The Census Bureau insists that "Black" "White" and "Asian" are races and "Hispanic" is not.  So all Hispanics are asked on the census form to put themselves in one (or more) of our traditional racial boxes.  In the US as a whole, most, in fact, call themselves "White".  But in New York City, as we explain in this document, the situation is more complicated.  The maps that follow show that most Hispanics in White areas call themselves White and a large number (not a majority) in Black areas call themselves Black.  But in Hispanic areas, they call themselves "other race."  The Bronx, with the largest proportion of Hispanics, also has the largest proportion refusing to use the traditional "racial boxes."

In the maps that follow, note that the scale is the same for Hispanics identifying as "White" and as "other race."  Different scales were needed for the smaller Black and multiracial categories.


 

Non-Hispanics also had the option of identifying themselves as "some other race," but few did.  The following map has a much different scale than the previous, but still we can see peculiar concentrations.  The area just adjacent to Kennedy Airport, with the largest proportion of non-Hispanic "others," also has a large immigrant population from Guyana - many of whom may be closer to South Asia than to Africa or South America. The small non-Hispanic "other" enclave in The Bronx, around Parkchester and Morris Park, may consist of immigrants working in health-related fields, but that is just a guess while we wait for more data from the Census Bureau.

Finally we can see the significance of the new policy allowing people to choose two or more racial identifications.  We have separated Hispanics and non-Hispanics, and used the same scale to show how much more popular the "multirace" option is among Hispanics.  But again, note the area north of Kennedy Airport, and also Astoria, Queens, where a significant number of non-Hispanics choose a multiracial option.  Bronx Park is a large red area on the Hispanic multiracial map, but there are only 200 people in that census tract.  Clearly, Hispanics in The Bronx are not enthusiastic about choosing two or more of our traditional racial categories.  Their overwhelming preference is  a single "other race."


 

5. The Bronx in New York City: Population Shifts, 1990-2000

The Bronx shares with the rest of New York City the drama of population change over the past decades: decline in the 1970's, stabilization in the 1980's, and an upturn thanks to the increased immigration of the late 1990's.

Non-Hispanic Whites continued their exodus from The Bronx, and a pattern of White decline is now seen in central Queens.  In both cases, middle class minorities (Hispanics in The Bronx; Asians and others in Queens) are taking the place of the departing Whites.

Hispanics (especially Dominicans) still flock to their Upper Manhattan-West Bronx core territory.  Now a new group, mainly middle class and from Central and South America, is coming into the Elmhurst-Jackson Heights area of Queens, adding even more to that area's incredible ethnic diversity.

Non-Hispanic Blacks are expanding into the peripheries of their already established core areas in Queens, Brooklyn, and Harlem-Bronx.  Many of these new areas are more middle class, and reflect the increased importance of the Black middle class in the northern Bronx as well as Queens.  Note the relatively limited areas of Black population increase.  In the face of a continuing White decline and great Asian and Hispanic increases, the Black population seems to have stabilized in The Bronx and throughout New York City.

Asians have increased especially in Queens, where they are moving into many neighborhoods Whites are leaving.  But, of course, the Asian population is  diverse (Pakistanis, Koreans, Filipinos...) and meaningful analysis of it must await more detailed census data.

We have also mapped the changes, 1990-2000, in the proportion of ethnic groups within each New York City tract.  In other words, we show how the "Whiteness" or "Blackness" or "Hispanicness" of an area has changed over the decade.  Click here to see the maps.

BACK to Homepage