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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Brooklyn, NY
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Brooklyn profile


Living in Brooklyn



Brooklyn is an enormous coastal borough (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New York. With a population of 2,736,074 people and 804 constituent neighborhoods, Brooklyn is the largest community in New York. Brooklyn has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs.

Brooklyn home prices are not only among the most expensive in New York, but Brooklyn real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Of important note, Brooklyn is also a borough of artists. Brooklyn has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Brooklyn’s character.

Also of interest is that Brooklyn has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Brooklyn telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 11.75% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One thing noticeable about Brooklyn, is that it has a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. That’s because Brooklyn is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Brooklyn a great place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun. In fact, Brooklyn is one of the top larger cities in America for educated single professionals to flock.

One of the nice things about Brooklyn is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Brooklyn, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 40.99 minutes every day commuting to work. It is, however, a pedestrian-friendly borough. Many of its neighborhoods are dense enough and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. In addition, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.

One of the benefits of being a big city like Brooklyn is having a public transportation system, but in Brooklyn the transit system is the mode of choice for lots of people getting to and from work every day. You will find many people using the subway for their daily commute, even though other transportation options exist. If you ask these commuters, many will tell you that not having to drive in the snarl of big city traffic is one of main reasons for leaving the car at home, or even not owning a car at all. With so many people taking the subway Brooklyn benefits from a reduction in air pollution and traffic.

The education level of Brooklyn citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 39.53% of adults in Brooklyn have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Brooklyn in 2018 was $38,812, which is middle income relative to New York, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $155,248 for a family of four. However, Brooklyn contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Brooklyn is an extremely ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Brooklyn home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Brooklyn residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Brooklyn also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.79% of the borough’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Brooklyn include Italian, Irish, Jamaican, Russian, and German.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Brooklyn's cultural character, accounting for 35.30% of the borough’s population.

The most common language spoken in Brooklyn is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.