Brooklyn Population Info According to the US Government's Census Bureau estimate of 2008: 2,556,598 people live in Kings County, a 3% increase since 2000 (the borders of the borough of Brooklyn and Kings County are the same, that is, Brooklyn makes up ALL of Kings County, and Kings County is ONLY Brooklyn), Note that this number is the revised estimate from the NYC Department of City Planning, which was submitted to and adopted by the US Census Bureau on December 3, 2008. Read more about the process used to challenge and correct the Federal census estimate numbers. Read why the Census is important Brooklyn remains the most populous of the city's five boroughs: 2,293,007 people live in Queens 1,634,795 live in Manhattan (New York County) 1,391,903 people live in The Bronx and 487,407 on Staten Island (Richmond County) The population density is Brooklyn is about 10,000 people per square mile more info is available from the US Census Bureau Historical Population estimates 2008: 2,556,598 2007: 2,539,206 2006: 2,508,820 1990: 2,300,664 1980: 2,230,936 1970: 2,602,012 1960: 2,627,319 1950: 2,738,175 1940: 2,698,285 1930: 2,560,401 1920: 2,018,356 1910: 1,634,351 1900: 1,166,582 1890: 838,547* 1880: 599,495 1870: 419,921 1860: 279,122 1850: 138,882 1800: 5,740 1749: 2,283 1723: 2,218 1698: 2,017 note that more people lived in Brooklyn in 1950 than do today! *Brooklyn was consolidated into the city of New York in 1898 Population by Neighborhood according to the NYC Dept of City Planning (year 2000 data) Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights 122,542 (Community Board 10) Bedford Stuyvesant 143,867 (CB3) Bensonhurst, Bath Beach 172.129 (CB11) Borough Park, Ocean Parkway 185,046 (CB12) Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene 98,620 (CB2) Brownsville, Ocean Hill 85,343 (CB16) Bushwick 104,358 (CB4) Canarsie, Flatlands 194,653 (CB18) Coney Island, Brighton Beach 106,120 (CB13) Crown Heights / South Wingate: 104,014 (CB9) Crown Heights North 96,076 (CB8) East Flatbush, Rugby, Farragut 165,753 (CB17) East New York, Starrett City 173,198 (CB5) w Flatbush / Midwood 168,806 (CB14) Park Slope, Carroll Gardens 104,054 (CB6) Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach 160,319 (CB15) Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace 120,063 (CB7) Williamsburg, Greenpoint 168,338 (CB1) more info is available from the NYC Dept of City Planning More Facts... 53% of Brooklyn residents are female. Race and Ethnicity Data from US Census Estimate of 2008 51.4% are White 37.2% are Black or African-American 0.5% are Native American Indian and/or Alaska Native persons 0.1% are Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 9.3% are Asian 36.8% are White persons of non-Hispanic/Latino origin 19.2% are of Latino or Hispanic origin 10.1% reporting some other race 1.6% reporting two or more races 37.8% were born in a foreign country 46.7% speak a language other than English at home Age 7.5% are under the age of 5 years 25.1% are under the age of 18 12.3% are age 65 or older The median age of females in Brooklyn is 36.5 years old. For males, it's 32.7 years. Children and Education: 44,867 are in nursery school / preschool 37,431 are in kindergarten 274,572 are in grades 1-8 160,605 are in high school, and 179,707 are in college or graduate school of those over the age of 25, 47.7% are high school graduates 21.8% have a Bachelor's degree or higher Miscellaneous Facts 62.9% have been living in the same house or apartment for the last 5 years 603,816 have a disability there are 38,732 businesses with paid employees in Brooklyn. 37% of those are minority owned (1997) 26% are owned by women (1997) Brooklynites spend an average of 43 minutes traveling to work 45% take the subway to work 22% drive to work, by themselves 10% take the bus 9% walk to work (lucky!) 8% carpool 2% work at home (even better!) There are about 10,267 apartment buidings in Brooklyn Median income is $41,304 per year 2007 data an estimated 24% of Brooklynites live in poverty. vs. 27% Bronx 18% Manhattan 16% Queens 9% Staten Island Read how the Census Bureau defines poverty or how the census bureau defines race Geography and Trivia Kings County (which contains Brooklyn) is the 7th most populous county in the United States. Ahead of Brooklyn are: Los Angeles County (Los Angeles, CA) Cook County (Chicago) Harris County (Houston) Maricopa County (Phoenix) Orange County (Orange County, California) San Diego County (California) In 1998, 1,207,419 Brooklynites were registered voters, 70% are Democrats. Only 768,703 voted in the 2008 Presidential Election. Brooklyn covers 71 square miles There are about 34,916 people per square mile in Brooklyn Brooklynites represent 93 different ethnic groups, 150 nationalities, and speak 136 different languages.

More Trivia...

• Brooklyn residents spend an average of 43 minutes commuting to work each day.
• 86% of the housing in Brooklyn is in multi-unit dwellings, i.e. apartments in buildings with two or more units. There are about 10,267 apartment buildings in Brooklyn.
• 47% of Brookynites speak a language other than English at home. The most common languages other than english spoken at home:
  • Spanish or Spanish Creole
  • Russian
  • Chinese
  • Yiddish
  • French Creole
  • Italian
  • Hebrew
  • Polish
  • French (including Patois, Cajun)
  • Arabic
• 22% of Brooklynites have a Bachelors' degree or higher.
• An estimated 600,000 people are buried in Green-Wood Cemetary.

  Chart of Brooklyn Ethnic breakdown

  Data from US Census Estimate of 2008

  Ancestries of Brooklynites

  According to the Year 2000 federal census, 2,257,431 people self-reported their ancestry during the Census (or about 92% of the total population counted in Brooklyn also reported their ancestry). The following ancestries were reported by Brooklyn residents:
  
  
  • Italian 7.5%
  • Chinese (w/o Taiwanese) 5.34%
  • Russian 3.8%
  • United States or American 3.7%
  • Jamaican 3.5%
  • Dominican Republic 3.3%
  • Haitian 3%
  • Polish 2.9%
  • Trinidadian or Tobagonian 1.9%
  • German 1.6%
  • Guyanese 1.6%
  • Ukrainian 1.5%
  • Arab 1.4%
  • British West Indian 1.3%
  • African 1.1%
  • English 0.9%
  • West Indian 0.9%
  • Barbadian 0.7%
  • Hungarian 0.7%
  • Greek 0.6%
  • French (except Basque) 0.4%
  • Syrian 0.4%
  • Arab/Arabic 0.3%
  • Egyptian 0.3%
  • Israeli 0.3%
  • Nigerian 0.3%
  • Norwegian 0.3%
  • Romanian 0.3%
  • Scottish 0.3%
  • Albanian 0.2%
  • Austrian 0.2%
  • Dutch 0.2%
  • Lebanese 0.2%
  • Scotch-Irish 0.2%
  • Swedish 0.2%
  • Turkish 0.2%
  • Bangladeshi 0.17%
  • Armenian 0.1%
  • Belizean 0.1%
  • British 0.1%
  • Canadian 0.1%
  • Czech 0.1%
  • Czechoslovakian 0.1%
  • Danish 0.1%
  • French Canadian 0.1%
  • Ghanian 0.1%
  • Lithuanian 0.1%
  • Moroccan 0.1%
  • Other Arab 0.1%
  • Other Subsaharan African 0.1%
  • Palestinian 0.1%
  • Portuguese 0.1%
  • Slovak 0.1%
  • Swiss 0.1%
  • Welsh 0.1%
  • Yugoslavian 0.1%
  • Asian Indian (under 0.1%)
  • Pakistani (under 0.1%)
  • Korean (under 0.1%)
  • Other Asian (under 0.1%)
  • Filipino (under 0.1%)
  • Vietnamese (under 0.1%)
  • Japanese (under 0.1%)
  • Cambodian (under 0.1%)
  • Thai (under 0.1%)
  • Indonesian (under 0.1%)
  • Malaysian (under 0.1%)
  • Taiwanese (under 0.1%)
  • Acadian/Cajun (under 0.1%)
  • Sri Lankan (under 0.1%)
  • Afghan (under 0.1%)
  • Alsatian (under 0.1%)
  • Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac (under 0.1%)
  • Australian (under 0.1%)
  • Bahamian (under 0.1%)
  • Basque (under 0.1%)
  • Belgian (under 0.1%)
  • Brazilian (under 0.1%)
  • Bulgarian (under 0.1%)
  • Cape Verdean (under 0.1%)
  • Celtic (under 0.1%)
  • Croatian (under 0.1%)
  • Cypriot (under 0.1%)
  • Dutch West Indian (under 0.1%)
  • Estonian (under 0.1%)
  • Ethiopian (under 0.1%)
  • Finnish (under 0.1%)
  • German Russian (under 0.1%)
  • Hmong (under 0.1%)
  • Icelander (under 0.1%)
  • Iranian (under 0.1%)
  • Iraqi (under 0.1%)
  • Jordanian (under 0.1%)
  • Kenyan (under 0.1%)
  • Laotian (under 0.1%)
  • Latvian (under 0.1%)
  • Liberian (under 0.1%)
  • Luxemburger (under 0.1%)
  • Macedonian (under 0.1%)
  • Maltese (under 0.1%)
  • Other West Indian (under 0.1%)
  • Pennsylvania German (under 0.1%)
  • Scandinavian (under 0.1%)
  • Serbian (under 0.1%)
  • Sierra Leonean (under 0.1%)
  • Slavic (under 0.1%)
  • Slovene (under 0.1%)
  • Somalian (under 0.1%)
  • South African (under 0.1%)
  • Sudanese (under 0.1%)
  • U.S. Virgin Islander (under 0.1%)

  Religion in Brooklyn

  Because the federal Census Bureau is unable to collect comprehensive data on religion (due to issues of seperation of Church and State), accurate data on religion is hard to come by.
  
  Estimates provided by the Association of Religion Data Archives (website) show that approximately 1,552,336 Brooklyn residents are adherents of a religion, in approximately these ratios:
  
  • Catholic: 58.8%
  • Protestant: 12%
  • Orthodox: 0.72%
  • Jewish: 24.4%
  • Muslim: 3.73%
  
  Note, however, that the numbers reported by the ARDA for Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs are so low it is likely they are off the mark. It is also probable that traditionally African-American churches are under-reported in their data, which is unfortunate.

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  What is the Census and Why is the population count important?

  The Census is undertaken every ten years in the United States by the Federal US Census Bureau. Getting as accurate a count as possible is important because the Federal, State, and local governments use population statistics to allocate funding for programs such as education and social services.
  
  In addition to delegation of services, the count is used to ensure compliance with civil rights statutes, such as the Voting Rights Act and and anti-discrimination laws.
  
  The count is also used by the government to decide how many seats your community will have in the US House of Representatives.
  
  Indvidual information you give to the Census is kept secret for a period of 72 years -- it is not available even to federal or state law enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, etc. The sole purpose of the censuses and surveys is to secure general statistical information.
  
  The Census has been held in the US every ten years since 1790, without interruption.
  The next census of the United States will take place on April 1, 2010.