{"id":256304,"date":"2026-06-05T12:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256304\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:50:18","slug":"study-120-rise-in-long-islands-latino-population-since-2000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256304\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: 120% rise in Long Island’s Latino population since 2000"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Island\u2019s Latino population has increased more than 120% since the turn of the century,\u00a0compared with only about 12% in New York City, according to a report\u00a0from the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.<\/p>\n

The findings, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and\u00a0released earlier this year, show\u00a0a decisive change in settlement patterns among the Hispanic population in the New York metropolitan region\u00a0between 2000 and 2024.<\/p>\n

In 2000, 60% of all Latinos in the metropolitan region lived in the five boroughs, the report<\/a>\u00a0 showed. By 2024, researchers found, that figure had\u00a0declined to 46%.<\/p>\n

And while the city\u2019s total Latino population still increased by about 12% during that near quarter-century time frame \u2014 from 2.16 million to 2.42 million \u2014 the Hispanic population growth in suburban counties increased by almost 42%, according to Census data.<\/p>\n

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDLong Island\u2019s Latino population grew\u00a0more than 120% since 2000,\u00a0compared with about 12% in New York City, according to a report\u00a0from the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.On Long Island, the Hispanic population grew 122% between 2000 and 2024, including a\u00a0143% increase in Suffolk County and a nearly 99% uptick in Nassau County, U.S. Census data shows.The Dominican population has become\u00a0the largest Latino contingent across both the metropolitan region and on Long Island, which has seen a more\u00a0than 260% growth during that 24-year period, figures show.<\/p>\n

On Long Island, the Hispanic population grew 122% during that 24-year period, including an 143% increase in Suffolk County and a nearly 99% uptick in Nassau County, the data shows.<\/p>\n

Suffolk now has 363,136 Hispanic residents, \u00a0and Nassau\u00a0has 264,758, data shows.<\/p>\n

“The suburbs have emerged as the primary destination for Latino population growth in the metropolitan area,” said Laird Bergad, executive director of the center and the primary\u00a0author of the study released earlier this year. “While the city continues to be home to the largest concentration of Latinos, its share of the regional population has declined substantially, representing a fundamental restructuring of Latino settlement patterns that began prior to 2000.”<\/p>\n

\"visualization\"\/Majority in 7\u00a0LI hamlets<\/p>\n

Experts contend Latinos have flocked to Long Island for many of the same reasons other groups have: improved work opportunities, high-performing schools and relatively affordable housing in communities where the Hispanics appear to be clustered.<\/p>\n

Latinos make\u00a0up a majority of the population<\/a> in seven hamlets and villages on the Island as of\u00a02020, according to Census data. Those areas include Brentwood, North Bay Shore, Central Islip, New Cassel, Flanders,\u00a0Inwood and Hempstead Village.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Levy, executive dean at Hofstra University\u2019s National Center for Suburban Studies, said the growth of the Latino population on Long Island was not a surprise.<\/p>\n

But its future trajectory remains in doubt, he said, in part because of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.\u00a0Census data figures include\u00a0both legal and undocumented U.S. residents.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty hard to predict the future of Latino growth because we’re in an unprecedented period in terms of both policy and the processes that flow from it,” Levy said. Immigration policies could affect local industries such as construction, and child and elder care, he noted.<\/p>\n

The total Latino population increase in the metropolitan\u00a0area was 48%, from 3.59 million in 2020 to 5.31 million in 2024, according to Census data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nationally, the Census Bureau said Hispanics are powering a gain in population, accounting for “just under 71% of the overall growth of the United States population.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The Hispanic population is expanding at a substantially faster rate than the non-Hispanic population, primarily due to natural increase, that is, more births than deaths,” Kristie S. Wilder, a demographer with the Census Bureau’s population division, told Newsday<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

Dominicans largest nationality<\/p>\n

The Dominican population has become\u00a0the largest Latino contingent in the region, rising 123% from a population of 544,795 in 2000 to 1,216,258 in 2024, according to Census data.<\/p>\n

On Long Island, the Dominican population grew at more than twice that rate \u2014 from\u00a021,071 in 2020 to\u00a075,888 in 2024, an increase of more than 260%, figures show.<\/p>\n

The Island surpassed, and even defied other population trends.<\/p>\n

For example, while the metropolitan region saw a 11.5% total decline in its Puerto Rican population during that 24-year period, Long Island experienced a 20.4% population growth from the U.S. territory in the Caribbean, Census data indicates.<\/p>\n

Since 2000, Long Island has also experienced a\u00a0217% increase in its Mexican population; a\u00a0211%\u00a0bump among its\u00a0Colombian residents; and a whopping 535% uptick in its\u00a0Ecuadorian community \u2014 surpassing\u00a0all other regions in each of the three categories.<\/p>\n

Ecuadorians are also the fastest-growing nationality\u00a0in the region, rising by 219% from 2000 to 2024, the data shows.<\/p>\n

The study is part of the Latino Data Project, which has tracked economic and demographic changes affecting the Hispanic community nationwide\u00a0since 2003.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

\n\tRobert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Island\u2019s Latino population has increased more than 120% since the turn of the century,\u00a0compared with only about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8015,9,11,10,8017,8016],"class_list":["post-256304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-nassau","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-state-region","tag-suffolk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}