Demographics of New York (state)

In age demographics: 6.5% of New York's population were under 5 years of age, 24.7% under 18, and 12.9% were 65 or older. Females made up 51.8% of the population. New York state has a fluctuating population growth rate, it has experienced some shrinkage in the 1970s and 1980s, but milder growth in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 13.61% of the population aged 5 and older speak Spanish at home, while 2.04% speak Chinese (including Cantonese and Mandarin), 1.65% Italian, and 1.23% Russian.[8]

The State of New York in the 2020 Census had a population of 20,201,249 and the racial makeup was 52.5% Non-Hispanic White, 19.5% Hispanic or Latino, 14.8% Black, 9.6% Asian, 0.7% Native American, and 0.1% Pacific Islander.[9]

New York ethnic distribution, 2000

According to 2004 estimates, 20.4% of the population was foreign-born. Among cities in the State of New York, 36% of New York City's population is foreign-born; this figure of approximately 3 million is a higher total number of foreign-born residents than any other U.S. city. This number is often around 20% in other cities across New York.

In the 2000 Census, Italian Americans make up the largest ancestral ethnic group in Staten Island and Long Island, followed by Irish Americans and Polish Americans. Manhattan's leading ethnic ancestry group is Dominicans since the 2000 census, followed by Irish Americans, then Italian Americans and more than 200 ethnicities are counted, plus comparably large numbers of residents with Dutch, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, and Swedish ethnic ancestry. Albany and the Mohawk Valley-Central New York are heavily Irish American and Italian American. In Buffalo and Western New York, German Americans are the largest ethnic group, along with Polish Americans and other Slavic ethnic groups; in the northern tip of the state the largest ethnic background is that of French Canadians. New York State has a higher number of Italian-Americans than any other U.S. state. New York City is also said to be home to two million of Italian descent alone. NYC was once called home to the largest German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Polish and Russian communities outside their representative countries of origin.

Confusingly, the term American Jew is used to describe ethnic Jews by some demographers, and religious identity (religious Jews, see: Judaism) of various nationalities and various denominations by others. Regardless, collectively most are American-born and are a major social presence in New York. An estimated 1 to 2 million alone in New York City and another 1 to 1.5 million live in surrounding areas, sometimes New York is referred to as the "world's largest Jewish city" since the mid-19th century. The first wave of Jewish immigrants in New York are of Sephardic origin, a scant 10,000 from the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries, but in the 19th century more newcomers were first German and finally in the early 20th century millions from Eastern Europe like Poland and Russia, both of Ashkenazi origin. In the late 20th century, a smaller wave of Russian Jews and Ukrainian Jews settled in the Brighton Beach section in Brooklyn, and New York has many Israeli-American residents.

New York contains the largest Puerto Rican population in the contiguous United States, concentrated in parts of New York City such as the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. New York also has the largest Dominican population in the country, concentrated in New York City's Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. New York City is home to many with roots in Caribbean Islands like Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Haiti, as well as recent immigrants from Sub-Saharan African countries.

At 520,000 of the State of New York's over 600,000 Chinese Americans, New York City has a higher total number of Chinese Americans than Los Angeles County. New York also has the highest and growing proportion of Pakistani Americans and Bangladeshi Americans in the country, and a very high Indian American community, mainly concentrated in New York City.

As of the 2010 census, the State of New York has a population of 19,378,102. Broken down via US Census Racial classifications, this includes 12,740,974 (65.7%) white, 3,073,800 (15.9%) black, 1,420,244 (7.3%) Asian, 8,766 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, and 1,441,563 (7.4%) of other races. 585,849 (3.0%) have two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of all "races" make up 3,416,922 (17.6%) of the state's population; non-Hispanic whites make up 58.3% of the state's population.

The Bronx has a large population of blacks that are of Latin American origin, but so does northern Manhattan (Harlem) and Brooklyn which had American-born black majorities since the 1920s, as well the largest African American population of any state. New York City has 1 million of New York State's 1.4 million Asian Americans. Cities such as Buffalo and Rochester are predominantly made of African Americans, Hispanic, and various European and near-European ethnic groups. Southeast Asians, Eastern European and North/Central Asian, African and Caribbeans also have a noticeable presence.

Among the State of New York's cities, as of 2010 according to the US Racial System, New York City is 44% white(33%non hispanic white),28% Latino, 25% African American, and 13% percent Asian American. The city of Buffalo, New York's second-largest city, is 50% white (45% non-Hispanic white), 38% African American, 10% Latino, and 3% Asian American. The state capital of Albany is 57% white (64% non-Hispanic white), 30% African American, 8% Latino, and 5% Asian American.