Report: New York City's Chinese-born immigrant population becomes largest foreign-born group for first time

New York City's Chinese-born immigrant population has become the largest foreign-born group for the first time, surpassing Dominicans, the previous largest group, according to a report released by the New York City Department of City Planning.

The city's Chinese-born immigrant population was 397,000 in 2023, a 5 percent increase from 2013, according to the 2026 edition of The Newest New Yorkers report, its first update of the report since 2013.

And the community now makes up 12.8 percent of the city's 3.1 million immigrant population. The other top foreign-born groups in New York are Dominican, Guyanese, Mexican and Jamaican.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement: "From the neighborhoods they have built to the small businesses that have opened, from the languages they speak to the communities they sustain, immigrants make New York the city that it is. This report shines a light on how our city is changing and growing and reminds us that our greatest strength has always been the people who come here."

The city's growing Chinese-born population includes people who moved from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and other places, the report said.

Kristin, a 27-year-old living in Brooklyn, New York, is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota and says she "loves" the city's diversity.

"New York is a melting pot of cultures," she told China Daily. "For me, that's what makes it a great place to live — seeing all of these different cultures in one place is amazing! You get to meet different people from all backgrounds. Explore different food and stuff. I love it. I didn't know that the Chinese population was now the biggest immigrant group here, but I think it's cool."

New York City had 8.58 million residents as of July 2025, US Census Bureau data released in March shows.

Overall, foreign-born New Yorkers now make up more than one-third of the city's population and 43 percent of its workforce, the report said.

Nearly half of all New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home, and two-thirds of all city residents are first or second-generation New Yorkers, the report said.

Since 1990, Dominicans had been New York City's largest foreign-born group. But since 2013, the number of Dominicans calling the Big Apple home declined 6 percent to 390,000, making up 12.6 percent of the population.

The report found that Chinese New Yorkers have a median household income of $60,000, compared with $36,000 for Dominicans in the city.

Asian American-owned businesses in New York make up over 23 percent, or roughly 47,000 of the businesses across the five boroughs, The Center for an Urban Future estimated in 2021.

The shift in the population in the largest US city is being repeated nationwide to some extent, says a sociologist.

Professor Rogelio Saenz, a sociologist and demographer in the Department of Demography at the University of Texas at San Antonio, told China Daily that "there have been significant shifts in the racial and ethnic composition of the US population since 1980. ...The face of immigration changed significantly from European to Asian and Latin American and Caribbean.

"Over the decades from the mid-1960s to 2010, immigration accounted for a significant segment of the population growth of Asians and Latinos," said Saenz, who is also a senior fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

The Asian population (both Asian Americans born in the US and Asians born overseas but who immigrated to the US) is expanding nationwide, May 2025 data from the Pew Research Center found.

Around 68 percent are immigrants — the racial group in the US with most people born abroad.

At 5.5 million people, Chinese Americans are the largest Asian origin group and make up 22 percent of Asians in the US, Pew found.

Since 1990, the Department of City Planning has periodically issued its Newest New Yorker report as a snapshot of the population. Most of its data comes from the US Census Bureau's American Community Surveys up to 2023.

This year's 235-page report will help city agencies offer groups key services.

However, amid its findings, the story of Chinese immigrants to New York is not a recent one.

In the 1830s, Chinese sailors began settling in lower Manhattan, according to the Asian American Center at Queens College CUNY.

The majority in the city's Chinatown came from Taishan and other parts of Guangdong province.

By 1880, Manhattan's Chinatown was home to between 700 and 1,100 Chinese immigrants, the National Park Service said.

In 1882, The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, prohibiting the immigration of Chinese workers. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 allowed more Asians to arrive.

Today, Chinese New Yorkers mainly live in Queens and Brooklyn, but a growing number have moved to Staten Island in the past five years, The Asian American Federation said.

"The Newest New Yorkers gives rich insight into the remarkable diversity of our city's immigrant communities, their resilience and evolution across the boroughs, and their essential role in shaping the city's population and economy," Sideya Sherman, director of the Department of City Planning, said in a statement.

belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com