Jewish Population in Greater New York to Reach 2,718, 000 in 1975

The Jewish population of New York City, at 2,114,000, has reached the highest total in the city’s history comprising 27.1 percent of the total city population according to a 400-page study of Jews in the New York area from 1900 to 1975, released today by the Demographic Study Committee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York. This is almost four times the size of the Jewish population of the city in 1900.

The Committee forecasts that between now and 1975 this total will rise slightly to 2,136, 000 or a total of 25.7 percent of a projected city population of 8,315, 000.

The forecast for the eight-county Greater New York area, including the five city counties, Nassau, Westchester and Suffolk counties, indicates indicates an increase in Jewish population to 2,718,000, or 23.6 percent of a projected Greater New York population of 11,533,000 in 1975. At present the population stands at 2,579,000, forming 25.1 percent of the total population of the Greater New York area.

The almost 400 percent increase in the Jewish population of the city over approximately half a century is just one phase of the picture of tremendous economic and social changes taking place among Jews, and among other racial and ethnic groups in New York City and the contiguous counties, which the Demographic Committee carefully documents.

Buttressing its conclusion with numerous charts, tables and graphs, the study gives a composite portrait of the Jewish population of the New York area establishing the following:

1. The Jewish population of New York, though dispersed over more areas than it was 25 or 30 years ago, is more densely concentrated than it has ever been, and is continuing in this direction.

2. The older, highly concentrated Jewish neighborhoods such as the lower East Side, Williamsburg, and Brownsville have lost and will continue to lose their Jewish residents.

3. Jews have joined the trend to the suburbs, and significant increases may be expected to continue in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties where the main share of Jewish population growth in the the New York area between now and 1975 is predicted.

ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF JEWS IN NEW YORK AREA STRESSED

4. Although poverty has not been eliminated, the Jewish population of the New York area has moved up the economic ladder, along with most Americans, and as a group has achieved a middle-income status.

5. The out-migration from Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan is predominantly of young, child-bearing families, but an in-migration of older households, after the children have grown, continues to Manhattan and the better residential neighborhoods in the city proper.

6. The Jewish population shows an increased proportion of elderly persons–nearly 10 percent over 65, and an increased proportion of young persons–nearly 20 percent are 5-16 years old, paralleling national trends of the total population, with significant implications for social welfare planning.

The Demographic Study Committee spent a year in making the study which was undertaken by the Jewish Federation beginning in the fall of 1958 with a view to long range planning of its services and facilities on behalf of its 116 affiliated medical and welfare agencies in Greater New York, it was reported at a press conference by Gustave L. Levy, president of the organization. The statistics and findings of the study were presented by C. Morris Horowitz, economist and demographer, who is consulting statistician for the Jewish Education Committee, and Dr. Lawrence J. Kaplan, economist and demographic consultant for the City Planning Commission, who conducted the survey.

Data used in the analysis was collected from many diverse sources including United States Census reports, surveys of religious groups, studies made by city groups including the City Planning Commission, the New York City Board of Education, and the Department of Health, and from vital statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and statistics of the United States Immigration Department.