights
Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7th and ...
,
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...
, and especially in
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
and
Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...
have started to receive significant growing Hispanic populations as well though are more mixed in with the populations of predominantly
White Americans
White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
and
Asian Americans
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
.
The 2020 census data showed that Brooklyn's Hispanic population increased from 496,285 residents at 19.8% in 2010 to 516,426 residents at 18.9% a gain of 20,141 residents or 4.1%, though as other racial populations increased in the borough, the Hispanic population percentage portion decreased slightly.
Asian Americans
Over 243,000 Asians live in the borough. The most numerous Asian American group are those of
Chinese descent
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
. Chinese Americans make up 6.4% of the borough's population, and they number over 163,000 individuals. Much of Brooklyn's Asian population is concentrated in Southern Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Sunset Park (" Brooklyn's Chinatown"), Homecrest,
Sheepshead Bay
Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to:
Fish
* ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean
* Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central Am ...
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
. (" Bensonhurst Chinatown") The Chinese were second only to Queens among New York boroughs, meaning
Manhattan's Chinatown
Manhattan's Chinatown () is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 1 ...
is no longer the main residence of Chinese in the city. Initially, Sunset Park was the primary destination for the newly arriving Chinese immigrants, many fleeing from the original Manhattan's Chinatown during the 1980s-90s and most of them were Cantonese speaking immigrants creating the original Brooklyn's Chinatown, however since the 2000s, a large influx of Fuzhou speaking immigrants have become the largest Chinese group population in Sunset Park expanding the Sunset Park Chinatown dramatically and now being given the name, ''Brooklyn's Little Fuzhou'' and since then, Cantonese speaking immigrants in Brooklyn including new arrivals have been dramatically shifting to and concentrating in Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay/Homecrest creating newer Chinatowns of Brooklyn or ''Brooklyn's Little Hong Kong/Guangdong''.
Approximately 19,851 Asian Indians live in Brooklyn. Approximately 9,681
Filipino American
Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New S ...
s live in Brooklyn. Approximately 6,977
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...
s reside here. Brooklyn has the most
Vietnamese American
Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...
s of any borough, they numbered over 5,700 individuals. The 4,704
Japanese American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
s rounded out Asian American groups with over 1,000 people in Brooklyn.
There is a sizable
Pakistani American
Pakistani Americans ( ur, ) are Americans who originate from Pakistan. The term may also refer to people who also hold a dual Pakistani and U.S. citizenship. Educational attainment level and household income are much higher in the Pakistani-Am ...
community in the Midwood section of Brooklyn and there is a "Little Pakistan" on
Coney Island Avenue
Coney Island Avenue is a road in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that runs north-south for a distance of roughly five miles, almost parallel to Ocean Parkway and Ocean Avenue. It begins at Brighton Beach Avenue in Coney Island and goes nort ...
in Brooklyn. Pakistanis are concentrated heavily in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, and are one of the fastest growing Asian ethnic groups in Brooklyn . Pakistanis number around 30,000 and counting in Brooklyn and their community is growing rapidly. Many halal restaurants, fabric stores, Pakistani clothing stores and mosques are centered on Coney Island Avenue.
Currently, the Brooklyn Asian enclaves are scattered and intertwined with the predominant European American communities in southern Brooklyn.
The 2020 census data showed that the Asian population grew the fastest of all racial groups in Brooklyn going from 260,129 residents at 10.4% in 2010 to 370,776 residents at 13.6% in 2020 with a gain of 110,647 residents or 42.5%
Arab Americans
Arab Americans currently reside in the western and southern central parts of Brooklyn, with a small population in eastern Brooklyn.
Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...
currently holds the highest percentage of Arab Americans, with its main thoroughfare being 5th avenue. Other neighborhoods include
Boerum Hill
Boerum Hill (pronounced ) is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either Sm ...
, which historically held the largest Yemeni population, but now many Yemeni Americans have moved to Bay Ridge due to the increase of rent in Boerum Hill.
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
,
Bath Beach
Bath Beach is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It is located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood borders Bensonhurst and New Utrecht to the northeast across 86th Street; Dyker Beach ...
Dyker Heights
Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7th and ...
Park Slope
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Aven ...
, and
East New York
East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...
also hold a large amount of Arab Americans.
Language
Brooklyn has a high degree of linguistic diversity. As of 2010, 54.12% (1,240,416) of Brooklyn residents age 5 and older spoke
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
at home as a
primary language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
, while 17.16% (393,340) spoke
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
, 6.46% (148,012)
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, 5.31% (121,607)
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, 3.47% (79,469)
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, 1.20% (27,440)
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, 1.01% (23,207)
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
, 0.99% (22,763)
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, 0.95% (21,773)
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
African languages
The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families:
* Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern A ...
were spoken as a
main language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
by 0.54% (12,305) of the population over the age of five. In total, 45.88% (1,051,456) of Brooklyn's population age 5 and older spoke a
mother language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...