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.
| New York's five boroughs overview | ||||
| Jurisdiction | Population | Land area | ||
| Borough of | County of | 1 July 2011 Estimates |
square miles |
square km |
| Manhattan | New York | 1,601,948 | 23 | 59 |
| The Bronx | Bronx | 1,392,002 | 42 | 109 |
| Brooklyn | Kings | 2,532,645 | 71 | 183 |
| Queens | Queens | 2,247,848 | 109 | 283 |
| Staten Island | Richmond | 470,467 | 58 | 151 |
| City of New York | 8,244,910 | 303 | 786 | |
| State of New York | 19,465,197 | 47,214 | 122,284 | |
| Source: United States Census Bureau | ||||
Read more about Demographics Of New York City: Population, Projections, Historical Data
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—Brachiate Guioth De Espinosa, Colombian storekeeper. As quoted in the New York Times, p. A6 (July 15, 1994)
“The city of Washington is in some respects self-contained, and it is easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking about. I count it a fortunate circumstance that almost all the windows of the White House and its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that stretch to the banks of the Potomac ... and that as I sit there I can constantly forget Washington and remember the United States.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)