Demographics of Brooklyn
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As of the census[1] of 2000, there are 2,465,326 people, 880,727 households, and 583,922 families residing in Brooklyn. The population density was 13,480/km² (34,920/mi²). There were 930,866 housing units at an average density of 5,090/km² (13,180/mi²). The racial makeup of the County was 41.20% White Caucasian, 36.44% Black, 0.41% Native American, 7.54% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 10.79% from other races, and 4.27% from two or more races. 19.08% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
At 36 % of the 2.5 million borough residents, Brooklyn demographically is New York City's Blackest borough, as over 900,000 blacks (roughly 40% of New York City's black population) reside in Brooklyn alone. The historical cultural center of the borough has long been Bedford-Stuyvesant which became Majority Black in the 1930s following the construction of the A line subway between Harlem and Bedford.[2] Neighborhoods surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant in Northern and Eastern Brooklyn are also majority African American such as Brownsville, Canarsie, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, East New York, and Fort Greene. The roads of Eastern Parkway, Malcolm X Boulevard, Kings Highway, Broadway, Atlantic Avenue, Linden Boulevard Flatlands Avenue and Jackie Robinson Parkway connect several of these neighborhoods. In addition, Blacks make up a substantial percentage of the residents in public housing throughout the borough.
Many neighborhoods in Eastern and Northern Brooklyn are home to a high number of Hispanics mainly from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Central America. Hispanics comprise approxiametly 19% of the borough's residents and are mainly concentrated in neighborhoods in the East and Northeast sections of Brooklyn. Hispanics have become the majority in former Black neighborhoods such as Bushwick, East Williamsburg and Cypress Hills. Sunset Park, in South Brooklyn is also home to a large Hispanic community.
Brooklyn's European population mainly consists of ethnic Europeans who are either from or descendents from Eastern and Southern European countries of Italy, Russia, Poland, Albania, and old Soviet Union countries, as well as Ireland. Southern and Western Brooklyn is predominantly European, and most of the borough's European residents are of the Catholic or Jewish religion. Jews make up the majority in Borough Park and Midwood. Italians are the majority in neighborhoods such as Bensonhurst, Gravesend, and Bay Ridge, Poles are the majority in neighborhoods such as Greenpoint and Greenwood Heights, Russians are the majority in neighborhoods such as Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay, and Irish are the majority in neighborhoods such as Gerritsen Beach, and Marine Park. Neighborhoods surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant such as Brownsville, Canarsie, and East New York were previously majority Italian and Jewish but have in the 20th century shifted into majority Black and Puerto Rican communities [3] With the demographic shift that occurred between the 1950s and 1970s, the crime rate in Brooklyn increased and the borough lost almost 500,000 people, most of them White.[4] Those residents moved to neighboring boroughs of Queens and Staten Island, in addition to suburban counties of Long Island and New Jersey.
Brooklyn had several large populations of Asians. Much of Brooklyns Asian population is concentrated in Southern Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Sunset Park. The 125,050 Chinese were second only to Queens among New York boroughs, meaning Chinatown was no longer the main residence of Chinese in the city. 32,498 Asian Indians lived in Brooklyn. There were 14,221 Pakistanis, making Brooklyn the borough with the highest percentage of Pakistanis when compared to the population of Asian Indians. 7918 Filipinos lived in Brooklyn. 6816 Koreans resided here. 6243 Bangladeshis lived in Brooklyn. Brooklyn had the most Vietnamese of any Borough, they numbered 4011. The 3066 Japanese rounded out Asian groups with over 1000 in Brooklyn.[5]
Brooklyn has a high degree of linguistic diversity. In the 2000 United States Census 18.00% of the population of Brooklyn reported speaking Spanish at home, 5.95% Russian, 4.19% Haitian-French or a French-based creole, 3.92% Chinese, 3.10% Yiddish, 2.10% Italian, 1.42% Polish, 1.13% Hebrew, and 1.09% Arabic. Other languages spoken at home by at least 5000 people include Cantonese, Urdu, Bengali, Greek, Korean, Tagalog, and Albanian.[6]
If the boroughs of New York City were separate cities, Brooklyn would be the third largest city in the United States after Los Angeles and Chicago.
In the 2000 Census, the following percentages of Brooklyn residents self-reported these European ancestries:
According to an estimate of the United States Census Bureau, Brooklyn's population increased to 2,486,235 in 2005.
Of its 880,727 households 33.3% have children under the age of 18 living in them, 38.6% were married couples 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 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.
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 for the County was $16,775. About 22.0% of families and 25.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.0% of those under age 18 and 21.5% of those age 65 or over.
The 2000 census show also that the borough is home to one of the most important concentration of Pakistani Americans in the nation, with a total population of 14,221[7].
[edit] References
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Bed-Stuy on the Move
- ^ The Tipping Point, article copied from The New Yorker, June 3, 1996
- ^ The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York
- ^ Detailed Tables - American FactFinder
- ^ MLA Data Center
- ^ Census Profile: New York City’s Pakistani American Population, accessed July 16, 2006
