For the first time, the number of Chinese migrants has surpassed the number of Dominican-born residents in New York City, a report says.
According to the Big Apple’s Department of City Planning, Chinese-born residents now outnumber Dominicans, the latter of which has been one of the city’s largest communities for decades.
Chinese migrants now number more than 397,000, up five percent over 2013’s total, making Chinese migrants amount to 12.8 percent of New York City’s migrant population. Meanwhile, the number of Dominican-born residents declined six percent to 390,000 over the same period, placing that community at 12.6 percent of the city’s migrant population, according to the city’s “The Newest New Yorkers” report.
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Dominican-born residents have reigned as the city’s largest migrant population since 1990, the Gothamist noted.
The new reigning migrant group highlights how migration has changed since the 1800s, when European migrants flooded into the city. By the 1980s it was Latin America that began sending waves of newcomers to the Big Apple. And now, starting in the 2020s and for the first time ever, Asian countries are topping the list of migrants to New York City.
Queens continues to be home to the city’s largest number of migrants, with Brooklyn a close second. However, except for Staten Island, all of New York City’s boroughs have seen a decline in the number of migrants moving in.
The Gothamist added that the number of migrants has fallen across the city, including “Astoria, Queens, which has 11,000 fewer immigrants than it did a decade earlier, and Jackson Heights, which has lost 4,000 immigrants. Foreign-born populations have also declined in other long-established immigrant enclaves, including Washington Heights, Sunset Park and East Flatbush.”
Diana Caba, who is vice president for community and economic development at the Hispanic Federation, says a main factor driving Dominicans and other Hispanics to relocate outside the Big Apple is the soaring cost of living. “It’s becoming tougher and tougher to survive in the city,” she said.
Meanwhile, the growing number of Chinese generally earn higher incomes and can better withstand the cost hikes.
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