Escape From New York? Bronx Population Drops by 7,500 in 2018

After years of a population boom in The Bronx, the borough’s population appears to have dropped by 7,500 according to new census estimates via the American Community Survey.

Overall, New York City’s population dropped by 39,523 (from 8,438,271 back in 2017 to 8,398,748 as of July 1st, 2018) but Staten Island was the only borough to show growth with 663 new residents.

Gothamist reports:

Officials with New York City’s Department of City Planning told the Wall Street Journal it appeared that “the city’s robust population expansion, fueled by new young residents, in the past decade appears to have begun its inevitable slowdown.” Overall, the number of residents in the five boroughs grew by 2.7% between 2010 to 2018. “You cannot maintain that level of growth forever,” added Joseph Salvo, city planning’s chief demographer.

Bloomberg adds some more interesting details about the population changes for the entire state: “From April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018, domestic migration left the Empire State with 1.2 million fewer inhabitants, though foreign immigration cushioned the loss. Also offsetting the loss, births outnumbered deaths. The overall change from April 1, 2010 is a modest gain of 164,085.”

And just when we were just a few thousands away from the record population of 1,471,701 set back in 1970 before the great exodus as a result of the fires and planned shrinkage where our borough lost 20% of its population within a decade.

You can read more over at Bloomberg or Gothamist. Take your pick.