The Bronx is New York’s fastest growing borough

Anyone who’s walked the streets, ridden the subway, or simply existed in New York knows the city is extremely crowded, but the record number of tourists aren’t the only ones to blame. New analysis of Census Bureau population estimates by the Department of City Planning finds that New York City’s population reached a record high of 8.6 million people last year, a 447,565-person increase from the 2010 census.

Between 2010 and 2017, Brooklyn took in the most people with a population growth of 144,071 to 2,648,771, making it the New York state county with the second-largest population growth.

The first? The Bronx, where the population increased 6.21 percent with 86,052 new residents to a population of 1,471,160. That, however, doesn’t mean the Bronx is at its highest-ever population. The New York Times, who first reported the numbers, notes that a few hundred more people called the borough home in the 1970 census, just years before “The Bronx is burning” became the borough’s reluctant catchphrase.

Since 2010, Queens has grown in population by 5.73 percent to 2,358,582; Manhattan by 4.97 percent, or 78,854 new dwellers; and Staten Island by 2.29 percent to 479,458. With the increases, 43.4 percent of New York state dwellers now live in the city. Population growth in the five boroughs since 2010 has accounted for 95 percent of population growth in the state.

But it isn’t just the city that’s attracting folks. Rockland County just north of the city grew its population by 5.51 percent, putting it ahead of Manhattan in terms of percentage of population growth.

• New York City’s Population Hits a Record 8.6 Million [NYT]
• NYC’s record tourism streak continued in 2017 with 62.8M visitors [Curbed]