Demographics of Manhattan - 2009 American Community Survey

2009 American Community Survey

According to the 2009 American Community Survey, White Americans made up 58.9% of Manhattan's population; non-Hispanic whites made up 50.7% of the population. Black Americans made up 15.5% of Manhattan's population; non-Hispanic blacks made up 13.0% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.3% of the population. Asian Americans made up 10.3% of the population. Multiracial Americans made up 3.4% of the population. Hispanics and Latinos made up 23.8% of Manhattan's population.

White Americans are the largest racial group in Manhattan; whites make up 58.9% of the borough's population. Whites of non-Hispanic origin form a slight majority, making up 50.7% of the population. Of Manhattan's 1,630,000 people, 960,000 are white, of which 825,000 are non-Hispanic whites. Manhattan's white population is ethnically heterogeneous. Irish Americans and Italian Americans are the largest Euro-American ethnic groups in the borough, making up 6.9% and 5.5% of the population respectively. German Americans and Russian Americans are also sizable groups; people of German descent make up 7.2% of the population, while those of Russian heritage represent 6.2% of the populace. Americans of English descent form 5.2% of the borough's population, and Polish Americans make up 4.8% of the populace. Americans of French descent make up 1.9% of Manhattan's population, while those of Scottish descent form 1.3% of the populace. Jewish Americans, most of whom self-identify as "white" under the U.S. Census classifications, are most concentrated in the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, and Midtown regions of Manhattan.

Black Americans make up 15.5% of the borough's population and are concentrated primarily in the Upper Manhattan region of Harlem. The percentage of Blacks in Manhattan has continually been on the decline since the end of World War II. This is in large part due to the exodus of Black residents from Harlem which peaked in population in 1950 and the establishment of Black communities in the other boroughs such as Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Southeast Queens, and the Northeast Bronx. Blacks of non-Hispanic origin form 13.0% of the population. Roughly 253,000 are black, of which 211,000 are non-Hispanic blacks. Roughly 27,000 residents reported their ancestry as Sub-Saharan African in the survey, which is equal to 1.6% of Manhattan's population. Included in the African descendant population in Harlem are African immigrants and Afro-Caribbeans from the West Indies. Harlem has seen a pattern of gentrification and a wave of new businesses came to the section during the 1990s and it is home of an increasingly large upper-class of all races, but the majority happen to be African-American.

Native Americans are one of the borough's smallest ethnic minority groups. Only 5,500 individuals of the borough's 1.6 million people are Native Americans. The number of Native Americans who are of non-Hispanic origin is even smaller. Roughly 1,370 residents are Native Americans of non-Hispanic descent, which is 0.1% of the population. In addition, people who are of mixed Caucasian and Native American ancestry make up 0.2% of the population. There is a number of Mohawks indigenous to the New York city area and/or Upstate New York, and many Mohawks arrived in the 1930s to work in the skyscraper building construction industry.

Asian Americans are one of the borough's larger racial groups. Asians represent 10.3% of Manhattan's population. Asians of non-Hispanic origin make up 10.2% of the population. Like the Caucasian population, the Asian population is ethnically heterogeneous. Chinese Americans make up the majority of the Asian population. Of Manhattan's 168,000 Asians, some 90,000 are of Chinese descent (5.6% of the population). Roughly 21,000 residents are of Indian descent. Manhattan is home to over 16,300 Koreans, 15,200 Japanese, 11,800 Filipinos, and nearly 3,000 Vietnamese.

Pacific Islander Americans are, by far, the smallest racial minority group in Manhattan. Just over 540 people identified themselves as such. Also, just above 270 individuals are Pacific Islanders of non-Hispanic origin.

Multiracial Americans are a smaller minority group in Manhattan, but they are sizable. Nearly 55,000 multiracial individuals call Manhattan home, and they make up 3.4% of the population. People of European American and African American heritage form 1.4% of the population, and number over 22,200 individuals. In addition, people of Caucasian and Asian heritage make up 0.8% of the population, and number over 13,400 individuals. People of African American and Native American heritage make up 0.1% of the population, and they number at nearly 1,800 individuals.

Hispanic and Latino Americans are the largest ethnic minority group in Manhattan. Over 387,000 Hispanics and Latinos represent 23.8% of Manhattan's total population. Significant groups include Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans; Puerto Ricans make up 6.7% of the population, and number over 109,000 individuals. Mexicans make up 2.7% of the population, and number over 43,000 individuals. In addition, the borough is home to over 10,000 Cubans; people of Cuban descent form 0.6% of the population. Lastly, there are over 224,000 Hispanics that are of other ethnic groups, such as Ecuadorian, Salvadoran, etc. These people collectively make up 13.8% of the population. Hispanics are numerous throughout the borough but most prominently in East Harlem, Loisada, and Washington Heights.