Little Italy: Demographics

Demographics

During the late 1930s, the Italian people occupied 17% of the total population of New York City, and the population of Little Italy was 98% Italian. Then after the US Immigration Act of 1965 was passed, Chinese immigration specifically increased which led to an expansion of Chinatown. Due to this expansion, the southern areas of Little Italy were lost, which began the shrinking of the neighborhood, leading to the population of Italian Americans living in Little Italy dramatically smaller. The percentage of those who reported being of Italian ancestry is only 8%, however, this can be linked to the fact that many of the families who were of Italian descent, relocated to other boroughs over the years, due to the increase in cost to live in Manhattan. By the 2010 census, not a single person born in Italy lived in Little Italy, with only 5% of the inhabitants identifying as "Italian American".

Of the Current population of Little Italy:
57.2% are Asian
33.2% are White
6-7% are African American or Hispanic