It's a Bigger Apple as N.Y.C. Tops 8 Million

By JOHN J. GOLDMAN and JOSH GETLIN

March 16, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

NEW YORK —

New York City has reached 8,008,278 people--the highest population in its more than three-century history, census figures released Thursday show.

The total eclipsed the previous record of nearly 7.9 million in 1950 and 1970 and was cause for celebration for politicians, tourism officials and demographers, some of whom even formed an office pool in hopes the nation’s biggest city would reach a new milestone.

“We have had a renaissance and we are growing,” said Joseph Rose, director of New York’s Department of City Planning. “In demographic terms, people vote with their feet. It is a time of vitality and vibrancy.”

The record population was spurred by growth in the areas surrounding Manhattan, increasing immigration and a vigorous effort by the administration of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to compile the most complete mailing list possible to submit to the Census Bureau.

“We did demographic detective work to check their mailing list against utility and phone company records and building permit lists,” Rose said. “The Census Bureau accepted 370,000 additional addresses.”

In the last decade, New York City’s population increased by 9.4%, or 685,714 people.

New York state’s population grew by 5.5%, to 18,976,457, with some of its largest cities upstate losing residents. But the overall statewide increase wasn’t enough to prevent the Empire State from losing two of its 31 seats in the House of Representatives.

The census showed continuing decline, in New York City and statewide, in the number of white residents but significant increases in minority populations. The number of Asians was up by more than 50% statewide, Latinos by more than 25% and blacks by about 10%.

Non-Latino whites remained the majority in the state, with 62% to 63% of the population. Because the 2000 census allowed people to record themselves as being members of more than one racial or ethnic group, figures are given as ranges.

Throughout the state, 590,182 people--or 3.1%--identified themselves as being of more than one race. In New York City, the highest multiracial percentage was in Queens, with 6.1%. The Bronx followed with 5.8%.

The 1990 census showed New York City with 7,322,564 people and the state with a population of 17,990,455.

“New York City remains the melting pot, much more than [at] the turn of the century,” said Emanuel Tobier, a professor of economics and planning at New York University. “A lot of the newcomers don’t vote yet, but they are a force to contend with in the future.”

“The bottom line is what’s going to happen in the schools,” Tobier said. “It will put additional pressure on the school system, given the diverse language and cultural backgrounds of the school-going population.”

The census showed that one-fourth of New York City’s population is younger than 18.

The fastest growing areas of the city were Staten Island, which is more than 70% white, and Queens, where the Asian population grew over the decade by 70% to 390,164 people--the largest concentration of Asians in the city.

A population portrait showed Manhattan with 1,537,195 people. Of these, 46% to 47% were white, 15% to 19% black, 22% to 27% Latino and 9% to 10% Asian.

Over the decade, Manhattan’s white population declined by about 3% and blacks by about 10%. More than making up these losses were about a 10% gain in Latino residents and a 35% increase in Asians.

New York’s growth focused renewed attention on the city’s remarkable comeback from the recessionary slump of the early 1990s, when a flurry of media stories predicted the task would be to manage a decline in municipal services and population flight.

Before Thursday’s announcement, the question of whether New York City’s population would reach 8 million sparked a media guessing game and an office pool in the Department of City Planning.

For boosters like Cristyne Latagano-Nicholas, president of NYC & Co., the city’s tourist bureau, the numbers were welcome: “The more people living here, the more people talking about how great this city is.”

Under state formulas, the city should get more money, Rose said.

The population gains also are economically significant nationally because they help determine eligibility for myriad federal aid programs. But they also may have spared New York some painful political fallout: While the state will lose two congressional seats, Rose and other observers said it will be unlikely for them to be pried out of the city’s congressional delegation, given New York City’s growth.

In contrast to New York City, the largest upstate cities all lost residents: Utica lost 11.6%, Buffalo 10.8%, Syracuse 10.1%, Albany, 5.4%, Rochester 5.1% and Schenectady 5.7%

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The Big Three

Population growth of the nation’s three largest cities, in millions:

*California figures expected to be released the week of March 26.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Compiled by MALOY MOORE / Los Angeles Times

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New York City’s Growth

The population of New York City grew rapidly in the 1990s, with the fastest growth in central Queens, Staten Island and parts of the Bronx.

City’s Race and Ethnicity

35.0% White*

24.5% Black*