In New York City for the first time in 2000, the white population, including those who also identify themselves as being Hispanic, made up less than half of the residents in the city. Whites are now between 44.7 to 47.5 percent of the population, according to Census 2000 data. And while the number of blacks in the city has increased, it has not grown at the same rate as that of Hispanics and Asians. In 2000, there were between 2.1 million and 2.3 million black New Yorkers, making up from 26.6 percent to 28.4 percent of the city's population. The suburban American dream, it has its pluses and minuses, but a vibrant city life has its pluses as well, said Jeffrey Passel, a demographer with the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
Cities are once again attractive places to live.
While eastern cities like Philadelphia, Newark and Milwaukee continue to witness a decline in population, Chicago and New York are touting increases in 2000, census data shows. New York City has a long history of receiving immigrants and dealing with immigrants, where other parts of the country haven't done so well. Probably nowhere are the signs of the impact of immigrants more evident than in Queens, which had the highest growth in the number of Hispanics over the last decade and where about half of the Asians in the city live. We're hoping that when we do redistricting, we'll be able to ensure Asian-Americans have meaningful representative in the newly drawn political districts, said Glenn Magpantay, a staff director with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. According to the Census 2000 data, the Queens Hispanic population grew by more than 46 percent, or more than 175,000 people.